Hi there! In today’s competitive business world, the quickest way to reach out to users is through digital presence. That too, in the ride-hailing business, coping with the competition is possible only with a set of solid marketing strategies along with an online booking application.
As of the present times, most entrepreneurs are investing in Uber-like app solutions, which are ready-made and easy to deploy. So, if your aim circles over starting a ride-hailing business, then absolutely you will need an app to handle the bookings. In this blog, we will get to know in detail the development of a ride-hailing app with minimum investment.
Also, this blog will enclose several other insights regarding the ride-hailing business, like the benefits of having an online taxi booking application, the cost of app development, etc.
What is the highest benefit of developing a ride-hailing app?
The ultimate aim of any business is to have a large user base and sustainability. When these two factors are fulfilled, profits are guaranteed automatically. It is a universal fact that people are fully dependent on online services as they are easy to avail. Also, a business can get quick reachability if it has a sturdy online presence.
People are addicted to on-demand services rather than traditional ones because of the multiple benefits associated with the former. For example, through a ride-hailing app, users can track the taxi, know the arrival time, make the payment, and also give feedback. Whereas, in traditional taxi services, all these benefits are not available. On the whole, you need an online taxi booking app for elaborating your business.
How to start your on-demand ride-hailing app?
- Analyze the scope of the ride-hailing marketplace
In order to get a clear picture regarding the scope of the ride-hailing business, you can go for statistics. As per the report of the Allied Market Research, the market share of the ride-hailing business will reach $126,521 million by the end of the year 2025. Other than statistics, you can take a cue from the behavioral pattern of people, which will fetch you the scope for on-demand taxis. For example, people wish to travel in taxis as they are comfortable to a greater extent in comparison to any public transports.
Most importantly, while researching the scope of the taxi business, you must particularly analyze the region of your target customers. For instance, if you are considering a particular region, then you need to research the demographics of the target customers, like their preferences, income, and more such factors. Especially, you need to research the competitors in that region so that you can work on distinguishing your taxi business from your competitors.
On the whole, while analyzing the scope of the business, you will be covering customer and competitor research.
- Draft a business plan
After getting a clear picture of the ride-hailing marketplace, you will be confident to proceed with the further steps. Planning your ride-hailing business starts with selecting the business model. You can either run an individual business or operate as an aggregator that will enclose different taxi service providers.
If you choose the aggregator model, you don’t have to worry about the infrastructure cost. Again, you will get commissions from taxi service providers who are associated with your business. So, once you select the business model you are about to operate, you can move on to developing your taxi application.
- Hire a taxi app development company
Choosing the taxi app development company is tricky and is also one of the crucial stages before starting your business. Once you choose them, you will provide them with your requirements, and they will give you a rough estimate. Since this topic is all about developing a taxi app with minimum investment, you can choose a ready-made taxi app solution, which has become the trend in recent years. Interestingly, these ready-made apps require less investment, and that is the reason why entrepreneurs are investing in ready-made app development.
Generally, if your app development takes less time, then you can quickly launch the app and head to marketing. So, instead of choosing custom app development, you can rely on ready-made app development.
Until now, you have been learning the scope of the ride-hailing business and the various steps vested in starting the taxi business. Next, you will know the cost of building an online taxi booking application.
Cost of building an online taxi booking system
As said earlier, once you submit all your app requirements to your development company, they will give you an estimate. Here, we can give you a general idea of how the cost will be estimated by your development company. So, the cost of your app is estimated on the basis of the number of hours spent for developing the app and the rate paid to the developers/testers.
Here, the rate paid to developers/testers will largely vary from one country to another. Next, the number of features you have added to the app and the extent of customization. So, that’s all about the cost information of developing your app.
Before wrapping up this blog, let us see some of the transportation services you can implement in your business other than the usual ride-hailing services.
- Shuttle services – You can identify the areas where there is a need for frequent transportation and provide shuttle services.
- Airport services – You can provide taxi services to/from the airport, which is one of the trending transportation services provided by taxi companies.
- Corporate rides – Provide transit facilities for corporate employees, which is again one of the profitable transportation services.
- School transportation services – Next to the corporate rides, you can provide transit facilities to school and educational institutions. School transport apps with the tracking system will be helpful for parents to know the location of the school bus.
Final thoughts
Unarguably, ride-hailing is one of the competition-rich business sectors. So, you need to infuse some distinctive features into your business in order to survive. For example, you can provide wifi facilities inside the taxi, child-seat, etc., to attract users. Also you can choose a ready-made solution like an Uber clone to fast forward your taxi app development.
