Lastminute.com has entered into an alliance with Thomas Cookå‘s online service and also announced losses of å£11.71 million ($17million) during the last three months of 2000, while reporting strong growth in sales and customers numbers.
Lastminute`s subscriber base rose by about 10,000 users over Christmas, with the company having 2.86 million subscribers by years end.
Lastminute`s chief executive Brent Hoberman said the key was not the overall number, but the “quality of subscribers” and that the conversion rate had gone up sharply, with more customers choosing the enhanced graphic version of Lastminute’s e-mail offers.
Lastminute’s customer numbers have increased by 50% and sales by 48% in three months with sites in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
The alliance with Thomas Cook is a move away from Lastminute`s original Concept with the company promising its subscribers “first minute” access to millions of holidays offered by Thomas Cook, with booking times far in advance of the usual six week limit.
In return, Thomas Cook will have access to “last minute solutions”, offering last minute tickets, gifts and restaurant bookings and other products on its website. 43% of all items sold through Lastminute.com are not travel related. The firm says it now has “9,200 individual supplier relationships”.
——-