India-made and country’s biggest ride-hailing service company OLA will soon start its expansion in the International Market. Currently, Ola operates in over 100 cities in India.
The Bangalore based company has been eyeing international entry for some time now. Ola will soon start its expansion in some of the major International markets which primarily includes countries from Asia.
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Competition from Uber in India
In the past, Ola has faced major competition from foreign rival Uber in the country. Uber started its services in India three years back, and presently holds a major share in the domestic market.
Ola following up Uber’s Expansion Model
Ola has been trying to go international for a while now, and has finally identified the countries for their expansion. Ola will soon expand to Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. These countries are OLA’s first target, being their level-one international countries where they will start offering ride hailing services. Ola’s rival Uber already operates in Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
Apart from Asia, Ola also plans to expand in other countries in African region. However, Ola has not specified the timeline for expansion beyond Asian countries
Support for the International Countries on Ola App
Ola has already started adding support for international phone numbers on their app, which indirectly suggests beginning of Ola’s international journey, and operational start may not be very far. Ola is currently looking into localization requirements which include support for local SMS, their currencies, and the user interfaces for the different international markets.
End of the Alliance between Ola, Lyft, Didi and Grab
The two year old alliance between Ola, Lyft, Didi and Grab has expired. Earlier the big ride hailing companies from around the world formed up an alliance, so that they could leverage each other’s resources. The alliance was an attempt to better compete with Uber.
This end of their alliance has paved the way for the rival companies to enter into each other’s territories and become the direct competitors in their international markets.
Will Ola Succeed in International markets?
It will be interesting to see how Ola is able to fare in these International markets. In India, they had the first mover advantage, however, in most countries they will be entering, have existing players which include Uber their biggest rival. None of the players in this space have seen profitability as yet and expansion to newer territories will call for a huge chunk of investments ( driver incentives & ride offers). One thing is sure –