Driving Forward; Who bests the ride-sharing industry?

Ride-sharing services have taken over the transportation industry and it does not show any telling signs of slowing down at any point. According to the website BostonDigital, “In just four years, Uber and Lyft have surpassed any other form of ground transportation with 72.5% of the market share – outperforming rental cars at 22.3% and taxis at 5.2%” is incredible. To start, I will explain these two rival companies to give a better idea of the topic. 

Uber: It was founded in March 2009 by Garrett Camp and “Its services include ride-hailing, food delivery (Uber Eats), package delivery, couriers, freight transportation, and, through a partnership with Lime, electric bicycle and motorized scooter rental. The company is based in San Francisco and has operations in over 900 metropolitan areas worldwide. It is one of the largest firms in the gig economy.” (Wikipedia, 2021.) This companies logo is easily worldwide known as the White “Uber” logo with a black background, recognizable to almost every person.

Lyft: It was founded in 2012 by Logan Green and “The app develops markets and operates in a mobile app, offering vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, and food delivery. The company is based in San Francisco, California and operates in 644 cities in the United States and 12 cities in Canada.” (Wikipedia, 2021.) This companies logo, in my opinion, is not the most recognizable with their logo being a pink mustache attached to the back of the driver's cars. 

Getting into the digital marketing side, Lyft’s digital marketing campaigns have taken a relaxed, friendly approach. For example, their “riding is the new driving” advertising shows that Lyft is an easier solution to moving through packed roadways, avoiding parking spaces, and missing out on the costs of having to fix your car every few months. On the opposite realm of that, Uber is doing business differently. Uber, they are trying to approach the market more formally by trying to attract more business-men or clients by creating the option of “Uber Black” which is a part of their ride-share service that offers clients the option of ordering a Black SUV type of vehicle which acts more as a Chauffer than just a normal driver. According to Uber’s website, the perks of choosing Uber Black over Uber-X is that Uber Black has “professional drivers on every trip, business class vehicle, luggage support, On-demand customer service, and more flexible pick-up times”. With that being said, the point is that unlike Lyft, which is offering just normal rides and very relaxed marketing, Uber, on the contrary, is stepping up its game and is trying to trump over Lyft with newer and maybe more convenient services. 

Uber’s latest campaign, “Moving Forward,” aims to show that Uber is headed in a fresh direction under its new CEO. It states the new products and services that will be available to both passengers and drivers, along with business model changes. Uber is illustrating that they’re a force to be reckoned with in the industry – no matter what happened in the past. One thing I found interesting is around the same time both of these companies wanted to make a change to their branding and decided to make their apps bolder with new fonts, color palettes, and icons to give a new look to both of their respected brands. Uber’s specific reason for this was because “it shines a light on the advancements Uber continues to make in the industry. Uber’s rebrand aimed to focus on three primary entities: its name, the “U,” and the color black. Through these key elements, Uber was able to transform its marketing campaigns and set the bar higher in the ride-share space.” (Uber, 2021.) 

I would like to note that although the article focuses on the ride share services with the biggest market shares there is still other small competitors. Such as Via, Gett, Curb, and Z-Trip. Many of these are only available in select markets unlike Uber & Lyft so they do not get much recognition.

On a personal level, I think Uber does the best job of marketing internationally because it has ride-share services in over 80 countries around the world, where Lyft only operates in two countries which is a huge difference. With that being said though, the more countries you operate in, the bigger expenses, target audiences, etc.

In conclusion, aside from the battle to the best, both apps are undoubtedly a staple in many individuals' smartphones and these applications will not stop growing over the years. As the times change, the request for newer services will continue to grow. Who knows.. maybe ten years from now, these two companies will not only be battling each other on ground transportation but also maybe in the friendly skies as well. 

References:

Uber. (2021, April 08). Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber

Lyft. (2021, March 21). Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyft

What Is UberX | UberX Rates. (2021). Uber. https://www.uber.com/us/en/ride/uberx/