Interview: Trivago Will Focus on Growth Over Profitability for Years to Come, CFO Says
Skift Take
Trivago is about 12 years old but has the attitude of a startup because the company's managing directors believe this is still the beginning of the beginning of Trivago's growth. Reduce advertising to focus on profitability? Forget about it — there are too many markets to conquer.
You are going to see a lot more of that Trivago Guy or Trivago Woman, or maybe their eventual replacements on television over the next few years.
That's because Trivago, although it believes in speed when it comes to product rollouts, believes it has "years and years" of growth ahead of it around the world, and the company is in no rush to tamp down its massive advertising spend -- 87 percent of revenue in 2016, or around $738 million -- to emphasize "rapid profitability improvements."
That's according to Trivago CFO Axel Hefer, who visited Skift's offices in Manhattan May 25, and sat down for an interview with members of the Skift editorial and research teams.
In addition to explaining some of Trivago's advertising strategy and its lack of appetite to make major acquisitions because it likes its own brand just fine, Hefer spoke about his view that the hyper focus on the company's December 16 initial public offering was overblown, and how difficult it was to really explain T
