Heetch Business Model
The goal of the Heetch business model is simple. Set the nights free. It is a fact that social barriers reduce during the night and people discover each other more to have newer experiences and newer thoughts. A vibrant nightlife contributes a great deal to a healthy society. But there are some issues you have to face at night such as the unavailability of adequate public transport, your cannot use your vehicle if you plan on drinking, and taxis and services provided by private cars do not suffice.
Heetch business model
Heetch’s business model developed a shared transportation offering that encouraged night-time trips and more socializing. It opened the possibilities for a safe and secure environment. One of the studies conducted by the transport authorities has indicated that the Heetch business model is not a competition for the conventional taxi offering. Rather it has developed a new and complementary kind of night-time mobility. In the Paris area, there are more than 2 million trips carried out every night. Taxis are used for about 1-2% of these trips. There are close to 50,000 trips per night on the weekends.
The target audience for Heetch
This data indicated that taxis were not the popular way of getting around. They address some specific segments such as affluent clients, business travelers, and tourists. On the other hand, Heetch aimed to allow the young generation to move around at night. It made it possible to organize car-sharing trips. The results were clear. More than 80% of the Heetch users have indicated that they have never taken a taxi since. So, the target markets for taxis and Heetch are radically different. Heetch caters more to the youth that doesn’t use taxis. This youth prefers either public transportation, or personal vehicles, or they just do not go out at night as they did not have a way of getting back home afterward.
A ride-sharing app with a twist
The French ride-sharing app Heetch comes with a twist. Rather than going head-to-head against a giant like Uber or LeCab in Paris, this company operates a ride-sharing service that works only during the night. It is for those that are looking to go out partying at night. Heetch has been growing steadily since its inception. The company CEO Teddy Pellerin recently said in an interview that their users normally take the subway in the daytime. They are targeting people that look for a ride at night.
Heetch is pretty similar to other ride-sharing apps available in the market. You can get a ride by using this app and then you pay for the service at the end of the ride. On average a ride with Heetch costs $16 to the user. It is expected that this is around 30% cheaper than getting a taxi in Paris. There are hundreds of drivers available on the app. Although this doesn’t mean that all these drivers are on the road on a Friday or Saturday night. On a usual weekend night, you can get close to 100 drivers accepting rides.
Competition and growth rate of Heetch
Heetch has been growing consistently since its inception a few years ago. The ride-sharing service is now pretty close to managing in the region of 1000 rides per week. Heetch takes a 20% cut on all the rides. Although the organization might be still away from becoming profitable, it is heading in the right direction in terms of the products and services they are offering and business development. There are a couple of other rides sharing apps operating in Paris. They are called UberPop and Djump. However, there are too few UberPop cars available at the moment. Uber is focused on the black car and UberX services for Paris. And as far as Djump is concerned, this is Heetch’s closest competitor. Both these companies are still growing though. It remains to be seen whether there is a sufficient market available for two ride-sharing companies in Paris.
Who can become a Heetch driver?
If you have a car and also have a driver’s license, it is possible to become a Heetch driver. They do not have any expectations of having prior driving experience. All the drivers of Heetch get a rating. Heetch follows this rating quite seriously and watches it closely. This is similar to all the urban transportation start-ups operating in big cities. Heetch is in reality not reinventing transport but it is trying to resolve a real problem, Uber has to face a surge in pricing on the weekends and weekend nights. Many times, for them there is no private Chauffeur available when you are looking to get a ride.
By asking different drivers to become active during these hours, Heetch has attracted a big user base and has made a good name for itself in an extremely competitive market. But they will be aware that this is a long and winding road ahead. Let’s see how their professional driver model works out for them.
Supporting mobility in the suburbs
Out of the thousands of trips made by using taxis on weekend nights, most of the rides occur within the city limits of Paris. There is a pretty simple reason for this. Any pro driver has to make close to 10 or 15 rides every day or night. For achieving this target, he has to remain in a densely populated area where the demand is at its greatest. This is also the reason why taxis are reluctant to make a trip to the suburbs at night. They are not happy to return to Paris without a passenger onboard.
But the Heetch drivers do not have to worry about this. Most of the Heetch drivers live in the suburbs and on the weekends, they are either at home or visiting a friend. In either case, they are using their car. They can just look at their app to find out about the people that are looking to get back to their homes with them. There is no need to worry about making 10 trips at night time. This is how the Heetch business model can develop mobility offers in areas that are usually poorly served.
Areas that are not densely populated and do not have simple access to public transport now have an excellent alternative to get around. Due to the success of the Heetch business model for the rides in the evenings, you can now see other models being developed for rural areas where the requirement for easy mobility is critical particularly while helping out the elderly people. The main aim of Heetch is to facilitate night-time mobility by using a social transport model. This means they need a strong presence in the suburbs.
Coordination of night-time trips
Almost all night-time trips are done by using public transport, a personal vehicle, or by foot. These are some of the more accessible means used for transportation. The main goal for Heetch is to open up people’s evenings. They are looking to permit the youth of Paris to get more mobility alternatives by developing offers that are accessible to all. The first thing they need to do is to improve the coordination of their night-time trips and reduce the costs by filling all the empty seats in the car that are already moving around.
Conclusion
For achieving the challenges, they will face in the future Heetch will be looking to adopt technology more readily. There is a clear and stable framework required that allows most drivers to offer rides to people that they do not know especially during the night. This is exactly what Heetch does. When you connect with their platform, 35% of the drivers carry out just one or two trips. This percentage at the beginning of 2015 was 15%. Most of the Heetch drivers just conduct trips that bring them close to their intended destination. Heetch is working on providing a service that connects drivers and passengers more efficiently. If you are looking to develop an app similar to Heetch. get in touch with Jugnoo.io for expert assistance.
