In September, 80% of trips made with the VTC Bolt application were on promotion: this is what Heetch, the third player in the sector, suspects that its Estonian competitor is selling at a loss to catch up with the leader Uber, which also uses promotions , to a lesser extent. “This illustrates the absence of rules among the VTCs. It is time for a debate to regulate these promotions, which have skyrocketed since the start of the school year at Uber and Bolt.”estimates Simon Dabadie, CEO of Heetch Europe.
Based on a data analysis by Foxintelligence, a company that extracts data from users’ mailboxes, Dabadie establishes that 20% of Bolt’s turnover since the beginning of the school year is dedicated to these promotions, which are the most frequent discount codes. benefit customers and, more rarely, bonuses for drivers. In the end, 20% is a little less than the commission Bolt charges for each race (around 22%). So according to Heetch’s boss, there’s no way Bolt won’t lose money. As things stand, the Estonian company has never been profitable and Uber only became profitable in 2023, after thirteen years of losses.
According to Simon Dabadie, this significant market subsidy, due to significant fundraising, would have consequences for the viability of other players, in particular the French, who cannot keep up with the two global groups: “When platforms are sold at a price that does not allow profitability on the business and driver side, it is detrimental. » “It is true that we cannot fight against the rise of the giants.confirms Dany El Oubari, co-founder of the young Comin application. We prefer to rely on word of mouth to retain customers and drivers. »
“Guarantee quality in service”
“It is difficult to stand out and that drives down prices, because the two big ones constantly respond to each other.says Brahim Ben Ali, general secretary of the FO-INV union, which launched the Maze drivers’ cooperative. I contacted the Competition Authority several times and received no response. »
The abuse of promotions could also accustom users to very low prices, despite the fact that there are minimum prices for a trip from 2023 (today 9 euros net for the driver). “It does not serve the sector, because we continue to make the customer believe that the market value of the service is negligible, that transporting someone in a private vehicle costs nothing”judge Fabián Tosolini, national delegate of the Independent Union (CFDT).
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