Grab rolls out counter-measures under tough battle
By Nguyen Anh
August 29, 2018 | 03:39 PM GMT+7
Under overheated competition from newcomer of ride-hailing app Go-Viet and other traditional taxi firms, Grab has rolled out counter-measures to gain market shares.
Grab has recently announced to increasingly offer new promotions for both customers and drivers using its services.
According to the recent information shared by Andre Soelistyo, Chairman of Indonesia based Go-Jek (Go-Viet’s parent firm), Go-Viet has currently held 10 per cent of the ride hailing market in Ho Chi Minh City, despite being newly launched.
The withdrawal of Uber from Southeast Asia market, particularly from Vietnam market has resulted in the monopoly of Grab in the $1.7-billion ride-hailing market, together with the loss of traditional taxi, has left opportunities for the emergence of domestic ride-hailing applications such as VATO, Aber, FastGo, etc. Of which, Go-Viet, Go-Jek’s ride hailing app in Vietnam, is considered as one of the most competent rivals of Grab.
Being newly launched, Go-Viet has offered many shocking promotion deal such as "VND5,000 ($0.21) for all trips under 8km (currently changed to VND8,000) ".
The street is filled with Go-Viet's drivers
Not only offering bold promotion for customers, Go-Viet also releases attractive policies for drives such as providing free uniforms including helmets, jackets for new drivers; not deducting interest from newly registered drivers in six months and giving additional fee support for drivers in each trip.
For instance, with trips under 8km, Go-Viet will support the driver with VND25,000 ($1.07) to ensure the minimum fare per ride reaches VND30,000 ($1.29), according to a driver of Go-Viet.
Drivers of Grab and Go-Viet on the street
In response to Go-Viet’s movement, Grab has also been accelerating its promotions. Particularly, to compete with Go-Viet’s price strategy of VND5,000 for all trips under 8km, Grab immediately offered similar deal for GrabBike when charging only VND2,000 for all trips under 8km and giving free pick-up for all trips under 5km in the central districts of Ho Chi Minh City.
Additionally, Grab also announced the policy of "Get back five per cent of revenue per week" applying to GrabBike, GrabBike Premium and GrabExpress partners in Ho Chi Minh City. With all qualified Grab’s drivers, they will only have to pay 15 per cent of commission for Grab, prior to this deal, 20 per cent interest is deducted from driver’s revenue.
It is unclear what will be Go-Viet’s strategy in Vietnam in the coming time but the appearance of a competent rival for Grab brings high hopes for a healthy competitive market, which benefits both customers and drivers.
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