TOPIC: CONSUMER SATISFACTION COMPARISON BETWEEN OLA/UBER

INTRODUCTION:
At first people used to get around on foot and by public transport. The commute was slow
and dreary. It took about an hour or more to get to work and back. What Ola and Uber has
done is, it reduced the waiting period to 10 min and solving parking problems in localities.
It also helped in reduce driving stress and while commuting they could work. As soon as
somebody got richer they could get to work in 15 mins. Soon more people got richer and
tired of waving hands for taxi’s and other modes of transport which consumed time, they
purchased cars and all the roads got a little clogged which increased the average travel
time. This lead to more people buying cars and the roads getting permanently jammed. And
people were paying so much for the slower transport system. Today cars are people second
largest house hold expenditure.
Concept of organized rental cab was introduced to Indian consumer in 2004 when Meru
cab service was launched in major metro cities of India and then almost after six years App
based rental cab service was introduced in Indian market. Among various transportation
mode cab service gained popularity because of its advantage of door to door service and
now because of technological advancement customers were able to book cabs at
competitive price in just one click using their smart phones. These App based cab services
were having tremendous potential for growth in densely populated countries like India
where parking is major problem because of space crunch as well as public transports are
over cowered during peak hours. Slowly this convenient mode of travel started gaining
popularity and competition became dense after Uber’s launch in 2013.
As customers have become more demanding it’s a challenging job for rental cab industry
to meet the customer’s expectations. Now a days not just the price but quality service also
plays an important role in customer satisfaction. Now using a smart phone consumer can
access, compare, evaluate and purchase. In this situations App based services such as Ola
or Uber Cabs offered solution by offering various services ranging from the economic to
ultimate luxury. As per a current report in the financial express introduction of App based
pre-paid taxi services like Uber and Ola taxi not only grabbed customers’ attention but also
contributed in increasing employability by providing opportunity to the drivers.
Both Uber and OLA entered the taxi services market in India having many similarities,
such as concept of taxi aggregators, air conditioned taxi services, cheap price and app-
based taxi services, luring passengers of major metropolitan cities.
Ola and Uber have grown tremendously over a period of time with an objective of solving
the inter-city and intra-city commuting problems of customers. These companies are
spending huge funds in marketing, competitive price and recruitments of new drivers which
leading to expansions of new markets (Sharma and Das, 2017). Sometimes these strategies
resulted in very less priced services, even less than the fares charges by 3-wheeler auto
rickshaws (Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, 2017).
Ever changing technology is fueling the growth of organized car rental industry,
convenience of booking cab service sitting at your place is one of the most important
feature of this app based taxi service. Currently Ola and Uber are two major players in
organized cab service sector in India. In a report by Industry: companies in September 2016
Ola showed to capture70 % Indian market.

While in 2017 a report by RegaliX Research suggested that Uber is Young India’s most
preferred app based taxis service with 55% usage while Ola has 41% usage. Report also
concluded that Uber is no.1 cab service with high consumer satisfaction, economy, safety
& ‘recommend to friend & family’ across India. One more survey by Mumbai Graham
Panchayat, 2017 concluded that 80% of respondents feel that Uber/ Ola are offering better
option of travel than traditional taxis services in Mumbai. And almost 67% of respondents
are satisfied with behavior of Uber/Ola drivers while 14% found it as average followed by
19 % found it as bad.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Every other day in India, there is a new start up offering efficient cab service to the citizens
operating in urban and rural lifestyles. This raises a question that is India going through a
possible 'Taxi Revolution'?
ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., functioning under the trade name Ola, is an Indian online
transportation network company. Founded as an online cab aggregator in Mumbai, Ola is
now based in Bangalore. As of September 2015, it was valued at $5 billion.
Ola cabs has completely revolutionized the way India travels, and is favorite with almost
everyone, given its convenience, efficiency and how it allowed us to save the daily
arguments and haggling with the auto and cab drivers who refuse to go by the meter.
Founded on 3rd December 2010 by Bhavish Aggarwal (currently CEO) and Ankit Bhati,
Ola, as of 2014, had expanded to a network of more than 200,000 cars across 100 cities. In
November 2014, it expanded to incorporate autos on-trial basis in Bangalore. Post the trial
phase, Ola Auto has expanded to other cities as well like Delhi, Pune, Chennai and
Hyderabad and Kolkata starting December 2014 while in December 2015, Ola expanded
its auto services in Chandigarh, Indore, Jaipur and Guwahati, Visakhapatnam.
OlaCabs acquired Bangalore based cab service TaxiForSure for about $200 million in
March 2015. From the 25th of June 2015, Ola users have gained access to TaxiForSure
cabs via the Ola mobile application. By November 2015, to strengthen its new bus-shuttle
service, Ola had acquired Geotagg as well, a trip-planning applications company, for an
undisclosed sum.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Uber Technologies Inc. is an American
worldwide online transportation network company. Founded as UberCab by Garrett Camp,
the founder of Stumble Upon, and Travis Kalanick in 2009, it develops, markets and
operates the Uber application, allowing consumers with smartphones to submit a trip
request, which the software program automatically sends to the Uber driver nearest to the
consumer, alerting the driver to the location of the customer. As of August 2016, Uber
provided its cab services in over 66 countries and 545 cities worldwide. The Uber
application automatically calculates the fare and transfers the payment to the driver. Since
its launch, many other companies have replicated Uber’s business model, a trend that has
come to be referred as "Uberification". The legality of Uber has been challenged by the
government and other taxi companies, who allege that drivers who are not licensed to drive
taxicabs which is unsafe and illegal. Also, some taxi driver unions have called Uber drivers
"pirate taxis". However it is now common for taxi drivers to as well to work for Uber;
especially during "surge" periods when they have high chances of earning multiple times
what they would have under the taxi umbrella.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Ola/Uber system in India has grown significantly in India and infrastructure growth,
growth of middle class, increasing disposable incomes and growing GDP are some of the
factors responsible. The rise of the BPO industry is one of the reason to growth of this
sector because of odd working hours. This growth can be seen more in metropolitan cities
of India and there is intense competition among various operators like Ola, Uber etc. So to
sustain in this competitive market it is necessary to understand the users of the rental cab
service. Various studies and researches have been done to understand the factor important
while choosing a rental car.
Ola/Uber app helped in increasing perceived usefulness, ease of use, playfulness and
subjective norms .This also helps in convenience of tracing user and service provider. A
study suggested that self- service mobile technologies give control to commuters to access
lot of information with the help of technology. Ola/Uber continuous service, comfort,
reliability and affordability have an impact on customer satisfaction. Ola/Uber study
identified the key performance indicators which includes reliability, travel speed,
passenger expenses and quality of service. Study based on surveys concluded that Ola and
Uber offers better quality services than other modes.
For Indian market similar studies have been done, a research suggested that Ola/Uber
services has a huge potential for growth in Mumbai targeting middle and affluent class.
Consumer not only use cab service for commutation but also for visiting a shopping mall,
attending late night or going out on special occasion. Study also showed that customer
satisfaction level is very high, showing positive sign for future growth and expansion of
business.
Ola/Uber companies tied up with the mobile wallets companies like Free Charge, PayTM,
Mobikiwiki which helped in providing hazel free ride to customers by providing customers
easy payment options with offers and discounts for rides.
Ola/Uber is using reward systems to motivate their drivers thus motivating them as well as
involving them in resolving the customer grievances to build a loyal base of drivers. On
other side Ola/Uber offers rewards and discounts under their Ola/Uber CLUB program.
This program is not only design impact drivers but is also designed to help their family
by providing them various offers related to automobile insurance, vehicle maintenance,
lifestyle, health and wellness to their everyday life. There are three categories Silver, Gold
and Diamond, based on the quality and performance of each driver. OLA and UBER
suggested, to adopt highly innovative and customer-centric strategies to increase market
share.
Therefore, it would not be that easy for both the companies Ola and Uber to operate in an
environment which has to be more customer-centric & target oriented, highly innovative,
and have resistant to pressure from the regulatory authorities and keeping delighting their
customers.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The overall objective of the study is to investigate the main determinants that affect
“Consumer” selection of online transportation network services to get an idea and know
the level of the consumer satisfaction. The sub objective of this study are

 To find out the difference between Ola and Uber User’s preference.
 To identify the consumer perception towards satisfaction of Ola and Uber services.
 To identify the difference between satisfactions levels for both online transportation
services.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
 To determine the criteria that customers consider important when selecting Ola or
Uber and how those criteria are prioritized according to their importance.
 To identify either any significant gender discrepancy among customers in selection
of online transport service.
 To assess whether customers require additional services apart from the services
currently offered by the online transport network of their choice or not.
HYPOTHESIS
Waiting time of the consumer for rides.
H0: Consumer will wait.
H1: Consumer will not wait.

Providing special service factor effects on consumer’s selection decision.

H0: Special service factor effects on consumer selection decision.
H1: Special service factor does not effect on consumer selection decision.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Primary data has been collected for this research to examine the choice and preference of
Ola/Uber services. We took a sample size of 106 consumers of Mumbai, based on random
sampling method. A survey questionnaire was used to collect primary data. This research
was conducted for the time period of 15 days. Primary as well as secondary data was
collected.

VARIABLES:
INDEPENDENT VARAIBLES:
Traffic conditions: Peak hours, traffic movement, weekend.
Responsiveness: Speed of driver, closeness of cab, cab status.
Reliability: Experience of driver, knowledge of driver over routes.
Taxi availability: Count of cabs, status of cabs
Count of Customers: Time frame, location pricing and offers.

DEPENDENT VARAIBLES:
Constraint: Location
Service quality: responsiveness, safety, flexibility

MODERATE VARIABLES: intention to avail for specific services, parking facility,

availability of service, engagement, repeat services.
DATA FINDINGS

Who provides better service?

Based on a survey, it can be seen

that Uber (2) provides better
23% 1 service consisting of 28% of the
49% 2 total sample size.
28% 3

What factors influence one's decision?

Based on a survey, it can be seen
that Uber (2) provides better
9% Driver Behaviour service consisting of 28% of the
16% 30%
Pricing total sample size.
Punctuality

45% Quality

What would one choose in a hurry?

Based on a survey, it can be seen
that Uber (2) provides better
Ola service consisting of 28% of the
28% total sample size.
44% Uber

Other modes of
28% transport
 How frequentry one books an
Ola/Uber
Based on a survey, it can be seen
60
50 that Uber (2) provides better
40
44
50 service consisting of 28% of the
30 total sample size.
20
10 21 21
12 9 16 12 13 14
0
Daily 2-3 times a 2-3 times a Occasions Never
week month

Ola Uber

What troubles consumers the most?

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Driver asking for drop Driver not being able to Driver speaking loudly on the Other
location & cancelling navigate GPS phone

Ola Uber
 Service Ratings of Ola/Uber
120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Ola Uber Ola Uber Ola Uber Ola Uber Ola Uber
Discounting Factors Flexible mode of Fleet of cars Navigation Geographical system
payment

Series1 Series2 Series3 Series4 Series5 Series6

Image1
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1JZAP_enIN697IN697&biw=1366&bih=576&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei
=aHqzXNqvBNKFyAOKsaQg&q=ola+vs+uber+comparison+mumbai&oq=ola+vs+uber+comparison+mumb
ai&gs_l=img.3...7106.8002..8295...0.0..0.133.680.0j6......1....1..gws-wiz-
img.PYjzsRW_2Fs#imgrc=aZYi7k5g5Z_hhM:
image 2
https___blogs-images.forbes.com_krnkashyap_files_2016_09_Uber-vs-Ola-
e1474349228698

https://www.regalix.com/insights/uber-vs-ola-and-travel-pattern-of-young-india/
MEMBERS
SAISAGAR