Zipcar is world’s leading car-sharing network established in 1999 in the United States. It is a car-sharing network that lets its users reserve cars for hours or days. Users are able to access those cars very conveniently because of their placement in reachable locations. With such strategy, Zipcar claims that it is able to reduce congestion and population, and in turn contributing towards a sustainable environment.
Since its introduction in the industry, many competitors have tried to enter into this market and compete with them. Many of them have been successful, but Zipcar still remains the leader operating in 10 countries around the world. One of the reasons why Zipcar has been successful amongst all other competitors is their location of cars. While most of the other competitors like Hertz have their cars located around airports, Zipcar has a wider distribution network where their cars are spread all around the city in major locations so that users have easy and quick access to cars. Moreover, Zipcar also allows two or more users to share the car and eventually share cost. This allows users to benefit from car-sharing option as well as to contribute towards the environment.
Another factor that adds to the competitive advantage for Zipcar is their strong brand name. Since Zipcar was the pioneer in this business, it got a lot of recognition for its innovation and uniqueness. Over the years, Zipcar has maintained its growth and developed its loyal customer base who gives much regard to its brand name. Today, its brand name is its competitive advantage among all other competitors in the industry. It has also been working on its growth and expansion since it was introduced, due to which it has now spread into far more places than just the United States. This has contributed towards the expansion of its customer base and thus has further helped in terms of its brand name.
Zipcar has also been adapting to the changes in the industry and coping up with the new trends which makes them maintain their position in the industry. For instance, with the recent hype about self-driven cars being introduced in the market very soon, Zipcar has been keeping up with the technology and has been planning ahead to make use of that technology to their own advantage. For that matter, Zipcar is working on making use of autonomous cars and further facilitate their services. They claim that after this technological shift, the users will have access to Zipcar just outside their doorstep and will not even need a driver to use their services. This will help them grow their business and facilitate their customers along with fulfilling their promise of delivering a sustainable future.
All these factors, including the fact that they claim themselves to be the change ambassadors when they contribute towards a healthier environment speaks a lot about their competitive advantage. Zipcar claims to be the world leader in car-sharing services and working towards a sustainable society, creating a win-win situation for them as well as the environment.
Reference
About Us. Retrieved January 6, 2018, from http://www.zipcar.com/about
How Does Zipcar Work? Retrieved January 6, 2018, from http://www.zipcar.com/how
Newcomb, D. (2016, February 29). Zipcar Gears Up For Autonomous Driving. Retrieved January 6, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/dougnewcomb/2016/02/29/zipcar-gears-up-for-autonomous-driving/#1dd9d7233c01
Team, T. (2012, October 5). Three Reasons Why Zipcar’s Worth $11. Retrieved January 6, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/10/05/three-reasons-why-zipcars-worth-11/2/#298c02ff1163