Ola to be launched in London: How Ola managed to overpower Uber in UK and India? [Success Strategies]

Ever since its launch, both Uber and Ola have excelled in the taxi business and are healthy rivals. They have always used different strategies to beat one another and stay in the top position. The UK and India are two main countries where Uber and Ola are being used extensively. In recent times, both Ola and Uber have planned to extend their business to various geographical regions. Another plan they had was to achieve an economic balance and thereby obtain more market shares. Following the success of the two taxi tycoons, many entrepreneurs launched their taxi services like Ola or uber using an Uber Clone app. 

After a continuous streak of successfully on-boarding drivers and catering to the transportation needs of customers in India, Ola is now all set to launch its exceptional services in London on February 10th 2020. Initially Ola got the license for ride-hailing services in London in early July 2019. They have been operating in major cities of the United Kingdom – Warwick, Birmingham, Coventry and so on since 2018. Ola got its license to operate in the UK after demonstrating that the taxi service providing company will stick to the rules drafted by the government. With Uber out of the picture in the UK, Ola stands uncontested. 

Business strategy of Ola

Ola targeted to be a key player in the Indian market, and so it introduced a few customer-oriented strategies to increase its customer base. It employed an approach called App Analytics using which they were able to analyze and measure the performance of their services. City wise and driver wise performance could also be analyzed using the analytics technique.

They also hosted several ad campaigns on social media platforms. A study was also conducted to find out the average age of people who use Ola regularly. People between the age of 20-25 used Ola regularly to commute to their office and back home. So, they became the target audience, and Ola directed its marketing towards them. 

Uber’s business strategy:

Uber has handled its ups and downs smoothly. One of the major business strategies that helped them develop rapidly was the first free ride. Any new user who registers with uber will be given the first ride free of cost. Similarly, they also gave referral rewards to the users if they shared the app with their friends or relatives. The drivers with Uber also got a referral bonus on referring drivers to join Uber.

Uber always has new and innovative approaches to make the customer happy. Occasionally, they allow the customer to ride with a famous musician or deliver kittens to a few customers at their workplace. These strategies excited the users, and they started preferring Uber over other apps. 

Recent developments of Ola and uber:

Both Ola and Uber have developed their business swiftly in recent months. Ola has made all arrangements to launch its service in London, with 20,000 drivers on board since November. It also announced that for the first six weeks, it would not take any commission from the driver. 100% of their earnings will go to them. For the customers, they offered a discount of 50% if they downloaded the app before the end of April.

Uber also has plans to introduce self-driving cars in the future. Currently, it is working on launching a self-driven business. For the next few years, it will be dependent on drivers only. If the self-driven car approach becomes a success, then they will launch it. They are also planning to launch flying taxis, bikes, and buses in the future. 

How did Ola make it to the top this year?

Ola was setup in the year 2010 by Bhavish Agarwal, and its headquarters is located in Bengaluru. It provided its service in Mumbai first and later expanded it to other parts of India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Right now, it has several huge investors and is valued at $10 billion. Once Ola was well established in Mumbai, it extended its services to other cities and introduced their overseas service in the year 2014. By the end of 2014, it had almost 80% of the share in India’s taxi market. It also acquired fundings from many investors to develop its business. 

Recently Ola overpowered Uber in a major country with its clever yet simple strategy. It is about to launch its service in the UK with 10,000 drivers who registered with Ola in just two weeks. Ola has now become one of the top five most downloaded apps in the Play Store in India.

Ola vs. Uber:

When comparing these two giant taxi service providers, we should not forget that both of them have a strong customer base and are still competing to become the number one in the taxi market. Both of them have plans to venture their business to other sectors such as food delivery, bus service, and more. However, there are a few factors that both Ola and Uber employed in their business strategy to obtain success. A new age entrepreneur who are looking develop app like Ola/Uber should consider these points. They are listed below:

A user-friendly app:

Ola and Uber made sure that they develop apps that are user-friendly. The customers can find any option easily, and the app did not have any technical glitches. The flow of the app was also simple. The customers booked a ride in a few seconds. 

Offers and rewards:

They provided customers with good offers that saved a significant amount on their spendings on taxis. This made them lean more towards the app, and they started using it regularly. Rewards were given for each referral they made. 

Social media campaigns:

It is a known fact that social media platforms are the quickest way to reach people. Uber and Ola made good use of it. They conducted several campaigns to promote their brands. As they had expected, it became a massive success among the people. 

Providing the customer something new regularly:

The user should be interested in the app, and one way to make them do this is to provide any interesting upgrade from time to time. For instance, Ola or Uber upgraded their rides once a month from Ola auto or a car to a luxury ride. They surprised the passengers with a small surprise gift or a coupon. This made them prefer Ola and Uber over other apps. 

Conclusion:

Ola and Uber are two competitors who frame a strategy to stay on top. On witnessing their success, many entrepreneurs are planning to launch their taxi business online like Ola or Uber. They can develop a taxi app with us through our ready-made app solution – Uber clone app. Our experts will provide innovative app ideas and build the most robust app for your business. 

Author

Marketing is my soul mate and writing is my side kick. Using my writing skills to share the knowledge of app development and upcoming technologies.