Ryanair and the business of freebies
A friend sent me an article on the success of Ryanair this morning (Ryanair success has strong web lessons Gerry McGovern).
The article argues that much of the success of Ryanair is due to its website, where “it’s a no-frills website” for “a no-frills airline.”
The article makes the general point that the only universal website behaviour attribute is that people are “cheap” when it comes to the web: they want free stuff, benefits, offers, grants, discounts and cheap shares.
I accept that the web is a gratuitous medium and that business’ should develop web strategies that provide to users, something they could otherwise not obtain or achieve online. I’m not sure however that Internet users are inherently cheap and on a perpetual search for bargains and freebies.
Nonetheless, the article is a worthwhile read, if only to appreciate the Ryanair strategy which, for Ryanair, had delivered sterling results.
