Taxi app business has lifted in the recent past with people preferring to hail a taxi rather than driving themselves to the desired destination. Although, the cars being rolled out every year haven’t seen a plunge, but there has been a significant rise in the number of users opting for cab services.
The probable reason for people mending their way is due to congestion across the city streets. People find it easier to leave their cars at home and book a cab from the comfort of their padded couches for their trip to the office.
The taxi business has certainly prospered with the prime beneficiary being the taxi business owners who are currently minting money. Uber being one such example, which is presently ruling this taxi domain not only in the US but across the globe. It started its operations back in 2009 that now expands to over 60 countries and more than 500 cities worldwide.
It’s pretty evident that this business is lucrative only if done in a planned manner. People try to replicate the same and follow the success footprints, but often fall short forcing them to shut down. So, what does it take to reach to a level these big giants currently are at? Nothing more than few essentials, which every new taxi startup owner should consider before asking the mobile app development agency to start working on its development.
- Market Research
The foremost aspect to cover for any business is market research and taxi industry is no exception. You got to research well before you step down the peddle of development. Research areas include the region you want to target, existing demand for cab services there, prevalent taxi providers, people’s mindset, unavoidable challenges and growth opportunities. These basic parameters you need to research prior to building your dream project.
- Resources required
The prime resource required to build a taxi business is the cars. Look around if you have this aspect covered already. Notably, not all cars are suitable for being a taxi, hence you require to rope in the cars, which are made that way or you can say are modified to fit the purpose with lots of luggage space, clean interiors, pleasant fragrance and padded comfortable seats. Also, have groomed drivers ready to satisfy the market’s demand.
- The ‘X’ factor
Work closely with the team on this aspect as it’ll help you to rule the market in future. With taxi apps already assisting users, why would someone download yours? You need to figure out that extra feature, we proudly call it the ‘X’ factor if you wish to compete with the big names already prevailing in the market. This could be anything, a fresh feature, an extremely easy and intuitive interface or an out of the box marketing campaign.
- Legal formalities including licenses and insurances
Before you start the development, make sure you have all the legal permissions to get going. Ensure the drivers have a valid commercial driving license from the local authority and the cars are registered in taxi number with all necessary inspections done including the insurance of cars. Plus, you have the permission from the concerning body to start your taxi business in the desired region or town.
- Tracking equipment
Ensure all your cars are connected to the central system for effective monitoring in case of a theft or a mishap. Make sure to integrate the best GPS software in the cars so that location isn’t lost at any point of time.
You could integrate the tracking mechanism in the app enabling users to track their ride, time taken, distance covered and other useful pointers. Tracking not only aids in securing the entire system but also helps users interact with the app in a more comfortable way.
- Target market
This section defines the set of audience you wish to serve more often. The better you define these prospects, the better you’ll be able to target them. You could perform surveys in your targeted region with all sorts of questions to identify your core clientele. With surveys, you could identify the prime age-group, profession, gender, frequency of cab hire and more of the potential customers. This could help you serve them better and in a more personalized fashion.
- Promotion, marketing and branding
Business development and planning is incomplete without a marketing plan. You need to have a foolproof strategy about the procedures to be followed, the mediums you wish to target and the cost estimation drafts.
Final Thoughts
It’ll be a walk in the park for you if you get hold of each aspect discussed in this article ahead of the time. It is a known fact that planned procedures work while the unplanned ones often keep businesses from tasting the flavor of success. The choice is yours.
If you have the aforementioned aspects sorted, then hire a potent mobile app development company with considerable industry experience for assistance and start connecting the dots.