In recent times, with the changes HE Tuber in the market, we often hear discussions about the "saturation" of the online ride-hailing market. So how should online ride-hailing platforms respond to challenges, or how should they optimize their business strategies? In this article, the author explains the development of the online ride-hailing market and online ride-hailing platforms. Let’s take a look.

After the epidemic subsided, Chinese people’s enthusiasm for travel 

was completely ignited. In the first half of this year, whether it was the Spring Festival Golden Week or the May Day and Dragon Boat Festival holidays, the tourism market was booming. The number of tourists increased explosively, and related industries such as travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, and scenic spots also successfully recovered.

However, online ride-hailing, which is also an important supporting industry in the tourism industry, has developed an "inverted V-shaped" growth curve: order volume soared in the first quarter. Unfortunately, the growth rate fell sharply soon and failed to maintain the upward trend. Coupled with the sluggish job market in the past year, a large number of flexible employees have poured into the online ride-hailing industry. Reports of a decline in the average daily order volume and an oversupply of online ride-hailing have frequently appeared on the screen.

to the future of the online ride-hailing industry.

On June 26, Hangzhou issued the "Implementation Rules for the Management of Online Taxi Booking Operations" and the "Technical Standards for Online Booking Taxi Vehicles" to further raise the threshold for online car-hailing operations: vehicles used to operate online car-hailing business must be new from the factory. This policy will be implemented on July 17 for new energy pure electric vehicles or non-new energy pure electric vehicles with a taxable price of more than 150,000 yuan.

1. Order growth dropped to single digits, and online ride-hailing hit the ceiling again

Turning the clock back to the beginning of this year, the online ride-hailing market is still booming.

According to data from the Ministry of Transport’s Online Ride-hailing Supervision Information Interaction System, the number of online ride-hailing orders nationwide in January this year was 576 million, a month-on-month increase of 14.1%, halting two consecutive declines at the end of last year. In the following two months, taking advantage of the Spring Festival Golden Week and the large-scale resumption of work and production across the country, the order volume further increased to 652 million and 716 million, which can be said to be a perfect start.

which is the most popular in the post-epidemic period, the number of online ride-hailing orders nationwide was 706 million and 735 million respectively. You know, in the depressed year of 2022, there are only two peak seasons in January and August when the order volume exceeds 700 million. Before the first half of 2023 is over, the order volume has reached 700 million in three months, giving many online ride-hailing platforms and drivers a shot in the arm.

However, upon closer inspection, this growth momentum also appears to be weakening.

On the one hand, in the first five months of this year, order volume increased by 14.1%, 13.3%, 9.7%, -1.4% and 4.2% respectively month-on-month, and the overall growth rate showed a downward trend. The growth performance in April and May was particularly disappointing - it was also from this time that discussions about the inclusion of online ride-hailing drivers and the decline in average daily orders began to become popular on major social platforms.

On the other hand, the performance of several leading platforms is also unstable, with more and more platforms experiencing month-on-month declines in order volume.

According to the latest data released in May, half of the top 10 platforms have experienced a month-on-month decline in order volume, including Xiangdao Travel, Wanshun Ride-hailing, Shouqi Ride-hailing, Caocao Travel and Sunshine Travel. The largest decline among them was Sunshine Travel, with order volume decreasing by 15.2% month-on-month. Meituan Taxi, whose order volume plummeted 58% in April, fell out of the top ten in May.

Compared with 2022, the online ride-hailing market has definitely picked up, but the recovery momentum is not as strong as expected. The growth rate cannot be sustained due to many reasons, which can be summarized as follows: lack of new users, transport capacity approaching saturation, and the balance of supply and demand being broken.

Data also from the Ministry of Transport show that in the first five months of this year, the number of domestic companies that have obtained operating licenses for online ride-hailing platforms, and the number of online ride-hailing driver licenses and vehicle transportation licenses issued by various places have increased. As of the end of May, there were 313 online ride-hailing platforms across the country, a net increase of 13 from the beginning of the year; the number of online ride-hailing driver licenses and vehicle transportation licenses issued in various places were 5.584 million and 2.357 million respectively, an increase of 47% from January respectively. million and 190,000.

Compared with the total order volume, compliant vehicles and drivers have been growing steadily, and don’t forget that there are still a small number of drivers in the industry who do not have dual certificates. The total transport capacity is definitely higher than official statistics. There are too many monks and too little gruel. Drivers complain one after another, and the platform cannot turn a deaf ear. After the order volume growth slowed down, many platforms could only increase prices to restore blood to drivers.

Around the Spring Festival this year, Didi took the lead in raising starting prices and

 changing billing rules in Hangzhou, Shenzhen and other places. Among them, the starting price of express trains in Shenzhen increased by 0.5-0.9 yuan depending on different time periods and distances, and the price per kilometer of ultra-long-distance orders in the 30-40 km range in the main urban area increased by 0.1 yuan. In the Hangzhou area, starting prices have increased to varying degrees during off-peak hours on weekdays and during morning and evening peak hours. The highest increase is 0.7 yuan during morning peak hours, but prices have slightly decreased during off-peak hours at night and on holidays.

In the announcement sent to drivers, Didi bluntly stated that this adjustment can "further increase order revenue." However, this approach is tantamount to passing on cost pressure to users, which is likely to affect the latter's frequency and willingness to take taxis, especially short-distance orders.

Balancing the interests of platforms, drivers, and users has always been a difficult problem for the online ride-hailing industry. It is difficult for the three parties to reach agreement on many issues. But it is undeniable that the initiative has always been in the hands of the platform. After the growth rate slows down, the next step can only be decided by the platform.