While Ola and Uber are trying to prove who is the boss in India, Ola’s recent claim will surely hurt Uber. Ola has claimed that its ‘Micro’ category has beaten the Uber’s entire cab business in India.
Ola Micro is the small car booking service offered by Ola to compete against Uber’s UberGO. Ola is offering Rs. 6/km as compared to Uber’s Rs. 7/km. So, Ola has pricing advantage to attract more customers. But beating the entire Uber’s business with this category is a huge claim. Ola made this claim based on Internal data and data available in the market. We couldn’t confirm the claims. While making these claims, Ola did not disclose the number of daily rides.
Recently, Uber also slashed the price of UberGo in few cities to stay in the competition.
“In just under seven weeks of its launch, Ola Micro alone as a category, is larger than our nearest competitor as a whole,” Raghuvesh Sarup, head of categories and chief marketing officer at Ola, said,.
Now, if you could remember, Uber’s President Eric Alexander said in his interview that Uber will surge Ila in 30 days. he also said that Uber’s market share increased from a mere 5% in January last year to nearly 50%. Now after over a month, Uber was expected to surge Ola but Ola played a master stroke. Ola’s recent claim is just opposite to what Uber confirmed. Now, it will be interested to see the response from Uber.
Ola is present in 102 cities while Uber is only operating in just 27 cities. This is another advantage for Ola and hence, it has better reach. But, top 8-10 cities, which have the good market impact, matter.
Recently, Uber also sued Ola for loss of Rs. 50 crore. Uber claimed that Ola persons were trying to book fake orders and misguide their drivers.
We are looking in this matter and will keep you updated as more details come in. If you have anything to add, you can comment below.