The ride-hailing segment, ever since its inception in 2009 with the heralding of Uber, has grown by leaps and bounds to the extent that it was projected to be one of the most profitable segments in the near future. The business model also spawned a lot of other brands and businesses, some of them on lateral lines and some of them on the same vertical.
On one side, there were a lot of on-demand cab booking applications like Lyft, DiDi, 99, and Ola that were springing up in almost every corner of the world. Parallel to this, the Uber model had given rise to a steady stream of service businesses using the on-demand model. Some of them include but are not limited to food delivery, household and handyman services, tutoring and learning services, and even dating.
The Screeching Halt
In the most unexpected fashion, the COVID-19 caused a lot of businesses to come to a standstill, or at its best, drastically slow down. One among the most affected in this entire chaos of pandemic is transportation. People have been confined to their homes in the light of possibilities of contracting the virus and the restrictions imposed by the government.
The ride-hailing business, which was considered a juggernaut, had not been forced to come to a standstill. It had not only affected global companies like Uber but even cabs with the local scope as well. It is expected that the ride-hailing industry is expected to lose a massive share of about 50% to 60% of its business in 2020.
Even if the pandemic were to come to closure by this year, 2021 would not be as great as it was before the pandemic. People would have been used to the comfort of availing a lot of services from their homes, and the social distancing norms would mean that cabs cannot be used to that fullest capacity.
The New Normal of Ride-hailing
Some ride-hailing companies that run businesses in places where the rules have been relaxed have employed a lot of safety measures to ensure safety for both the driver and the passengers. A plexiglass partition is provided between the driver and the passenger. Thermal devices will be installed to check the body temperature of both the driver and the passenger. Drivers are not allowed to start the trip until they confirm through a selfie that they have their masks on. The vehicle is equipped with sanitizers, and the vehicle is periodically disinfected. To ensure the free circulation of air, the windows are capped either fully or partially open.
In all of this, it cannot be denied that ride-hailing has taken a significant blow. Parallel to this, a lot of ride-hailing apps undeniably have access to some of the most prized currency of today – the trust of customers on the brand and the right to communicate with them at will.
The Relevance of All-In-One Apps
We also saw that there had been a steady increase of people availing services at home. Putting both these factors together, it is quite possible that an app that offers location-based on-demand service can expand its offerings into other areas as well.
This concept is not entirely new, and in fact, a term describing such apps was coined by the founder of BlackBerry, Mike Lazaridis – aptly named ‘Super apps.’
Super applications, or super apps as they are commonly abbreviated, have given consumers the gift of availing multiple services from a single app. A super app, in essence, is an ecosystem of multiple applications that can be accessed in a uniform and unified manner.
A Few Examples
For some inexplicable reason, most of the super apps have been from China and Southeast Asia.
WeChat, which started as a simple chatting application, has now expanded to offer social gaming, taxi services, financial services, and many more.
Grab has been a tough competitor to Uber in Southeast Asia, and it dominates the market even today. Grab offers ten different on-demand taxi services alone, and it combines its core offering with a host of services including ticket purchasing, on-demand video, hotel booking, grocery delivery, and food delivery. Grab also has its own fintech wing called GrabPay that offers mobile payments.
Perhaps the most synonymous name with super apps is Gojek. It is a competitor to Grab in Southeast Asia and Uber globally. The portfolio of services of Gojek is quite wide, encompassing more than 20 different services. It includes but is not limited to transportation on-demand on cars and bikes, food delivery, grocery delivery, fuel delivery, entertainment ticketing, payment services, microfinance, and a lot more. It has created such a phenomenon that any entrepreneur who wants to build a super app will inadvertently go for an app like Gojek.
In addition to this, there are also a few apps like MyCar in Malaysia and MoMo in Vietnam that also ran their own mini-programs, making them a super app.
Benefits of Super Apps for the Taxi Business
Considering the current scenario, a taxi business can significantly benefit by expanding their offerings. It helps me to get their losses incurred because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It helps the business move into new market segments. Parallel to this, it can also help drivers find an alternate stream of revenue by using their services for delivering food or grocery or other items.
Super haps can be considered the Swiss Army knife of the app world. They provide more than one utility within a single application, making it a welcome move for customers who do not have to navigate between multiple apps.
In addition, super apps also present advantageous for the business. With the ecosystem they have created, they can expect a lot of independent app developers to keep fueling the number of apps they offer within the ecosystem. Therefore, they can add utilities without spending a lot of time on the development of new apps.
Super reps also provide the business with a rich store of data. It comes in handy when you would like to offer financial services with quick turnaround time. If you can assess the financial capabilities of a person by looking at their history of orders of cabs, food, and groceries, it is quite possible that you can give a loan to the person in line with their repayment capabilities.
Building an App Like Gojek
Gojek has, for a long time, been the gold standard of super apps. Being the first unicorn from Indonesia, Gojek boosts of a formidable portfolio of investors and has been growing at an unprecedented pace.
If you would like to expand your taxi app’s reach, profitability, and branding, all you need to do is build a multi-service app like Gojek. Instead of building the app from scratch, you can consider purchasing a Gojek clone app from white label solution providers. These white label Gojek clone apps are available off the shelf and are extremely easy to customize, making them the go-to option if you would like to launch your app in the shortest possible time.
All you need to do is get in touch with the company that specializes in creating and customizing Gojek clone applications. They will take care not only to understand your requirement but also to build the product and customize it in line with your business needs.