{"id":16455,"date":"2024-03-01T09:38:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T23:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=16455"},"modified":"2024-03-01T09:38:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T23:38:25","slug":"25th-anniversary-for-online-retailing-in-uk-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=16455","title":{"rendered":"25th anniversary for online retailing in UK rail"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 25\u00a0February 1999 Trainline<\/a>, which was then a telesales company, launched its first website and became UK rail\u2019s first online retailer. A quarter of a century later, online retailing is a flourishing and competitive part of the rail industry with more than 40 train operators and independent retailers providing apps and\/or websites that offer train tickets to the public.<\/p>\n

New research commissioned from YouGov demonstrates the impact of online retailing on how the British public buy their train tickets, with 90 per cent of UK train travellers saying they find it easy to buy train tickets \u2013 rising to 97 per cent among regular Trainline users. Online retail channels are the top choice for UK train travellers, with two-thirds (67 per cent) saying they prefer to use apps or websites.<\/p>\n

25 years of progress in technology has transformed the way the public buy their train tickets:<\/p>\n

In 1999 less than 1 per cent of train tickets were sold online; today online sales are rail\u2019s biggest channel by value, approaching 50 per cent of all sales.<\/p>\n

In 1999 tickets bought online had to be posted to customers; today 90 per cent of tickets sold online by Trainline are barcode tickets and fulfilled instantly.<\/p>\n

In 1999 Trainline would shut down its website overnight due to a lack of demand; today Trainline sells 200m tickets every year from 270 carriers in 40 different countries.<\/p>\n

Trainline CEO Jody Ford said: \u201cOnline retailing is a major success story for UK rail, with tech making it much easier for the public to buy train tickets and to choose rail when they\u2019re deciding how they will travel. We\u2019ve come a long way from the early years when internet sales were a niche market, and today there is a rich diversity of retailers who are all promoting UK rail and offering travellers a wide range of choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is also an important anniversary for Trainline as a company, and the journey we have been on through years of innovation and investment to become one of the UK\u2019s most successful tech companies. 25 years on from the launch of our first website, we are exporting our tech across the continent and we\u2019re proud to have established Trainline as Europe\u2019s number one most downloaded rail travel app.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 25\u00a0February 1999 Trainline, which was then a telesales company, launched its first website and became UK rail\u2019s first online retailer. A quarter of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[7,11],"class_list":["post-16455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","tag-transport","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t