Through UberRush, Uber has started to lend hands for many new start ups by helping them out in retailing of their products. Establishing a startup is a tedious task which involves too much of hectic tasks like recruiting employees, legal activities, procurement of materials, installation of machineries, marketing their products, etc., Adding to it comes the difficult task of finding a proper means to deliver their products or services to the concerned people or customers. Uber is venturing out into this portion of business too with their featured app UberRush with which delivery of products could be made easily on demand basis.
Uber would be offering a technology which would be a boon to all the drivers as well as public with small start ups. Through the app they can provide on-deamnd delivery of any retail products that ranges from food to clothes and stationeries to toys. This service would be eligible even to supply provisions and vegetables to customers when a demand is raised. At the time of launch this service was only available for larger companies operating regularly and now it has been planned to offer pay-per-delivery services which could be taken up by anyone willing to work on part time too. They strongly believe that this would be great opportunity for founders of small start ups to expand their business beyond their locality as the ‘Uber for X startup’ would be able to reach the customer more fast and efficiently. However UberRush is now only available in New York, San Francisco and Chicago where they found the competition was quite high and owing to their effective and featured app they were then able to hold a strong place in the market. The service has received great response as it is one among the few driver-benefited features.
Uber claims to reach the peak in the market
UberRush, which was first launched last year, is now available to any common man who wants to add on-demand delivery into their business (not to forget that Uber’s delivery network is only operational in San Francisco, New York and Chicago currently). By taking advantage of the UberRush API, startups and larger companies alike can support on-demand delivery without the need to build out their own network of drivers. Instead, they simply pay a per-delivery fee and get access to Uber’s network of drivers and couriers.
Though the company has been working with some larger retailers like Nordstrom, 1800 Flowers and Rent the Runway on the Rush API for more than a year, Uber is now planning to get smaller startups on board, as well. For instance if a app user would like to have a home-made pizzas in few mins the Uber would help the user by delivering it to him from its small startup owners who would have probably started baking goodies from their own houses. UberRush would also help people who would like to rent things from another individual. These services are already being provided through Uber in the above listed cities.
Uber, who is already expert in commuting people, has to gain lot of experience in commuting things and materials from one to place. The company currently seems to show less interest in the quality of the products being delivered which might sound annoying for the buyers. Uber’s shift into as a ‘Logistics company’ would take lot of time for them to establish.
Uber for Kids – A Big Hit
It’s been nearly two years since McGlynn had started to take children to and from school as a part-time driver for Shuddle. On the launch of ‘Uber for X’ startup he decided to launch his own startup ‘Uber for Kids’ which became a much-hyped startup that quickly raised $12 million with the promise of helping the busy office going parents by helping them in picking and dropping their kids from and to the school respectively. Initially for few people it sounded like yet another on-demand company raising millions of dollars by lifting a page from Uber’s ideas. Later it became a hit among the office going mothers as it has reduced their burden.
However all of a sudden one day, after McGlynn had just dropped off a student at home for Shuddle, the mother received an alert on her phone saying the startup had abruptly shut down. However clear reasons are not revealed Adam Borelli who left amazon in mid-2015 to join Shuddle as VP of product says “We started in an era when funding was cheap and there was tons of cash, and you could raise a lot of money off of very, very little”. He also added that when growth stalled and the investment market soured, the company overhauled its strategy in an effort boost profits and raise additional funds. But investors didn’t bite. One Shuddle investor who spoke to press put it bluntly: “It was too little too late.”
Uber for X – couldn’t succeed every time
When times were good, a lot of companies were focused on growth that they purchased the service without thinking about how they’ll retain them. One of the things that every startup has to focus on is following up on customers using the product for the first time and makes them use it for the second time within a month. If they aren’t, then it is definitely a big problem.
On-demand apps are essential for a traditional business at their core, and if too much focus is placed on the technology and not enough on the service end, it becomes harder to meet expectations from both customers and investors. At the end, it takes a lot of discipline and communication to run the business without which survival in the market becomes the toughest.
Of course, not all “on demand” startups managed to pull through the way few like ParkWhiz has. Many e-hail companies attempted follow in Uber’s trail of success. Some succeeded, others altered their strategy accordingly, but ultimately, many failed.
Author Bio :-
Anand Rajendran is the CEO and Co founder of RUTAPP Infosystems, a company that provides customizable app development services for IOS and Android users.He has been in the digital marketing industry for more than 5 years who assist organizations to enhance their online business with the latest strategies. Ridecy Script is an Uber clone script mobile app mainly designed for the taxi owners to focus more on their business with advanced features.
