Taxi-hailing apps Didi, Kuaidi enter new round of competition
June 23, 2014 Leave a comment
Taxi-hailing apps Didi, Kuaidi enter new round of competition
Staff Reporter
2014-06-20
Didi and Kuaidi, two of China’s leading taxi-hailing apps, have commenced a new round of marketing by offering discounts, but the two are competing under different circumstances now as they have both achieved market dominance, reports Shanghai’s China Business News.
Didi, which is backed by Chinese internet giant Tencent, launched a new campaign in late May, offering users of the mobile phone app, who pay fares using the payment service of Tencent’s WeChat online, vouchers for future rides. The move came shortly after Didi and Kuaidi, a rival backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba, ended their similar campaigns which began in January on May 17, the paper said.
On June 11, Kuaidi also launched its own World Cup-themed campaign that offers discounts for future rides to users who take part in a game to correctly predict the results of football matches during the ongoing tournament in Brazil. According to Kuaidi, its latest campaign is aimed at improving users’ familiarity and loyalty to its brand.
Industry sources estimate that the two service providers each spent over one billion yuan (US$160.5 million) during the first four-month campaign, though both Didi and Kuaidi have refused to disclose the exact figures, the paper said.
The money was well spent, however, since several smaller players have been squeezed out of the market, and Kuaidi and Didi have pushed their market shares to 51.6% and 45.3%, respectively, at the end of March, according to an Analysys International report.
Wang Jian, an analyst at Analysys International, said that after burning cash to expand their customer base, the taxi-hailing apps would turn to improving user experience and customer loyalty in order to lower reliance on discounts and other incentives.
Besides targeting customers, Kuaidi recently announced a badminton contest for taxi drivers, which is seen as a move to entice them, the paper said. Meanwhile, industry insiders expect Didi and Kuaidi to explore various options to turn a profit and further differentiate themselves with the resources provided by Tencent and Alibaba.
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