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  • 26 Mar 2022

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  • 26 Mar 2022


Business Model of OLA: A Bond with the Customers


Transport is very crucial, and without this, we cannot imagine life. It provides us convenience for going from one place to another. It is tremendous because every economic activity is dependent upon the transportation system in every manner. It is a crucial part of our daily schedule.

With an initiative to serve the people with proper transportation services, Ola has brought cabs for the customers. It is considered as the most convenient, relaxed, and comfortable means of transportation. They give us the ease and convenience of moving from the doorsteps to the exact destination at the proper time.

These days, many modes of transportation are introduced, and today we see different types of vehicles on the roads that help the people in transportation, designed to fulfill precise travel requirements. The trend of private car hire and cabs is increasing day by day. Ola is the best option to get cab booking with ease.

These are associated with extra comfort and luxury for travelers. It marks its attribute in offering cabs to the people with comfortable services. It also has its access on the international platform and started operations in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Its services include the vehicle for Hire, Food Delivery, and Delivery.

Ola - Full Form & Logo

Ola marks its origin from the Spanish word Hola which means Hello. The name indicates its services are as easy and friendly as the word, just like saying a ‘hello’. Its logo is the type of Wordmark logo, which is simple and styled as OLA. The logo also has an O which represents a tyre, that signifies the continuous running of the business with the cab, which will always satisfy the needs of the customers.

Mission and Vision

Mission, OLA

The mission statement of the company states - To provide the best transport services. It serves the demands of many people, and it is mandatory for them. We need to travel from one place to another place in our daily life due to many reasons. These services are the most economic and affordable form of transportation by considering the ease. Hiring its service saves a great deal of time and energy of the people. It saves from the hassles, such as walking to the desired destination, waiting for the vehicle, and struggling to find a seat. These provide very flexible and can be customized service according to the needs.

The vision statement states - Be the leader. The benefits of market leadership in any sector bring many advantages to the people, as it offers companies to hire better talent, access lower cost of capital, and also secure price discounts. It shows its attributes in fueling the cabs with prosperity, which helps in escalating the business growth.

Values

Effectiveness:

Effectiveness is associated with the business nature as it is effective in raising the level of productivity. The cabs service demonstrates the effectiveness that helps produce high-quality results, ultimately satisfying the needs of the customers.

Creativity:

Creativity allows us the business to solve problems creatively as it makes us think with an open mind. It helps in bringing big ideas and knocks the door of new business opportunities.

Modernization:

It offers businesses the power to create new features and services that align with current business needs and escalates the business to the height of success.

Efficiency:

Efficiency marks its attribute in maximizing the outputs from given inputs, which helps the business to increase productivity. This also helps a business to increase its achieve growth and success in hundredfold.

Founders and Team

Founders, Bhavish Aggarwal, Ankit Bhati

Bhavish Aggarwal is the founder of Ola who also worked for Microsoft Research in Bangalore. Mr. Aggarwal started his business with its first online site - Olatrip.com which was associated with holiday packages and weekend trips. It marks its launch on 3rd December 2010. While traveling from Bangalore to Bandipur, Mr. Aggarwal rented a car.

He had an unpleasant experience with it. The driver had a renegotiation for the pay that Mr. Aggarwal was paying, but he was refused, and hence proceeded to abandon Bhavish en route to his destination. This was the situation when Mr. Aggarwal decided how the customers look for good quality can services. He then came up with the Cabs services by changing the Olatrip.com business model.

With the aim to serve customers with convenient and hassle-free cab service, the Co-founder and CTO of the company became part of Ola Cabs in November 2010. He works with the technical sides of the company and ensures a quick service to the people. He took efforts with Mr. Aggarwal to help the company to achieve prosperity, ultimately satisfying the needs of the customers.

Marketing Strategy

OLA, Marketing, Strategy

Giving Priority to Customers

The company takes efforts to prioritize the experience of the consumer so that the current customers could receive value from the product and as well as their interactions with the team.

It increases their experience, ultimately fulfills their needs, and also shows the methods that help to improve the performance. Giving priority to customers not only increases their value but also promotes new value, which keeps them satisfied all the time. When the industries keep the consumers happy and satisfied, then they get new potential consumers.

Ola Mini

Ola works smartly to maintain and increase its customer base. It offers personalized services has been the key to the success of the business model. It always maintains the interest of the current customers, along with gaining new ones.

It brings benefits hundredfold, and therefore builds a strong bond with them. The price of Ola Mini is not more and is equal to the fare rate of auto, which attracts the interest of the customers towards it. Hence, helps the company to increase the customer base.

Social Media

Social media refers to the online means of promoting the business, as it is well-known and most relevant for marketing services, products, or brands. It is a reliable choice of the audience, who want to market their products online and get an immediate response. This leads to an increase in sales of any small or big business.

It brings direct traffic to the website, through the posting of content, and gives the customers a more fruitful experience. The company came up with the launch of its first campaign on Facebook known as the #chaloniklo battle. This campaign was a huge success and became popular. The company found an increase in the number of downloads significantly due to this campaign.

Partnership with TVF

The company has a partnership with The Viral Fever (TVF), which is an Indian online web series platform, that is associated with a huge fan base. This partnership marks its importance in bringing great advantage for both the companies, as it helps in bringing the new potential to the business. It also increases the knowledge, expertise, and reaches a greater audience. It also gets access to more knowledge, innovation, expertise, and funds, and also makes us better, and enhances our strengths.

Business Model

Ola, Business, Model

As we have seen that the company got its name from the Spanish word - Hola, which indicates Hello in English. The company came up with its Taxi Rental Fleet Business, and also owned a fleet of cabs. The customers contact the call center to book the cabs, which are available at anytime and anywhere, which marks its importance and uniqueness. The customer pays the fare at the end of the trip. The company shows its importance in offering the now has changed the business model into an app-based cab aggregation services.

Its application works in the following manner:

The application has brought the portable GPS which detects the location of the customers and provides the fastest and most accurate method to navigate and determine location, which enables increased levels of safety for the customers.

The app shows the availability of various cabs nearby such as mini, prime, sedan, Ola share, etc, which is at the core of customer satisfaction and business success. It shows the availability of services at anytime with convenience, ultimately marking the attribute of punctuality.

It further asks the customer to enter a drop location. Then it shows the list of fare prices according to the size of the cabs so that the people can select a cab according to their needs. This makes them aware of the price so that they can decide whether it is worth their time.

If a driver is logged in in the app, then he receives the request message, which is routed via the servers of Ola. It shows that after the login, the app connects the customers with the drivers, to get hassle-free services.

The app sends a confirmation to the customers along with the details of the driver after he accepts the request. These details can be used to connect and coordinate with the driver.

The driver then takes the customer from the pickup point, and drops them to their destination, and takes the payment via the selected payment method.

How it Works

In order to provide convenient services, the company offers a wide range of cars to choose from depending on the number of travelers, budget, and comfort. One can hire shared taxis, autos, bikes, and even e-rickshaws with ease. It also serves its customers with Ola Play and takes care of everything to ensure a hassle-free experience. One can also take the experience of the subscription-based membership program on the platform, which provides premium benefits on rides.

It also serves with Ola outstation to travel outside the city and Ola rentals to rent a cab on an hourly basis. The Ola corporate is launched in 2016, which is used when the employees book their rides through Ola corporate, the fare is deducted from the corporate prepaid account.

Hence, companies can easily track the travel expenses of their employees while ensuring their safety. It also serves the people with a credit card, postpaid, and mobile wallet, and the hospicash, which is a collaboration between Ola and Religare health insurance that allows the policyholders to claim Rs. 5000 per day in case of hospitalization option with the introduction of Ola money.

Revenue Model

Ola, revenue, model

Trip Commission

Ola initially charges the base fare, then calculate the total time of the ride which marks the beginning till upto dropping on the destination.

It also calculates the waiting time, when the customer asks the driver to wait for some time. The fare based on distance per kilometer differs from one city to another and also on the type of cab booked and is charged as per kilometer.

It raises the cost on the basis of per kilometer traveled distance. It gets high revenue and productivity whenever the business gets aligned with more demand for cabs. The cab also charges the fees in advance if the customer books it in advance.

More fees is associated with the entertainment which is provided while commuting in the cab, which is called as convenience fees. After all these charges, there arrive the toll and parking fees, which is charged depending on the toll junctions crossed and car parking service. It also charges cancellation fees when the ride is canceled by the customers. Ultimately, it charges the service tax and some other charges of the overall trip.

In-Cab Advertisements

The company markets the brands and products by sharing some advertising tools, such as brochures, leaflets, and others with the passengers sitting inside the cab. It helps the brands to reach a wider audience. Ola gets its revenue in the form of commission from all the companies after such promotions.

Credit Card

The company has came-up with the launch of the Ola Money SBI Card, by collaborating with the State Bank of India and VISA, which has a zero joining fee and Rs. 499 as an annual fee. It gets associated with various rewards. It is one of the ways of earning, which provides a certain percentage of commission after each payment is done with the Ola Money SBI Card.

Cab Leasing

Cab leasing is another source of income, where the company purchases cars and then leases it to the drivers, which creates a way for revenue. It brings jobs for the drivers by helping them join the Ola platform with a minimum joining fee. This joining fee marks its importance in bringing additional revenue.

Corporate Tie-Ups

It has proposed its Cab services in the form of specialized packages and plans at a subsidized rate to various corporates. It also avails the benefits of higher sales volume, which makes a way for getting revenue.

Payment

It has joined its hands with the PayTM, PhonePe, and many more, and also releases its wallet, and gets its payment easily after the passengers pay to the driver, which brings a good percentage of revenue.

Ola Prime

The company has also approached Microsoft, Apple Music, Sony Digital, and others as well for providing a fruitful experience to the passengers with entertainment.

The revenue model and the Business Model of the company are aligned with various segments.

It is very beneficial for the company as it attracts the interest of the customers towards it. It works with an intention to always satisfy the customers with fruitful service, which escalates the company towards success.

It witnesses great growth in the online cab booking sector with efficiency in terms of bookings, payment, comfort, and satisfaction.

[The images are being taken from the registered companies and belong to their respective owners only.]