“Do you have a distribution strategy, or simply a collection of distribution contracts?” That’s the question Alba Basora, Director of Global Trade Sales at Go City, wants operators to sit with before they sign their next reseller deal.
In an upcoming Arival | Elevate online session this 17 September, Basora (pictured above, speaking at Arival 360 | Valencia) will be leading a discussion on “Unlocking B2B Growth: How to Grow Without Losing Control.” For a sneak peek at that session, Basora shared three of the most common mistakes she sees operators make when trying to scale their B2B distribution — and what to do instead.
1. Signing Partners Before Defining Their Role
Across her 20 years in online distribution, Basora has seen it happen time and again: operators sign reseller partnerships before they’ve defined what the new channel is meant to accomplish.
“Before adding a partner, define the role,” advises Basora. For example, is the partner meant to help an operator open a new market, reach a new customer segment, or improve shoulder season bookings?
When operators skip this step, they often end up moving business from one basket to another — often onto the biggest, most visible online travel agencies (OTAs) — without actually improving their margin or reach.
What to do instead: Before signing anything, define the specific job that partner needs to do. If you can’t name it, you’re not building a strategy — you’re just collecting contracts.
2. Chasing More Partners Instead of the Right Mix
Rather than chasing a target number of partners, Basora explains that a healthy mix of distribution partners is about diversification. She highlights three dimensions to consider when building your mix: partner type, channel, and source market.
“There is no magic number in terms of partners,” she says, though aiming for more than five can help protect against overdependence on any one channel. However, she stresses the goal should never be to simply maximize partners. It’s to build the right mix, one that reaches the customers an operator’s direct channels can’t afford to reach on their own.
“The goal here isn’t maximum distribution, it’s the right distribution,” she says.
What to do instead: The goal isn’t maximum distribution, it’s the right distribution: a mix that reaches the customers your direct channels can’t afford to reach on their own. Aim for a mix across three dimensions — partner type, channel, and source market — rather than simply adding to a partnerships headcount.
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3. Assuming Higher Commission Always Means Lower Margin
One of the most common assumptions Basora hears from operators is that higher commissions equal worse deals. But she’s eager to challenge this.
“Sometimes we assume the higher commission we provide, the less margin we would make,” says Basora; however, that’s overlooking the bigger picture of what operators should be getting in exchange. Is the trade-off access to new markets? Higher-intent customers? Off-peak demand?
However, there is one important caveat, and this comes back to the importance of defining roles. “Trade or B2B distribution should complement your direct strategy,” Basora emphasizes, “it should not compete.”
What to do instead: Ask what you’re actually getting in exchange for the commission each distribution partnership involves — and weigh that against your goals and growth strategy.
Learn More about B2B Partnerships and Distribution Strategy with Arival
In her upcoming Arival | Elevate session, Basora will go deeper, including on how to structure partnerships for long-term, profitable growth and how a distribution strategy should evolve as a business matures. She’ll also walk through what operators should actually be asking in exchange for the commission they pay out, what a well-defined mix should look like (including examples of partner type, channel, and source market), and point to a few distribution channels that don’t get nearly enough attention from operators trying to grow profitably.
Interested in B2B distribution for multi-day operators? Check out this article by Jeff Kwok from Fieldbook on the same topic: “Unlocking B2B Distribution for Your Tour Business.”
Join us for an upcoming Arival event to learn more about distribution strategy, working with OTAs and other resellers, and scaling your business during THE event of the year for creators and sellers of tours, activities, attractions & experiences. We hope to see you there!
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