Competitor (market) analysis - Porter's Five Forces - Ola Vs Meru

1. Introduction to the
Company
UpGrad Product Management
Competitor Analysis
Student Name: Raghavendra Pratap
Jujjavarapu

2. 2
Agenda
 Identify Direct and Indirect Competitors
 Analyze Company Backgrounds
 Comparison of Business Models
 SWOT Analysis
 Comparison of Product details and Performances
 Prediction of Future Initiatives of Competitor.

3. Direct and Indirect Competitors
Direct Competitors Indirect Competitors
Ola Cabs
(ANI Technologies PVT LTD)
ZoomCar
(Zoom Cars India PVT LTD)
Uber
(Uber Technologies Inc.)
Quick Ride
(Car & Bike Pooling Services)

4. Analyzing of Company Backgrounds - I
Meru Cabs OLA
Mission To be considered as the first choice for land
transport solutions in India
Redefining Mobility for Billions
Vision To give urban Commuters in India a world
class travelling experience, using the tech
that has evolved in the developed countries
from the past 20 years
To Provide Hassle-free, reliable and Technology efficient
car rental services
Strategies
(Product Differentiation)
1. Cab Market Place
(an online bidding place for drivers who can
bid fares for a particular location that will
allow user to choose lowest fare from (in the
App) the available drivers with respect to
their rating and ETA)
2. ExactoMeter Fare
(An aggregate amount of Fare from Point A-
>B is Calculated for the user and available in
the app for the user to choose while booking
the ride)
1. More Fleet options available to choose from based
on individual’s needs at a particular time– Share,
Micro, Mini, Prime sedan, Prime Play, Prime
SUV,LUX and Kalli-peeli (Local Black -yellow cabs)
2. Special benefits to customers that include Wifi -
access, more legroom, in-cab entertainment
consoles that include streaming music and
movies/preferred shows on the go.

5. Analyzing of Company Backgrounds - II
Meru Cabs OLA
Strategies
(Product Differentiation)
3. e-receipt for the user after completion of ride to
his registered mail ID.
4. Extension of cab rides for B2B
(Providing Travel Solutions for employees in
different companies ,which in turn help
organizations in billing flexibility and reduction of
costs in transport).
5. Integration with Google maps.
(Availability to choose Meru cabs from point A->B
while searching the directions in Google maps).
3. Offers select membership to users who
often use ola cabs for a very affordable price
per month that includes Zero peak time pricing
and assigns cabs on highest priority request.
4. More fleet options available for Outstation,
Rentals and city taxis and OLA Drive (Cars can
be driven by customers) compared to SUV,
Hatchback and Sedan that are available in
Meru.
5. Ola Corporate
(Lets Employees of an organization book their
own rides (Executive/Point to Point) through a
UI in which the rides and expenses can be
tracked and Managed)
Strategies
(Cost Leadership)
With Less fleet options Meru targets Narrow
range of segmentation of customers who limitedly
choose from the options available with Dynamic
Pricing (varies w.r.t different factors/Demands).
OLA targets broad segment of customers with
varied preferences who choose cabs based on
factors that make their travel hassle free with
reasonable base fares.

6. Analyzing of Company Backgrounds - III
Meru Cabs OLA
Current Employees 1000+ 7000+
Funding Details 1.True North (Formerly IVF Advisors) manages
Corpus Fund of USD $2 b with majority stake in the
company.
(Over the last two decades, True North has
invested ~US$ 1.5 billion across 30+ businesses in
transport, retailing, healthcare, media and
entertainment, specialized engineering and
financial services sectors. It has successfully
transformed many of these companies into large
businesses that are valuable, enduring, and socially
responsible, creating immense value for all
stakeholders.)
2. Recently, M&M (Mahindra and Mahindra offers
to buy 55% Stake in Meru for 103 Crores. This will
help Meru to chart out new course for growth.
1. As per data till October 8 2018, Ola's major
shareholders include SoftBank Group (26.1%),
Tiger Global (15.94 %), Tencent (10.39 %), Matrix
Partners (8.57 %), and DST Global (6.72%).(Total
Funding more than USD$7b)
Source: https://startuptalky.com/startup-story-
ola/
2. Recently Ola raised 650 crores (INR) from sachin
bansal to scale up its food delivery business and
$300M from Hyundai Moto Corp to step up battle
with uber in india.

7. Analyzing of Company Backgrounds - IV
Meru Cabs OLA
Revenue Details Estimated USD$25 million (FY 2018) US$320 million (FY 2018)
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_Cabs
Founders Profiles Mr. Neeraj Gupta, Founder and Managing Director
• Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Bombay
Management Association (BMA).
• Udyog Rattan Award by the Institute of
Economic Studies (IES).
• Excellence Award for his company, awarded by
Institute of Economic Studies (IES).
• Award from All-India Passengers Association for
being the Largest and Nest Taxi Company in the
country.
• Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award from All
India Passengers Association
• Prior to this venture, he set up Mumbai’s largest
fleet service business that catered to some of
the finest names in the media and outsourced
service business
Bhavish Aggarwal - Co-Founder and CEO
• A fellow alumnus from the Indian
Institute of Technology in Mumbai
• Worked with Microsoft Research for two
years, filing two patents alongside having
three papers published in international
academic journals
Ankit Bhati - Co-Founder and CTO
• A fellow alumnus from the Indian
Institute of Technology in Mumbai
• Ankit leads product, engineering, and
data sciences, ensuring a strong back-
end system that powers the experience
of riders and driver partners alike.

8. Comparison of Business Models
Meru Cabs OLA
Business Model Aggregator Based Business model + Lease Model
(Meru owns approx. 50% of fleet of cabs they
operate and primarily a Cab service provider)
Aggregator Based Business model
(OLA owns Zero Inventory and is primarily a
Tech service oriented company)
No. of Cities they operate 24 Cities Across India 250+ Indian cities( including Tier-1,2,3 and
other cities)
Target Market
(Organized Indian Taxi Market which
constitutes 40% of the Total Indian
Taxi market that includes 60% of
unorganized market.)
10% of Organized market is owned vehicle segment
in which Meru operates.
Source: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-
jbm/papers/Vol20-issue2/Version-
2/E2002023037.pdf
23% of Organized market is of aggregator
market that is where OLA operates.
Source: http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-
jbm/papers/Vol20-issue2/Version-
2/E2002023037.pdf
Revenue Model During Early days, the Chauffer has to pay a partial
sum of fixed amount daily to Meru in exchange of
assured minimum number of leads that are
provided by Meru (through apps, call center
etc.).Now Meru has moved to revenue share
Business Model in which the company accepts 15%
revenue share from the drivers (since most of the
cars are owned by them)
OLA accepts user requests only from
Apps in contrast to call centers and
internet during early days. Anyone who
owns a car or a fleet of cars can register
with OLA under a contract to pay daily
commission for number of drives OLA
provides the chauffer.

9. SWOT Analysis – Meru/OLA
Strengths
Meru:
1. Ready to be Patented strategy- Cab Market Place
(an online bidding place for drivers who can bid fares for a particular location
that will allow user to choose lowest fare from (in the App) the available drivers
with respect to their rating and ETA)
2. Fares can be accurately calculated even during peak times using
Exactometer in the app before booking a ride.
OLA:
1. More Fleet options available to choose from with high frequency of cabs in
any particular time with enabled in-cab entertainment services.
2. Cleanliness of cabs is adequate and decently maintained by the drivers.
Weaknesses
Meru:
1.Less Fleet Options available and with very less frequency in any given point of
time in a particular area. Mainly designated as an Airport cab.
2. Cleanliness of cabs/ Maintenance of cabs by drivers is a big concern.
OLA:
1.Brand image takes a toll with drivers’ inappropriate behavior with customers
now and then.
2.Expectations from OLA increases with increase of demand.
Opportunities
Meru:
1. New funding of 130 Cr INR from Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) could be
leveraged to build proper strategy to reposition its brand.
2. Huge potential to penetrate deep into the unorganized taxi market that is
still dominated by individual drivers.
OLA:
1. With Good amount of funding coming through from various sources ,OLA
can strength its brand and services in more cities across India.
2. Since its core area is tech service based, there is a huge Potential to
leverage latest technology such as A.I and Big Data Analytics to track and
adapt to individual’s needs.
Threats
Meru:
1. Though Meru is the first to launch in Cab services industry, it lost its
Market share to OLA and Uber gradually and it takes proper strategy with
adequate funding to regain its market share which is highly time
consuming in the respective dynamic market.
2. High Operational costs of the owned fleet of vehicles adds to the increase
in operational costs of the organization.
OLA:
1. High Competition is expected from the rivals in the industry namely UBER.
2. OLA’s expansion outside Indian market and in to the food delivery market
could minimize the amount of funding that is used in improvement of
mobility in Indian market.

10. Comparison of Product details and Performances
Meru Cabs App OLA App
# of Downloads
> 1 Million + > 100Million +
App User ratings  3.6/5 (56000 reviews) (Android)
 2.7/5 (Apple IOS)
 Ranked #58 in Travel worldwide by
IOS
 3.7/5 (1M reviews) (Android)
 4.6/5 (1.4 M reviews) (Apple IOS)
 Ranked #1 in Travel worldwide by IOS
User Experience IOS Users are Unhappy with frequent crashes
of the app and the unavailability of cabs that
are shown in the app. Other OS users are OK
,but also suffer with the unavailability of cabs
that are shown in the app.
OLA irks the customers with Cab ride time charges
and high peak time charges in the app that seem
very expensive due to adverse weather and traffic
conditions. The App, however, fares well with the
customers in both IOS and Android users.
Overall App Functionality

11. Future Initiatives of OLA
OLA
Expansion to New Verticals 1. OLA is Expanding its electric fleet to capture the market in
electric car mobility that is planned by Government of India (GOI)
to replace 30% of all vehicle fleet running with diesel/Petrol with
Electric.
2. OLA tied up with SBI to launch OLA Money SBI credit card and
plans to launch OLA Postpaid to let users ride now and pay later.
OLA can build a loyal customer base by giving huge discounts to
customers during peak hours and festive seasons, thus ending up
as a favorite choice of consumers.
3. OLA’s foray into new technologies like A.I and Big Data Analytics
can adapt and recommend cheaper and high quality rides for any
customer who which to travel based on his travel history.
4. OLA can enter into long distance rides , into bus transportation
from one city to another city with cheaper fares and quality bus
services in contrast to high fares and medium services offered by
redbus and abhibus.
5. OLA can offer discounted coupons and free rides to select
customers ( booking from the App) based on their history of
frequent usage of OLA.

12. References
https://www.meru.in/about-us/our-investors
https://startuptalky.com/startup-story-ola/
https://www.meru.in/about-us/leadership-team
https://www.olacabs.com/about.html
http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol20-issue2/Version-2/E2002023037.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_Cabs
https://www.olacabs.com/media/in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meru_Cabs
https://yourstory.com/2018/08/companies-like-ola-zoomcar-zipgo-bullish-electric-vehicles