Case Study

Driver Partnering

XLRI - 2020

Name : Antony J Sankoorikal

Roll No : B19067
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PROBLEM STATEMENT
About Ola drive

Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 150+ cities
across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to
drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and
transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 1.5 million driver-partners.

Driver Partner Marketing

Objective: To get greater share of Driver Partners on the Ola platform.

Note: Average Earnings vs Effort ratio is reported to be similar across platforms.

Task:

1. What could be the possible reasons that impact driver preference towards platforms?
2. As a marketer what could you solve from the above list and how? (Using marketing programs and
campaigns).
Case Solution
Factors that impact driver preference

Financial help Expansion Ease of use Cash Flow

Potential driver partners (DPs)
require financial aid in purchasing the
required vehicle. Hence, platforms
providing such assistance have a
better edge in attracting DPs. Ola
Fleet provided this aid by introducing
a cab leasing scheme, which
attracted DPs and also gave Ola the
first mover advantage in this regard.
Flexibility
Flexibility of working hours
is greatly appreciated by
driver partners and affects
their preference for
platforms.
Driver partners (DPs) can
also be acquired from
other vehicle users. This is
highly effective in cities
with high traffic as
navigation with four
wheelers become more
difficult and fuel inefficient.
Therefore, expansion of
services to two and three
wheelers would also be a
factor that impact driver
preference for the platform
A significant portions of
the DPs in India are
uncomfortable with
technology and the
English language. A criteria
platform that is easy to
sign-up, use and provides
services in regional
languages would also
impact driver preference.
Vehicle maintenance
This is also a source of cost
for DPs and platforms
assisting DPs with their
vehicle maintenance would
be viewed as a better option
to partner with.
Most of the driver partners
come from the lower
income group and cash
flow is a very important
for them. A
platform that offers daily
cash flows would be
preferred over one that
provides weekly payments
as cash flow is required
for the operation of the
trips taken by the DPs.
Campaign tagline :“Growing together”
Financial help
Ola Fleet provides financial
assistance in the form of leasing cars
to potential driver partners. However,
there is an apprehension about the
monthly instalments to be payed
which creates distress among the
supplier base the firm has built over
the years. Flexibility in payment
schedules and appropriate marketing
of said flexibility portraying the firm
as caring for the growth of its DPs
would have a positive impact on this.
Vehicle maintenance and flexibility
Ola’s free scheduled maintenance and it availability of the platform in three
regional languages (the app must also expand this to include more) can be
used to showcase it as user friendly
Expansion
Expansion of the human
resource side of the
supply side of the market
also allows an increase in
utilization of available
resources. “Ola Sainik”
can be used to showcase
the social impact Ola has
on the country in order to
further drive the point of
“Growing together”
Heroes of Ola
The Heroes of Ola initiative can be used to portray the
activities undertaken by the firm for the recognition of
its driver partners. The “Growing together” campaign
would include this initiative as means to portray the
attention that Ola gives to its DPs
Events and Games
Ola could also organize events for their driver
partners which involves gamified version of training
programs. This not only portrays the firm as being
attentive to their DPs and a fun place to work for all,
but also has the added advantage of training their
DPs.
Marketing channels
The campaign should be short, concise, showing a
picture or a short video portraying Ola’s activities (of
financial help, Ola Sainik, Heroes of Ola, Events and
Games, and Vehicle maintenance) with the tagline at
the end.
Channels: Billboards and YouTube for DPs of
competitors, newspaper for potential DPs
THANK YOU