Across the world app based taxi companies target cities since their business model requires people with smart phones and uninterrupted internet connectivity. However city landscape not only has huge base of customers but also comes with heavy competition today we are aware of so many companies and our smart phones are loaded with their applications, this makes the companies to hunt for new markets.
Of course suburbs are the next place which replicates the background of a city. Most of the suburbs are residential areas, with people in need of taxis to reach to work place and move into the city.
Also most of the suburban dwellers use personal cars a particular purpose everyday like going to work place or railway statio, so companies like Uber want to get this trip done for the residents. Their larger goal is to end the ownership of cars altogether, which sounds highly ambitious and realistically not possible.
Taxi Wars – Ola Vs Uber
They are trying to achieve this by providing an app which will fetch you car anytime anywhere by being cost effective. They are not just trying to end the concept of car ownership but also human drivers. Anyone following the auto maker’s latest news would be aware of the development plans going on for building autonomous cars. One should wonder what other things Uber has on its agenda to end.
The need for more market:
Undoubtedly it is Uber who started the craze of getting a taxi at the tap of a mobile icon. The company which is headquartered at San Francisco is now present in 66 countries and 501 cities across the globe. This shows how much the service is hit among the common people and also one must not forget the dozens of companies which run similar to Uber and yet have managed to be huge companies, the phenomenon popularly called “Uberfication”
Though being the pioneer Uber does face stiff competition from these companies mostly because they are the first in the local market. The company has competitors like Lyft in USA (home country for both Uber and Lyft) Didi Chuxing in China, Ola in India, Kabee in London, Grabtaxi in Malaysia and some parts of South east-Asia.
This shows that every country Uber has managed to step in already has a local player. One of the biggest advantages the local companies have is that they know the local problems and can address them faster than a foreign company like Uber does.
So this explains why Uber is trying to push into foreign countries in such a rush because the company wants to utilize the early bird advantage.
They are able to expand so fast because of the number of investors they are backed by it is not like they are reinvesting their own money. The company has openly agreed to the fact that they are burning 1 million dollars in china every year to capture the market.
It is not just Uber which follows “burn the cash to capture market” methodology most of today’s start-ups follow the same model. It is because of the support they get from investors who love start-ups.
Apart from though most the other companies have followed the footsteps of Uber they have tried to evolve in an unique way to capture their own market.
This means Uber has to try harder than before to expand to every possible city and suburban to maintain an upper hand over the market.
Uber’s fight with Ola in India
In the suburban market in India small taxi companies like fastrack, friends and NTL have upper hand than Ola or Uber , earlier these companies were popular in the cities however lost their shine after Uber and Ola made their entry. Now the companies are targeting suburbs, for example in Chennai suburbs, one of the metropolises in southern India, there is a huge rise in enlisting in places like avadi, ambattur etc.
Ola has turned innovative enough to crush down Uber’s market by entering in a deal with the auto rickshaws. India’s urban population still feels and agrees that auto rickshaws will be cheaper than the taxis.
So getting them on their platform will be beneficial to them, a feat that Ola was able to achieve and not Uber.
At present Ola is valued at 5 billion dollars and has also partnerships with Didi chuxing of China, Lyft of USA and grabtaxi of Malaysia. All of them have the common investor Soft bank and sequoia bank.
Ola has 80 percent market share now in India.
Didi Chuxing and Uber fight in China
China is famously known for restricting foreign companies’ presence in its market which Uber is trying hard to break; even Google was unsuccessful in its effort. So the company is trying hard to change it be the first ever successful foreign company.
Didi chuxing formed by merging two taxi companies Didi dache and kuaidi Dache in 2015. The company also has the largest share of investment apart from Airbnb and Uber showing the strength of belief it has garnered. It is valued at 16.5 billion dollars.
Ironically China is the biggest market to Uber outside America.
Lyft and Uber
Started in 2012 the company gives a tough competition to Uber in its home country. The famous pink moustache has partnered with general motors’ to further its expansion and gain further technical solutions to its business. The company mangled to raise 2 billion dollars funding. Though second to Uber the company is fighting hard to gather the market.
Kabee in London
When big companies like Uber and Lyft are trying hard to gain the masses Kabee the new comer is doing it silently. The company at present is small but is steadily growing so it is worth watching out. They also accept cash apart from their Kabee account.
Also the traditional black cabs in London have formed their own application to keep their market intact.
Conclusion
These are some of the major competitors for Uber across the world; they are no smaller to Uber and are fighting hard. So the pioneer has to struggle to keep its market uninterrupted. Thus it is moving into suburbs, delivering groceries, food and even into two wheeler rides
Ref- Getmetaxi Software is a Taxi Dispatch Software developed by Company called Casperon Technologies .
