Uber expects its turnover in China to exceed that of the US by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Guangzhou has recently overtaken Chengdu to become Uber’s top city in the world in terms of booking volume.
Uber China leverges a barrage of media publicity and flashy campaigns to hook Chinese youth
Uber entered the Chinese market in 2014. It has been operating in the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen for over a year. Its service now covers 21 cities, and it will continue to expand to other cities in the next 12 months.
Besides Beijing, booking volume in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shenzhen also rank among Uber’s top ten globally, and Guangzhou, Chengdu and Hangzhou are all in the top five globally. Chengdu has overtaken New York as the world’s top city in booking volume.
Uber China has launched many localized services this year, such as the “People’s Uber +” ride-sharing service. Thanks to this service, users in Chengdu have saved 4.8 million km worth of commuting over the past 100 days, thus greatly reduced CO2 emissions, according to Uber’s data. This is just the beginning, and Uber will also launch its Uber Pool service in more Chinese cities. The service is now offered in 13 cities around the world, five of them in China.
Uber is currently launching an instant carpooling service in Chengdu, which boasts instant hailing without having to reserve rides like other similar services. Uber is also offering more convenient options for car owners, such as a function for drivers to set their own starting point and destination to better schedule passenger pickups.
Besides the extensive growth of its core operations, Ubers advertising campaigns for novelty services like Uber Rush, Uber ice cream delivery, Uber flower delivery, Uber Sky, Uber Boat and Uber Air have also enjoyed unexpected success. Each campaign has garnered media attention that becomes free advertising for Uber. The gimmick-effect of these novelty services also build up Uber’s public image as an exciting and fun company.
These advertising methods have helped Uber build up a popular word-of-mouth reputation among users and good public relations with authorities. Unlike many other multinationals, Uber has set up an independent local company that is actively communicating with the government and has worked hard to implement services in China.(Translation by David)
