Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Venture Concept No. 1

I feel that my opportunity is one that people in society can greatly benefit from.  I would be offering a way for customers to use a cab service for an amount of times, whether that be unlimited or a set number, by having them prepay in monthly or yearly increments.  The cost would be based off of what the average ride costs throughout the day times what the average frequency of one user uses the service.  Since it is a bulk purchase, the user would be getting the rides at a fraction of what they would go for individually, and I, the seller, would profit by being able to guarantee the cabs/Ubers a bulk purchase of their services which they would sell to me at an even lower price of what I would sell to the customer.  The type of potential customer that I would be attracting with this service is everybody that uses cab services.  With how often people on college campuses and in cities use cabs, I think that they would be the most common users of this service.
There is only one force in the environment that is creating this opportunity.  Nobody is offering this type of service in the marketplace, so I feel that now would be the best time to launch my service.  This would give me a leg up over any potential completion because I would have been around the longest with the service, whereas everyone else would have to play catch up with me.  Given the uniqueness of my service I am offering, it is not defined geographically or demographically.  Instead, it is something that nearly everyone could use and would benefit from.  Because nobody else offers this type of service, potential customers are stuck paying fees per ride.  This adds up to a lot more in the long run than if they were to use my service.  With that, I do not think that any of the current customers would be loyal to the cab services and paying fees per ride, instead of saving money.  I think that they would happily switch to my service, which they could still use their favorite type of cab service with, but instead pay less per ride, through my bulk purchase offering.  This opportunity is very big, given that nobody else is offering this type of service.  While nobody else is offering this service, it is unclear how long the window of opportunity would be open.  Since my offering would be the first of its kind, it could take a while for others to catch up to me and offer similar, competitive services.
I have already explained what my opportunity is and how it works above, so I wont bore you with repeating the same stuff.  This service would allow for them to prepay in monthly or yearly increments for the service.  When compared to if the customer were to just pay per ride, they would be saving a lot of money with my service because of the bulk purchase in the increments specified above.
My concept will address the opportunity I have identified above.  Since no one else offers this service, I will be bringing on a completely new and never before seen idea.  With the abilities of being able to save potentially a great deal of money, many people will be attracted to this service that I am offering.  With how much money that customers could save through my bulk purchase method of cab rides, this will attract a lot of people to it.  With how many people on college campuses and in large cities use cabs, I feel that they will benefit the most from this.  Since almost nobody feels attached to a certain cab service, I do not think that it will be difficult to get customers to switch to my service.  Also, since my service just adds on to what the existing services are, they might be more inclined to switch since they already know and are comfortable with the cab services already offered.  Given that I am the first person to produce this service, I have no competitors as of right now.  Maybe after others see the success my service has, they will try to replicate my service. I think that pricing and customer experience will play the biggest roles in customers choosing my service.  The price has to be low enough to attract people and show that they can save money through choosing my service rather than paying by each ride.  Also, customer experience is going to affect them, but that is not something I can control beyond the computer and mobile app.  Since the rides are performed through existing cab services, those companies are liable to the customer experience.  With how my service is performed through online services, I do not think it would be that difficult to maintain the service for ongoing production.  I do not think I would need a large team to oversee it.  I would mostly just need a marketing team to promote it and a technology team to oversee that everything is working for the online services.
My most important resource will be great performance through the mobile and computer applications.  With these, the ability to perform just as they should will be the most important to the people first using my service and continuing to use it.
            The next thing for my service would be to work to continue the same great service as when I start as well as working to add new cab companies that may become popular to my existing available cab options.
            For me, I would like to see myself in five years as still overseeing my company and watching it continue to succeed.  After ten years I would like to see myself as potentially having another person oversee the day-to-day operations and I only work on major projects and improvements.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Matthew,

    Very interesting idea! Having a “subscription/prepaid” type of payment plans whether it is month to month or yearly for transportation services like uber. Is pretty clever yet what is to stop those transportation services from introducing a plan like this? Well then again people didn’t think mobile payment would take off like how it did thanks to square. So you might be onto something that people are overlooking in this industry.

    Overall keep you the great work and good luck oh yeah, feel free to leave some feedback on my post.
    http://qdesousaent3003.blogspot.com/2016/03/ent-3003-venture-concept-no-1.html?showComment=1459827362931#c828825682780938712

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  2. I think you have a bankable idea here, Matt, particularly if you marketed it to current providers and became an intermediary. If I had prepaid for cab time, I would feel comfortable using it. You're simultaneously securing cab drivers customers and giving customers the safety of knowing they have time to cash in.

    My wording is all clunky, but I'm sure you get the gist. It is your brainchild, after all.

    I thought about incorporating an annual pass in my venture (http://adventuresinent.blogspot.com/2016/03/venture-concept-no-1.html) but the logistics of it frighten me. How do you think your profit margins look giving customers bulk/discounted fares? My biggest concern is that I would have to charge an annual or monthly price that is too high to entice customers to buy it, but I can see the prepaid option bringing people in time and again, fostering loyalty. Catch 22?

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  3. Hey Matthew,
    I like your idea, and it would be convenient for people who don't have their license, and don't have room for a car. However, a lot of people have their license and have room for a car. Therefore, you'll need to price your rate cheaper than what someone can rent or buy a car for a month. If you'd like to look at my blog here's a link.
    http://sirwilson1776.blogspot.com/2016/03/venture-concept-no-1.html

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  4. Hey Matthew! I can’t believe no one has thought of this before, especially when you consider how long cabs have been around. I definitely think that your business would work best in large cities where many people don’t own cars, like New York. I agree that you window of opportunity is unclear, mine is as well, but I think that because of the nature of your idea, your window might be a little smaller than you imagined since people have already started altering the way we think of taking a cab. Here’s a link to my post: http://cxgoss.blogspot.com/2016/03/venture-concept-no-1.html

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