Taxi Booking Uber Clone: A Profitable Niche to Consider for Startups
The term Uber is no longer considered to be a philosophical concept given by the German philosopher Nietzsche. It has get into the world of on-demand transportation solutions, and it has made such a massive cultural impact that people do not even talk about booking a taxi but only talk about calling an Uber. Such has been the cultural impact of this San Francisco-based transportation on demand company which is just a little over a decade old.
What makes Uber and the entire ride-hailing industry so powerful?
As of the first quarter of this year, Uber has about 93 million active users and it has processed about $26.6 billion worth of bookings in the year 2020 alone. Every quarter account for about 1.44 billion rides which is about a seventh of the global population. Uber has a staggering 68% share in the US market. Although there has been a massive slump in the usage of ride healing services, it is expected that the industry will bounce back with greater intensity in the near future.
It is also to be noted that Uber is the most downloaded app in the travel category for both iOS and Android. The app was installed a whopping 95 million times. What makes this number better is that its direct competitors’ app has been downloaded only 25 million times, which is the second largest & well-known taxi provider. People spent about 46.15% more on Uber than its closest competitors.
What could be noted as an interesting and also a lucrative piece of statistical information is that the five cities Chicago, Los Angeles, São Paulo, New York, and London contribute to about 22% of all the mobile bookings on Uber, and these five markets alone accounted for about $5.85 billion in total booking.
The opportunity that lies ahead.
Uber has marked a very strong presence in more than 600 cities spread across 90 different countries. If you were to consider the total number of cities and the number of countries, Uber has only touched the tip of the iceberg.
This presents an interesting opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to explore this space of ride-hailing. It is a lucrative business idea to build a taxi booking app like Uber.
The app ecosystem: A seamless functionality
To understand the application ecosystem, we will need to understand how an app like Uber works. There are three distinct applications, one for the user, one for the driver, and one for the administrator.
The user downloads the application and registers for the services. They should be able to register either using their email address or phone number or existing credentials like Google and Facebook. After that, they can create a profile for them that will keep a record of all the rides that they have ever taken, their default addresses and payment information.
The user should be able to book a ride in less than three clicks. Once the ride is booked, the request will be sent to the drivers in the vicinity through the dedicated app. The drivers should also be able to register without any hassle. The registration should also have an identity verification process in place. Since the drivers are not employees but only gig workers, they should have the freedom to toggle their availability and also reject rides. They should, however, be informed that the earnings depend on the number of rides.
The GPS plays a very important role in identifying the location of the users. By using the GPS, mapping, and navigation combination, the driver can, without any hassle, reach the location of the user. The GPS can also help the drivers navigating through territories that are completely new to them. Push notification can be integrated with GPS, so users are informed if the driver reaches near the pick-up location.
Another big advantage brought about by a taxi booking app like Uber is the elimination of uncertainties with respect to pricing. In most cases, if there are not many details or deviations, the price of the ride is equal to the one determined even before the rain starts. The price of the taxi ride is determined by a plethora of factors like distance, fuel costs, traffic, and demand. As you may have known, Uber has a practice of increasing the prices during times of high demand, infamously called surge pricing.
The app should be integrated with payment systems in both directions. The user should be provided multiple payment instruments like credit cards, debit cards, Internet banking, and wallets for safe & secure transactions. On the other side, after the commission is deducted, the earnings of the users should be quickly credited to the bank account without any delay. This will help in possibly increasing the credibility for your brand among other drivers.
What makes the entire system democratic is the review and rating system. As much as the user should be able to review the driver’s behavior or performance, the driver should also be able to rate the user based on the driving experience, professionalism, and amicable behavior.
Overseeing all these functions is the administrator who is responsible for maintaining the sanity and sanctity of the app. They should have the power to disable drivers and users based on their behavior. They should also have an option to control the content on the app, and run discounts and offers if needed. They are also responsible for customer support, and if need be, customer support can be delegated to a different team.
The channels of revenue
There are different ways in which an app like Uber can earn its revenue.
Commission fees- The primary source of revenue is the commission that it earns from every ride. In essence, an app like Uber functions as an affiliate for the driver to earn an income. If not for the app, the driver would not do anything at all!
Therefore, for facilitating the ride, Uber takes a commission from the driver. Considering the number of drivers and the volume of taxi bookings, this contributes to the biggest chunk of revenue.
Surge pricing – Sometimes, Uber increases the pricing of a ride by a significant margin based on factors like demand, traffic, and weather. Such increased prices called surge prices also contribute to the revenue of Uber.
Cancellation charges – Uber also charges a cancellation fee for every canceled ride from the driver. Although it might not be a massive chunk of money, it still contributes to the revenue.
Advertisements – In some cases, an app like Uber can also opt to run advertisements within the app. Although most taxi applications do not engage in this kind of revenue generation process, it can still be considered a lucrative territory that has not been completely tapped into yet.
The significance of white label Uber Clone
All these factors like the open and lucrative market, and the possibilities of revenue generation from multiple avenues make Uber model an excellent business idea for any aspiring entrepreneur. The first step, apart from the operational and business aspects, is to build an app like Uber.
There are different ways in which you can build your app. You can either opt to hire your own development team in house or you can outsource it to a company that specializes in Uber-like app development.
However, a better alternative is to use a white label Uber clone. A white label Uber clone app is available as a ready-made product and it can easily be customized according to your requirements on both the technical and visual front. Since it has already been perfect as a product, you do not have to worry about glitches that might interfere with the expected basic functionality. It also serves to save a lot in terms of both time and money.
Conclusion
Now that you are aware of the existence of white label solutions and the advantages they present, all that is left for you to do is to get in touch with the company that specializes in the development and customization of white label Uber clone applications. They will take care right from understanding your requirements till presenting you with a perfect solution that will start launching you in the territory of profitability, one ride at a time!
