competitor analysis

competitor analysis

• 1.
  Introduction to the Company UpGradProduct Management Competitor Analysis Student Name: Pushpender Singh Email: [email protected]
• 2.
  CompetitionAnalysis–MERUCABS Meru, a PremierRide Hailing Service In India , was launched in Mumbai in 2007 in association with True North (formerly known as India Value Fund Advisors) and has Positioned themselves as a Trusted Brand in Organised Taxi Market Space with steadily expanding its footprint in India. Headquartered in Mumbai, MeruCabs have presence across 24 cities in the country and offers Five different types of products which are tailored for customer travel needs. Meru has ride of more than 20,000 cabs and evolved as a favourite of over 12 million riders. DIRECT COMPETITORS INDIRECT COMPETITORS Source: Google, Meru
• 3.
  Competitive Analysis –Background Backgrounds GOALS Ola is committed to its goals of Integrating City Transportation onto mobile technology platform for customers and driver-partners for ensuring convenient, transparent, and quick service fulfilment. Meru Goal is to evolve as an world class Taxi service in the markets they cater and make there Brand stands for Convenience, Reliable and Unique distinguished quality of services in Taxi hailing industry. MISSIONS Users Across 110+ Cities can access Ola Mobile apps and connect with more than 1,000,000 Driver partners across Different categories of cabs, Taxis and Auto-Rickshaws. Driven by a hyper local approach, Ola is committed to its mission of building Efficient mobility services for a billion people. Meru Mission is to emerge as First Only Choice for any Land Transport solutions in India By providing its commuters with Unique world class Travelling Experience by using technology as its core leveraging point. STRATEGIES Ola Initial Strategy was aggregation model with discounting backed by technology for expansion to many Indian cities. Then they moved to hybrid model for ensuring driver loyalty for Establishing Ola as Leader in cab Hailing service Market. Meru Initial Strategy was to Purchase car under its Brand followed by Leasing them to drivers by providing Required Training and Better service Features for its Customers which ensured control on Customer experience. Also, started with aggregation model for competing with Ola/Uber. CURRENT EMPLOYEES Ola has around 8161 Employees Meru cabs has 1000+ Employees FUNDING Total Funding $3.5 Billion, OLA investors are Sailing Capital, Falcon Edge Capital, Softbank and Recent 650 Crore funding by Sachin Bansal Meru has total funding of $75mIllion and its equity stakeholders are Brand Capital, India Value Fund Advisors Private Limited
• 4.
  Competitive Analysis –Background (Contd.) Backgrounds REVENUE DETAILS In 2016 Filing, Ola Generated 758 Crore and consolidated loss of Rs 2,313 crore. Total revenue from subsidiaries like Ola Fleet Technologies, Ola money, Zip cash Card Services and Ola Electric Mobility. For FY 2015-16, Meru has reported net sales of 319 Crore and loss of 16.4 Crore and company has been operationally profitable since 2011-12 FOUNDERS PROFILES Ola cabs was started by Bhavish Agarwal and Ankit Bhati. They both are Graduate from IIT Bombay Batch of 2008 and 2009. Ankit worked in startups like QED42, Make sense and Wilcom while Bhavish worked in Microsoft for 2 Years Before starting with Ola Cabs which is most valued and Respected Start-up in On demand Transportation space with valuation of $4 Billion. Bhavish has won entrepreneur award for corporate excellence 2017 Neeraj Gupta is founder and MD of Meru Cabs which was started in April 2007 in partnership with India value funds by issuing equity stake against the capital infused. Neeraj has setup META - driver Training facility focused on upliftment of the drivers and also started New venture “Freshkins Foods India Pvt. Ltd”. He Received the “Largest & Best Taxi Company in the Country Award” from All India Passengers Association and “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” by the Bombay Management Association (BMA) Source: Google Ola Meru owler
• 5.
  BUSINESS MODEL ANALYSIS Backgrounds OPERATINGCITIES Ola has expanded to a network of more than 10,00,000 vehicles across 169 cities. In January 2018, Ola extended into its first overseas market, Australia, in New Zealand in September 2018. It also has presence in UK. Meru Available in 23 cities which are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Noida, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Pune, Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Mysore, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Indore, Ludhiana, Coimbatore, and Kochi. TARGET MARKET Ola cabs Targets Three Travel segments like Outstation, Local City taxi and Rentals within city Limits. To cater these customer segments, Ola cabs have integrated its cab portfolio with Car Models such as Ola Mini, hatchback version, Sedan and Luxury vehicles along with Ola Auto for cost effective Rides. Meru currently caters to End customer segment with its B2C model in place and is planning to venture out in B2B customer segments for more sustained Revenue streams through strategic Tie-ups. They have started with trial corporate travel program in New Delhi region and have on boarded three new corporate companies. REVENUE MODEL Ola adopts Pay-For-performance Model approach, They charges commission in any sales made over its platform and also charges Small fees to Taxi drivers for accessing its technology platform. Its has 2 models - Leasing Cabs to driver and getting fixed amount paid per day basis, Driver Owns cars and Meru charges commission of 15-25% of daily fair, Since meru owns 50 % of its own fleet hence leverages by using as an advertising platform.
• 6.
  BUSINESS MODEL ANALYSIS– CONTD. BACKGROUNDS ORIGINAL MODEL CHANGES IN MODEL REASONS FOR CHANGE • Ola Original Model was Asset Light aggregation model which they developed by on boarding Local taxi services and Individual Drivers owning Taxi/Cab • Commission charged from total fare based on city and car type • Invest in technology for making excellent platforms to engage young customers and smart phone customers • Better drivers incentives to get drivers on boarded on ola platform • Acquistion of Taxiforsure for inorganic growth in 2015 • Hybrid model for Investing in buying vehicles and leasing it to drivers • Launching Ola Money mobile wallet - addition to revenue streams and customer retention • Gauging the customer demands, Expansion in products like autos, high end premium sedan segment and Launching sharing cab services • Faster acquisition of Large pool of Drivers and Vehicles and Simultaneously Increasing Ola Customer Base • Better Incentives provided to driver to ensure they are on boarded for longer time and Hence Good customer experience Streamlining • Launching Different price points products for varied category of customers from Luxury to Auto segments • With Increasing customer demand for Better facility and comfort, Ola Launched Wi-Fi and Ola select services Source: Google inc42 , unicornomy
• 7.
  BUSINESS MODEL ANALYSIS– CONTD. BACKGROUNDS ORIGINAL MODEL CHANGES IN MODEL REASONS FOR CHANGE • Started as Asset Heavy Inventory Model which was capital intensive which had better control on drivers • Targeted Customer were Airport and Railway Doing advance booking • Revenue stream from advertisements placed in cab • Fixed Fare model and Transparent pricing model • Drivers need to pay Fixed per day Rate • Shifted to Hybrid model - Asset Light Aggregation model with revenues on commission basis • Expansion to Tier 2 cities for more customer base • Bringing new unique model for giving customer new options to choose ride based on Car Model, Expected time of arrival, fare and rating of each cab driver. • Meru Cabs is aggressively focused on getting its B2B offerings doubled to provide corporate employees Transportation Facilities, Car rentals and Airport contracts.. • Launched Genie - Low Cost Taxi service which has hatchback fleet Responsible for 75 % of revenues and Meru Plus Premium brand extension • To counter falling revenues, Meru to focus on B2B Customer segments with ola and Uber Leading in B2C Cab hailing market • Improved Data connectivity and Cheaper smartphones helped in faster expansion to Tier2/3 Cities and garnering customer Base • Meru Competitors with deep pockets were able to provide customers with high discounts and Better incentives for drivers to gain market share • Meru aims to increase booking through the app to cut manpower costs.
• 8.
  STRENGTH & WEAKNESSANALYSIS PARAMETERS STRENGTH WEAKNESS PAIN POINTS • First Taxi Aggregator to launch its service in India hence First Mover advantage. • Taxi for sure Acquisition to gain strong hold on Taxi hailing services Market • Marketing Ola as Preferred Brand Name for Taxi services using Print, TV and Online Platform • Network effect Responsible for increasing customer Base in short span of time • Massive Expansion across fleets and Online application Platform • Customer complaint of service issues due to lack of training to drivers • Huge Marketing spends for inorganic user growth which impacts profitability of company • Due to ambiguity in Government Taxi cabs Rules & Regulations, Ola has to be prepared to change product Features in short span of time for which additional cost is required and Degradation of services . • Drivers misconduct in terms of navigation, Service denial, and app abuse etc. affect Ola Brand Image • Charging the user multiple times for rides • Payment delays for driver community • Unreasonable surge prices on rides • Ola drivers Lack proper training on app use. • First mover advantage in radio taxi operator segment and Strong awareness as a taxi operator in India • Meru Training Academy for Making Drivers Trained on factors of safety, Behaviour skills and Good Car Condition • Meru Cabs early entry in metered Radio cabs segments & Provide 24x7 e-bill services facility for the customers • Served more than 2 million customers & Received several awards like NASSCOM-CNBC IT User Award 2008 holistic approach to IT adoption with the business strategy of the company • Expensive fares compared to its competitors • Huge investment Required for expansion to other cities considering its business model of owning the vehicles • Presence in lesser number of cities and pressure on marketing budget with Its competitors having deep pockets • Meru app Issues/security features lacking • Bugs in Meru app with instances of app getting crashed • Less efficient customer service. • Late Notification Regarding cab unavailability for advance cab booking • Expensive Fares/Less offers • Service denial By Drivers hence creating confusion for customers Source (Pain points): Linkedin blogs , Googleplay & Unicornomy
• 9.
  PRODUCT DETAILS ANDPERFORMANCES ANALYSIS PARAMETERS Apps download IOS - NA Android - 50M – 60M Windows - NA IOS - NA Android - 1M – 5M Windows - NA App Ratings IOS - Rating: 4.6 with 835,552 reviews Android – 4.1 rating with 1140000 reviews Windows - NA IOS - Rating: 2.5 with 300 reviews Android – 3.8 Rating with 56000 reviews Windows - NA How is the user experience of the apps? • Ola Cabs are first to launch App for booking Cab services. • UI are made from point of view of convenience of booking cabs/Auto in less time • Many Segments of cabs available with categories of within city, outstation and rental services. • Faster than competitors apps • Other issues are with GPS location, Long time for cab to Reach customer Location under share cab options • Meru Cabs Launch Application quite late in cab hailing market • Last Minute booking availability • Cross Platform app rather than OS Specific App • Multiple Clicks to book Ride/Not so effective app • Limited segments of cars available on app • Expensive services and Less safety Features Source: OlaGoogleplay, MeruGoogleplay
• 10.
  PRODUCT DETAILS ANDPERFORMANCES ANALYSIS PARAMETERS How is the overall functionality of the apps? Ola App continuous to dominate in cab hailing service with having largest Market share by Providing better User experience with inbuilt features like setting up pick location, choosing cabs category and using multiple payment options, Confirmation and Tracking Cab in Real time. Other Benefits offered are : • Different ways to pay with the options of ola money, UPI, debit/credit cards, Jio Money • Money Saving options for Regular Travel customers by availing Cab pass & share pass services • Ola Play, schedule ride later, Checking Fares for Rides before scheduling and Travel with safety features • Meru app provides features to book Instant Ride and Later Ride scheduling by selecting Destination, Fare/Model/ETA selection and booking ride. • True Marketplace Model: The only cab app that enables driver-partners to set own fare in a given range, customers can choose cab ride based on lowest fare, lowest ETA, highest driver rating and car model. • Payment modes like Cash, Wallet apps like paytm, jiomoney, Freecharge or bharat QR Code • Tracking cab Real time, ICE(In case of emergency) security features Inbuilt • Different Range of cabs like Hatchbacks, Sedans, SUVs for local, outstation or rental services Source: Googleplay Economic times
• 11.
  FUTURE INITIATIVES –OLA • Ola looking to leverage its Ola Play platform by getting more advertisers on board and partnership with Microsoft will help passengers to improve their efficiency/productivity by giving access to MS Office Tools on car screens. • Increasing number of Regional languages on Ola App to provide better flexibility to customers & drivers of tier 2 cities and ultimately increasing the app usage considering its expansion Growth strategy Plan in Tier 2/3 Cities. • Ola cabs launched 'Ola Partners League' – a unique virtual cricket game for its driver partners by building solutions and initiatives for driver partners to enable their professional and personal growth to establish Strategic Relationship with its driver community. • To empower woman Driver entrepreneur, Olacabs Has Launched - "Pink cabs" services which will only caters to female passengers hence creating a niche and USP for Itself. Ola continuously streamlining its App for better customer experience by working on features like Precise GPS Locations, Decreasing Ola App Lagging times, Route path on Real time basis and In app button for Passenger safety purpose. • Ola venturing into New Markets of Australia, New Zealand and UK to cater to local needs by Leveraging its Technology capabilities to gain significant market share by providing fair commission Based Deals to drivers and Excellent quality of Rides to passengers with safety Features. • Ola continues to collaborate with Governments, Local Authorities and other Institutions to solve Transport and other mobility issues 1. Have setup Ola mobility Institute for developing Thought Leadership on issues of mobility, energy and environmental issues 2. Exclusive Tie-up with Chennai International Airport for Improving last mile connectivity 3. #RoadtoGold for nationwide crowd funding campaign to enable gold Dreams for India. Source: Ola Media , Economic Times & Redseer Reports