title: “Wego Meta-Search Research & Build Blueprint (Summary)” category: Competitive Intelligence status: Complete created: 2026-02-25 related:

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Wego Meta-Search Research & Build Blueprint

Note: This is a condensed summary. For the full detailed blueprint, see wego-build-blueprint.md.

Generated: 2026-02-25 10:15:19 UTC

1. Competitive Parity Checklist (Flight Meta-Search)

Core Search

One-way, Round-trip, Multi-city
Passenger & cabin selection
Airport autocomplete (IATA + city)
Flexible dates (±3 days)
Currency localization

Results & Filters

Price range
Stops filter
Airline filter
Departure/arrival time
Duration
Layover airport
Sort by price / duration / best value

Transparency

Fare breakdown (base + tax + fees)
Baggage info
Refund/change rules
Price re-check before redirect

Monetization

Affiliate tracking (UTM + click ID)
Sponsored placements
On-platform checkout (hybrid model)

2. System Architecture Overview

Core Components

CDN + WAF
API Gateway
Search Session Service
Supplier Orchestrator
Supplier Adapter Layer
Offer Normalization + Deduplication
Ranking Engine
Attribution Engine
Fraud Detection
Data Warehouse + Forecast Engine

Performance Targets

Page load < 3s
API p95 < 500ms
99.9% uptime
Progressive result streaming

3. Unit Economics (Per 1,000 Searches)

Conservative Scenario

Revenue: ~$21.60
Variable Cost: ~$43.00
Contribution: Negative

Base Scenario

Revenue: ~$53.28
Variable Cost: ~$25.80
Contribution: ~$27.48

Upside Scenario

Revenue: ~$129.60
Variable Cost: ~$15.00
Contribution: ~$114.60

[!WARNING] Break-even requires multi-million searches per month depending on fixed burn.

4. Risk Assessment

Key Risks

Commission compression
Google Flights dominance
Affiliate dependency
SEO volatility
Click fraud (high in travel vertical)
Regulatory disclosure requirements

Mitigations

Diversify revenue (ads + CPC + selective checkout)
Strong fraud detection
Caching + cost control
Regional positioning strategy
B2B2C partnerships

5. Strategic Phases

timeline
    title Strategic Implementation Phases
    Phase 1 : Profitable Core
            : Supplier integration
            : Ranking v1
            : Attribution + analytics
            : Cost control via caching
    Phase 2 : Revenue Expansion
            : Sponsored placements
            : Experimentation framework
            : Price trend signals
    Phase 3 : Strategic Moat
            : Forecast engine
            : Personalization
            : Selective on-platform checkout
            : Data monetization

End of Document