Just 20 per cent of all UK rail tickets purchased in 2015 were through online channels, a new report has found.
Despite a surge in growth in online sales over the past seven years, the majority of travellers still buy tickets offline.
The report from rail technology company Silverrail found the UK is significantly behind other European countries. In France and Spain, over 40 per cent of rail tickets are bought online and in Sweden it’s as high as 90 per cent.
Silverrail’s chief commercial officer Cameron Jones believes while other industries thrive online train operators have failed to “capitalise on this opportunity.
“It is encouraging to see growth in online sales in the UK but with 80% of rail passengers still using offline channels to complete their rail ticket purchases, there is still a lot of room for improvement,” said Jones.
The UK Rail Market Insights Report also found an interesting trend when analysing how purchasing behaviour changes depending on how close to departure bookings are made. When travellers purchase advance tickets (more than one week ahead of departure), online purchases account fore more than 50 per cent of those sales. In comparison travellers who book during the week of departure overwhelmingly book offline, with 75 per cent of purchases made at a ticket office.
David Pitt, Head of UK at Silverrail said: “The report has revealed some fundamental areas of focus for the UK rail industry. The disparity in purchasing patterns between advance bookings and on the day purchases (or close to travel purchases) highlights that this is an area that requires attention. The emergence of third party retailers and technology advances have had a small impact on online booking adoption and our report shows there is still some way to go. This, in part, is due to the persistent reliance on the ‘orange ticket’.”
He added: “There will always be customers who need on-the-day ticket office services, but delivering, purchasing and ticket fulfilment improvements are a huge opportunity for train operating companies.”
Head to the Silverrail website to view the full report