How Rapido Outperforms the Competition?

What will you do if 75 investors refuse to fund you, despite the fact that you are an IITian? Aravind Sanka, an IIT Bhubaneswar alumnus, decided to establish his own company, theKarrier, after working for 3.5 years in the Flipkart Logistics Departments.

Aravind’s company used to carry your belongings in little trucks from one location to another. If you need to relocate your belongings somewhere, use theKarrier app to reserve a truck, pack your belongings into it, and transport it wherever you wish. To develop a firm, finances are required. Aravind pitched 75+ investors, but he received no money. Aravind formerly resided in Bangalore. And everybody who has visited or lives in Bangalore knows how horrible the traffic is..Traveling 5 kilometres takes more than 30 minutes. Once in this gridlock, Aravind reasoned that whether individuals drive their own car or use an OLA bus, the journey time would be the same. And Aravind tells his buddies Pavan and Rishikesh about it. While conversing, the notion of a bike ride service comes to mind. From then, Rapido took off.

Rapido now provides over 5 lakh rides every day. Rapido has grown more than 10 times in the previous two years.

Now the question is how a firm that no one has heard of before 2-3 years can defeat corporations like OLA and Uber. And, most importantly, what are the business lessons we can take away and apply to our own company?

How did Rapido start its Business Operation 

So the narrative begins in 2015, when Aravind Sanka was about to shut down his business, theKarrier, and he barely made it home due to traffic. Then he tells Pavan and Rishikesh about his aggravation with traffic and despair about a failed venture. If you’re so annoyed by traffic, why don’t you get a bike, his buddies suggest. However, taking a bike trip is preferable to riding a bike. The majority of Bangalore’s neighbourhoods are densely populated. Bikes, on the other hand, are like snakes in that they can readily travel everywhere. These three men began to research consumer behaviour.

The majority of individuals in Bangalore fall into one of these two categories.

1. THE SUPER WEALTHY

They are well-off and have no difficulties.

2.THE SUPER SAVOURS

They look for ways to save money wherever they can. And in this people’s lives, they’ve seen that there are mostly two issues that anger them.

EMPTY POCKETS and LATE AT WORK

They either have empty wallets or are perpetually late for work. There was only one reason for my tardiness: TRAFFIC JAMS. They began Rapido after viewing this. They received 10,000 downloads in less than a month. People began to like Rapido, but then a bomb detonated near them.

Uber and Ola entered the bike ride industry three months after Rapido launched. And Ola and Uber have so much money that they won’t have any problems providing free services for a year.

Rapido, on the other hand, must have closed if they did this. Rapido’s money were dwindling day by day. Aravind began pitching investors again in order to keep the firm alive. Everywhere he went, he was asked the same question-

What strategy will you use to compete with Ola and Uber?

What will you do to stay alive?

How are you going to defeat them?

Business problem faced by Rapido

Rapido’s condition was extremely precarious until 2016. Rapido must have closed, yet Pavan Munjal appears. Pavan Munjal, the CEO of Hero Motocorp, offers them money from his personal finances to assist them survive Rapido. He also provides them fantastic advise with these cash.

The recommendation was to concentrate on the PASTRIES rather than the CAKE.

So, what exactly does this imply? The whole industry is a cake, and each rival is fighting for a piece. I’m going to eat cake, just like the kids at birthday celebrations!! I’m going to eat cake!! Everyone is vying for the cake. This is also true in the corporate world. However, if you cut this cake into 7-8 pieces, it becomes pastries. If everyone is focused on pastries, there will be no need to compete over cake. And then there was this thing that Rapido did. Ola and Uber dominated major cities, where they were invincible, but they never functioned in tiny towns.

WHY???

Because no one wants to utilise Ola or Uber in that area. This is due to a very basic cause .Ola and Uber are expensive in TIER 2 and TIER 3 cities. Rapido developed their initial approach as a result of this.

LOCAL ECOSYSTEM

The majority of the audience from TIER 2, TIER 3, and TIER 4 cities travelled by bus or car. Because it is the most practical and cost-effective alternative for them. However, there was a major issue. Population Density was the issue. Because individuals in TIER 2, TIER 3, and TIER 4 utilise buses and cars, there is so much traffic on the buses that there is no room to walk, and autowalas charge fees based on their preferences. Rapido discovered that in certain places, they had the chance to bring in not one, but two consumers.

1. those who travel on a regular basis

2. Those who own bicycles but have no means of supplementing their income.

Rapido built such a strong market in these areas by making their system simpler and easier, that even if Ola and Uber entered these locations, Rapido would have so many riders that before the customer opened Ola’s app, a Rapido rider would have arrived, picked up, and transported the user. I know what you’re thinking: “Everything is OK, but bikes are dangerous.” Have you ever noticed how many accidents occur these days? That is quite accurate. Every day, around 2000 accidents occur in India.

RMS (Rider Monitoring System)

Rapido keeps track of everything about the cyclist using this approach. If he has all of the necessary documentation, his conduct with customers, the speed at which they ride their bike, and whether or not they overspeed, an alarm is instantly given to them. Riders who participate in more rides are rewarded. As a result, riders are constantly accessible, and the client experience is consistently positive. Accidents, on the other hand, are unavoidable. You can take measures, but no one can guarantee that an accident will not occur. And, speaking from personal experience, when you receive healthcare bills, all of your savings go in an instant. Seriously, whether you have it all or not, you should always get health insurance. But now the question is if Ola and Uber performed the same things as Rapido.

How Rapido beats this super funded Companies?

Concentrated Feedback Loop is the explanation behind this. Ola and Uber may often be found in every city, but Rapido is limited to a few places. Rapido’s goal is to provide the greatest service to its consumers, not to expand into additional places. However, the systems of Ola and Uber are more advanced than Rapido’s. What was Rapido’s method for doing this? As a result, the solution is concealed somewhere in their value chain. In the value chain of every aggregator business model, there are two clients. One is the consumer who will use your service, and the other is the customer who will provide it. If you speak candidly with any Ola/Uber driver, they would tell you that at first, Ola/Uber displayed their true colours, but then they revealed their true selves.

And we only cooperate with them now because we have no choice. However, if you chat to any Rapido driver, you’ll find that they’re usually satisfied. But why is that? Rapido, like Ola/Uber, takes a 20% commission. Robust Systems is the explanation behind this. Rapido offers incentives and rewards to its users in exchange for more rides and high ratings. As a result, they treat customers with respect. They don’t go too fast since they know the app is monitoring everything. They will receive notifications if they exceed the speed limit. If there are more notifications, there will be less income. Rapido’s Withdrawal System was the finest thing they ever designed for motorcyclists. Rapido Riders are generally persons from the lower middle class who seek to supplement their income. And it is critical for these folks to have money in their hands on a daily basis.

Rapido’s Withdrawal System was designed to be so simple that anyone could withdraw their money on a daily or monthly basis. Riders have sided with Rapido as a result of this. Today, if you utilise Rapido and no Rapido is available nearby, you may click the Snooze button and a rider will come to pick you up within 10 minutes. Rapido’s client experience is far superior to Ola or Uber as a result of these little initiatives. Rapido expanded at a 10x rate in just two years as a result of this.

Future of Rapido

Rapido has already begun to recruit female cyclists. As a result, they can bring more money to women and additional comfort to female clients. Rapido offers bike trips, vehicle rides, and bike rentals, as well as delivery services through partnerships with Swiggy and Zomato.

Not only that, but like Dunzo, Rapido now allows you to bring anything from any store or mail any parcel. And, more importantly, what are the business lessons that we can learn and apply to our own company?

1 – PASTRIES ARE EASIER THAN CAKES

As I previously stated, rather than fighting in a large market with large rivals, it is preferable to capture tiny niche markets. Rapido defeated Ola and Uber in the same way.

2 – KYC

The entire term of KYC is Know Your Customers, which few people are aware of. This isn’t the Aadhar Card KYC, though. It implies that you must recognise each and every one of your customers. Let me offer you a hint: in most firms, your customers aren’t the ones who give you money; they’re the ones who bring you the customer who will give you money. Like how Rapido looked after their riders, and subsequently the riders looked after the travellers.