Strategies to Overcome the Competition in the Ride-Hailing Business

The ride-hailing market around the world is growing again after lockdowns and pandemic bursts. The mobility industry is trying to lose money to make a name for itself in the market.

Taxi businesses often fail because they don't have a good plan or way to market themselves. A market that already has a lot of similar services won't accept another one, and direct competition with the most popular ride-hailing services requires a lot of money.

Can you beat your competitors and run a sustainable ride-hailing business?

In the ride-hailing market, there are many big players, such as Uber, Lyft, Ola, Indriver, Didi, Careem, Grab, and BlaBlaCar.

Do newbies still have a chance? Of course, they do! Before you begin, do some research and establish a clear direction.

If you're a mobility startup, you might need to work harder to come up with effective and powerful strategies to become the next unicorn on the market and beat out the competition in the ride-hailing business.

Before discussing the strategies, let’s understand how to run your business in different situations.

WHEN MARKET FOR RIDE-HAILING BECOMES COMPET

This would mean that the market is growing, that many people are buying similar services, that competition is fierce, and that one company controls between 40 and 75 percent of the market.

This means that one to three market leaders are sharing the market, have established service standards, and have reached sophisticated audiences that demand high-quality services from taxi companies. So rather than wait 15 minutes, they would choose to cancel a ride.

If this is the case, do you believe there is a market for your new ride-hailing company?

Let us assure you that every time you dig deep and conduct a study, there is always a hidden potential that needs to be investigated. There are always those market sectors and geographical areas that these major firms underserve. You need to identify them and work toward targeting them.

We’ll help you with two strategies that might help you beat the high competition and build a profitable ride-hailing business.

• Focus on specialized market sectors that larger businesses generally overlook.
• Focusing on certain regions or cities and lowering your advertising and incentive costs will help you compete less with bigger companies.

Find a niche or area where taxi businesses are not so competitive, and you can easily become number one. Attract a smaller number of customers who are searching for something the large players don't provide. As they tell their friends about their experiences, these customers will advocate for you.

Do you need any examples to help you comprehend this?

In Los Angeles, Hop Skip Drive has introduced "Uber for kids." Customers in a crowded city needed reliable transportation for their kids every day to and from school. Hop Skip Drive spotted an opportunity in this and started a company that let clients book rides in advance with drivers who had been thoroughly vetted and had met their parents.

Interested in the outcomes? Hop Skip Drive currently holds a sizable market share, has made investments of $10 million, and intends to grow by adding services for various social groups. Children are safe, which pleases the parents.

Let’s discuss Ola, the dominant ride-hailing startup in India. Even Uber’s innovative strategy couldn’t defeat them. The main factor in this success is that Ola offers a special service that is still highly popular in India: three-wheelers (autorickshaws).

Users can pay with cash was another savvy move by Ola. For two years after entering the Indian ride-hailing service industry, Uber’s platform did not offer this capability. Even though Uber is in the market, Ola is still the market leader because it focuses on narrow market segments (people who are willing to pay in cash and people who prefer the mobility of three-wheelers to a traditional cab).

SOME OTHER IDEAS TO OVERCOME THE COMPETITION

• You can offer a full woman-driver service.
• Focus on electric vehicles.
• Offer pet-friendly taxi services.
• Make partnerships with hotels, airports, restaurants, and shopping malls.

WHEN THE RIDE-HAILING SERVICE MARKET IS UNSTABLE

We are talking about an unstable market if there are no firms with at least a 26% market share. Customers are used to ride-hailing apps and know what to expect from them, but there may be many ride-hailing companies and no clear leader.

If you start something unique, customers will immediately notice. In contrast to a market for ride-hailing services that are highly competitive, beginning a taxi business is quite advantageous. Your success will depend on whether or not your differentiation relates to the needs of the customer.

Let us give you an example. InDriver is a global ride-hailing company that operates in 45 countries. This app has amazing features and offers the best fares to its customers. Unlike Ola, Uber provides the feature of fare negotiation. InDriver allows consumers to specify the amount they are ready to pay based on an average price that is less than the rate supplied by other firms, unlike big brands that have fixed pricing for every trip. Additional options include designating whether a child seat is required, adding more destinations, etc.

Appicial is a leading mobile app development company based in India that offers the best taxi app development company with the latest features. The taxi app is available for Android and iOS devices. Get a customizable on-demand taxi booking app with your branding. We offer you the best pricing for taxi application development. To learn more original content: https://www.appicial.com/blog/strategies-to-overcome-the-competition-in-the-ride-hailing-business.html

An Uber-like taxi booking app as an extension of your online taxi or cab booking business

To keep up with the demand for current trends, taxi businesses should stop flowing conventional methods for booking a taxi, as this could prove detrimental to their company. In case you are waiting for your customers to call you and book a cab, then you are on your way to losing your clients. In Urban cities, where cabs are a common mode of transportation and are almost used by almost everyone, Uber-like taxi booking apps have started gaining importance as almost everyone now depends on pre-booked cabs for traveling and it is growing to be one of the most influential businesses across the globe. Unlike a conventional taxi company, Uber taxi passengers have a lot of features that attract them like they promise and deliver prompt pick-ups, and provide surety about the wellbeing of the passengers. Hence to be on top in this taxi business you need to up your tactics and develop an Uber Clone Taxi solution that allows you to dominate the market and we may discuss some few points as to why exactly do you need an Uber clone App Solution for your taxi business – 

1 Real-time Route tracking – A taxi app allows you to track the routes of your customers and drivers. The apps have three interfaces one for the client, one for the driver, and the last one for the admin. Hence as an admin, not only you but the clients and drivers can also keep track of the routes easily making the rides more reliable since this makes the pickup and drop easy. To add to all this you can keep track of the drivers if they have been doing their duty properly as this may affect your business directly. Customers can keep track of the routes taken by the drivers when they are waiting for them as well as when they are en route.

2. Allows more visibility in the market – The Uber clone script can get you brand visibility in today’s competitive market. When you have an app, customers come to know about you as it is easy to use and all features are shown on the app itself. Since people are more interested in booking taxis through apps, you have more chance of getting connected to customers across. Due to the real-time operations, customers prefer cabs booked through apps rather than the local taxi operators. Even if the public does not start using your app immediately by looking at the ads on Social Media, it is a means to create a database of potential customers.

3. Build a Brand – Every taxi business in the market is in competition with the Uber-like taxi booking apps as the common man now wants reliable and quick service in this fast-paced world. If you build a taxi app, your business can achieve the trust of people due to the instant services offered. The apps can also be customized as per the needs of the customers by adding new features that will make people use your taxi apps for booking their cabs.

4. Credibility – Taxi businesses that have started implementing the Uber-like taxi booking apps services in their company are been trusted by the customers as these Taxi apps are created in such a way that once the booking is confirmed all details of a driver like their Name, Contact number, their Average ratings, etc. are available on the app screen. Whenever a user starts the ride they can share all their details with their friends and there is also an SOS emergency which customers can access if they find anything weird or feel unsafe during the ride. This helps build a loyal customers base that will help you take your business a success.

5. Pricing - Conventional taxis run on meters that charge their clients exorbitant rates since there is no fixed rate policy with them. But with an Uber-like taxi booking app that provides an extension to your already existing taxi business, the customer does not face any problems in prices. They do not get into any disputes regarding payment. This is due to the fact that while booking itself, the customer has an idea about the charges per km, charges applied during peak hours or an increase in charges if the longer route is taken. The charge is known to the customer at the time of booking the cab and later an invoice copy that is generated at the end of the route leaves no room for unethical behavior. The customer is well informed of price changes if any.

6. Review and Feedback – Every taxi app has a feedback system that allows customers to leave their comments about the trips they have had with you. Your customers can report any problem faced that leaves you room for improvement. When you work on the passenger’s feedback it works towards you gaining loyal customers. The traditional taxi business has no way that the customer would complain about the services of the company and hence leaves no room for improvement.

7. Carpooling - Nowadays, Uber-like Taxi apps have come up with a system known as car-pooling. This system of sharing a cab has started gaining momentum in the market as people save huge amounts of money here. This feature allows the riders to share the ride with other riders going to the same destination and the cost is shared among them. This feature may increase the chances of more people using your app to book cabs.

8. Payment options – With the internet and smartphones working hand in hand, people have become more used to paying money through cards or wallet money rather than carrying cash with them. Unlike traditional means of cab booking, Taxi Apps offer multiple payment options like you can pay by credit card, e-wallet, or by cash also.

Having an Uber-like Taxi app can only prove beneficial to you in terms of better customer experience, simplifying your business operations, and increasing the efficiency of your drivers as well as customers. Appicial helps bring your taxi business to the forefront by creating an Uber-like Taxi app for sale that gives you the latest features and designs as per your choice. Today when many businesses want to provide their customers with a Taxi App, the company that comes to their mind is Appicial which is going to help them in Uber-like Taxi App Development that will increase their revenue and also assure them a marketplace. At present, the adoption of the new technology of taxi apps has become more of a necessity than an option.