How can a travel agency effectively use Shopify?

[Leandro13]

We are a travel agency and we are looking to Shopify for a way to sell on our own platform. However, I see that Shopify is more focused on ecommerce and not travel. When buying trips, the customer needs to provide more information such as: how many people will go, how many are adults and how many are children, boarding place, if they need special assistance, etc. Do you have any ideas for apps, or coders and experts that can help us make Shopify a viable medium for us?

[Junaid-Ahmed]

Hi, welcome to the Shopify Community.

While Shopify may not look like a good fit out of the box as the platform is focused on masses and the base solution is focused on most merchants. That being said, Shopify can be customized to your likings and needs.

In your case, you can customize your product pages to collection more information from the customer pre-purchase. Check out apps for product options.

In the case, if you had to charge extra based on the customers requirements, you can always modify the order or even create custom orders in the backend and the customer can pay for it in a few clicks.

If you want to explore further, I am available for further consultation.

[Leandro13]

The ideal thing for us would be for the customer to make the purchase stating how many adults and how many children will go, and then fill out a form with the rest of the information.
But if this is not possible, this information can be filled in at checkout.

[Junaid-Ahmed]

What you require is possible with customized product pages. You can accomplish this by using any product options app in the Shopify Appstore.

[Gavinator]

Please feel free to check out our App - BookThatApp. It allows you to capture additional information required for booking (e.g. dates, number of attendees or travellers, boarding place etc). Look for "booking fields" in the App. You can reach us at support @ zetya.com - we'd be happy to help you get it set up and show you examples of some of the travel related stores where our App is being used.

[furtherafar]

We ran into the same problem for our travel agency (Earthtones). We started using Cloudforest (cloudforest.io), which seems new but which works great so far. It's both easy to setup forms for private inquiries (FIT) and for scheduled departures, and supports multiple rate/room types as well as traveler types (children/adults). They were in a private beta when we signed up last month so you have to contact them for access. 

[Peggy345]

To enhance your travel agency's Shopify experience, consider reaching out to Shopify experts or app developers who can customize the platform for your specific needs. Look for professionals with experience in travel-related features, ensuring smooth integration for customer details like group size, special assistance, and boarding preferences.

[australiadiscov]

You’re right that Shopify is primarily an eCommerce platform, but with the right customization, it can work for travel services too! You could look into Shopify Apps that handle custom forms or multi-step checkout processes, allowing customers to input necessary travel details. Also, hiring a developer to modify your Shopify site for travel bookings is a great option. If you're looking for inspiration, check out how we handle customized travel bookings and offer tailored services for travelers on our platform.