Ride sharing: profitable or not?
4From our analysis into the operations of ride-sharers, we found that dominance and scale are the two key drivers for profitability. Dominance in key cities allows ride-sharers to ease spending on rider incentives and marketing expenses, without major driver or rider churn.
Our key finding is that a region cannot have more than one profitable ride-sharing player. Ride-sharers operating in the South East Asian region may start to realise scale benefits at US$1.3-1.7b revenues. This is provided their expansion plans, which typically lead to delays in reaching profitability, are minimal.
Whilst the path towards profitability for smaller operators remains rocky, we believe smaller players can co-exist with market leaders with the right strategies in place.
Read the full report at https://go.dbs.com/insights_ridesharing