Last year
in New Jersey, for the Super Bowl any Uber cars around the stadium were
forbidden. This year, in California, Uber achieved to be the official and only
transport coordinator during the event.
The Super
Bowl 50 ed. 2016 took place on 7th of Feb., at the Levi’s Stadium of
Santa Clara, CALIFORNIA. It was the finals of the American football League
(NFL) opposing the Denver Broncos to the Carolina Panthers. 190 million viewers
around the world and 555 million US$ revenue were expected by the organizers.
Uber is an
American company with headquarters in San Francisco. They work on the taxi
industry, as an online taxi dispatch company. Through the UBER app on their
smartphones, consumers can submit a taxi request. Thanks to geo-tracking, the
closest Uber drivers receive the request and get to the customer to pick him
and drive them to the needed destination, using his own car. The payment is
done through the app only, by credit card. There is no exchange of cash between
the driver and the customer. Uber offers a wide range of service, from the
basic UberPop to UberBerline, or UberVAN and even a really innovative service,
such as the helicopter pick-up service, in partnership with Airbus.
This year,
for the Super Bowl 50, taxis and Lyft (Uber’s main competitor) being shutted out by the organizers. In order to
reach this tour de force, Uber spent US$250,000 to US$500,000 to sponsor the
Super Bowl Host Committee. They achieved to have their own pick-up and drop-off
zones around the stadium area and rider lounge, and they also managed to
negotiate the fact that the surroundings of the stadium were forbidden to taxis
and competitors.
In France,
Uber also standed out offering a new service, UBERCOPTER, during the 68th
Cannes International Film Festival. Four people were charged only €160 for a
ride in helicopter between Nice and Cannes, plus a private driver service for
transfers to and from the heliport.
Also, for
few days now, the Nice Carnival is going on, and one can notice that Uber did
an advertising campaign in the region, promoting its services to go to the
Carnival at a promotional rate.
What does it mean for the industry?
First of
all, it means that in the service industry, technology is gaining more and more
power. It is now at the heart of the experience. Traditional actors in the tourism
industry are now suffering from disintermediation and development of peer to
peer experience. Indeed, technology is the intermediary between peers.
Uber
achieved to be the official transportation supplier for some of the biggest
international cultural events of the US and of the French Riviera. Actually,
Uber’s strategy is focus on locals. To expand more widely in the service
industry, the company understood that they had to meet locals’ needs, which can
be totally different from one city to another. For example, Uber developed
events and partnership around the cricket in India, which is the national sport,
UberChopper in Shanghai and in Turkey, UberBOAT.
People tend
to use less the traditional means for private transfers, because what Uber did
was just meeting the taxi customers’ demand for more flexibility. To have a
taxi you need to call him in advance, you often can’t pay by credit card
meaning that you need cash, they charge you more for night rides… Uber broke
the system with its customer-oriented offer. Lower prices, payment by credit
card through the app, flexibility of the drivers, service on demand and
just-in-time.
For special
events, bank holidays and holidays, Uber took the opportunity to show their
model and attract new customers. Indeed, with a lack of supply from the taxi
industry during these days, it creates intense demand for private
transportation and users find Uber as an alternative to traditional means of
transportation. Uber just want you to experience the product once. Then, as it
is that much consumer-oriented, no need for aggressive marketing campaign, the
experience does the job.
However, as
the second link shows us, some of Uber’s drivers threaten to strike the day
before the Super Bowl 50. They were around 35,000 Uber’s drivers in New York involved,
launching a call to all Uber drivers to shut down the app for a period (4pm on
Sunday to 4 am on Monday) in order to protest against the recent fare cuts
(15%).
In San Francisco, about a thousand Uber drivers drove by the city to show their disappointment planning to disrupt the Super Bowl around the stadium and on the highways with thousands of drivers. This sharing economy model is suitable if every stakeholders involved is happy. It appears that with their fare cuts, drivers in USA are not happy anymore, earning less than the minimum wage. “Minimum wage has been a contentious issue for Uber. The company is fighting a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court that claims Uber illegally denies drivers benefits such as minimum wage and reimbursement for driving expenses by classifying them as independent contractors instead of employees” as Marisa Kendall for the SantaCruzSentinel is saying (Feb, 2016). Uber’s race to acceptance and compliance is still going along.
Sources :
In San Francisco, about a thousand Uber drivers drove by the city to show their disappointment planning to disrupt the Super Bowl around the stadium and on the highways with thousands of drivers. This sharing economy model is suitable if every stakeholders involved is happy. It appears that with their fare cuts, drivers in USA are not happy anymore, earning less than the minimum wage. “Minimum wage has been a contentious issue for Uber. The company is fighting a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court that claims Uber illegally denies drivers benefits such as minimum wage and reimbursement for driving expenses by classifying them as independent contractors instead of employees” as Marisa Kendall for the SantaCruzSentinel is saying (Feb, 2016). Uber’s race to acceptance and compliance is still going along.
Your favorite journalists, Emilie and Marly
Sources :
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