The activity of the Uber Company:
Let us start this article concerning Uber shares by summarising the precise activities of this company in order to assist you in better understanding the challenges of this activity sector so you can complete improved analyses.
The Uber Group, previously known as UberCab, is a technological company based in the United States that has the main activity of developing and managing mobile applications that enable communications between transport drivers or chauffeurs and their passengers.
The applications created and owned by Uber are used worldwide and therefore present in numerous countries around the world.
One of the particularities of this company is that it has implemented a system offering regular services in the same way as occasional services which has caused it a number of problems.
Uber offers different services including the following:
- UberX, professional drivers offering standard vehicles.
- UberBerline, professional drivers offering luxury vehicles.
- UberVan, professional drivers offering vans with a capacity of 6 people.
- UberPOP, individual occasional drivers using their own personal vehicle (service suspended in the summer of 2015).
- UberPool, this enables a passenger to share their route with another passenger situated at the same place and going in the same direction.
- UberEats, offering the delivery of meals from restaurants.This requires the use of the UberEats application.
- UberGreen, professional drivers offering electric or hybrid vehicles.
- UberAccess, professional drivers offering vehicles equipped for those with disabilities or reduced mobility.
More recently Uber again diversified its services by offering a meals delivery service named Uber Eats.
Know the competition to Uber shares:
Knowing the major competitors of the Uber group will undoubtedly also assist you at better analysing the growth possibilities as although this group was a pioneer in its domain numerous other companies have rapidly jumped into this new market representing fierce and merciless competition.
- Concerning the European and American markets, the major competitors to Uber are of course the taxi, private chauffeurs and Taxify.There is also the Lyft Company which is currently one of the most direct and serious competitors of Uber.
- But other competitors should also be taken into consideration in other geographical sectors and on other continents.In Russia and notably in one particular part of Asia you should take into account the significant competition from the internet giant Yandex that remains leader of this sector.
- Didi Xuching continues to be the VTC leader in Asia with a major part of this market sector.
- Finally, Grab is also leader in this activity sector in certain Arabic countries.
Completing a comprehensive study of this competition is an essential point if you wish to implement an effective investment strategy of this asset given that all these competitors continue to try and gain a stronger hold over market parts by expanding their services internationally and they don’t hesitate to attack Uber at times with the aim of weakening this company and stop it from gaining a stronger position.
The strategic alliances implemented by the Uber Group:
To increase their visibility and position worldwide, the Uber Group has not hesitated to implement a number of partnerships with major companies.As the announcement of these partnerships can have a major impact on this company’s share price it can therefore be extremely useful to follow them closely.Here are three recent examples of partnerships that will assist you in understanding the importance of such alliances.
- Notably in 2018 the Uber Group implemented a major partnership with the Cargo Group.This partnership had the objective of providing Uber drivers with the possibility of generating supplementary revenue by offering certain products for sale during their trips.The Cargo Group benefits from partnerships with Kelloggs, Mars and Starbucks and could therefore provide drivers with a free box stocked with different products from these brands which would be available for sale as part of a Premium service for its clients.It should be noted that over a million products have already been sold through this service.These boxes would be collected from Uber support centres and would notably include chewing gum, chocolate bars as well as beauty products, mobile chargers and other items that may interest their passengers.
- Still in 2018, Uber also became associated with one of the major European banking groups, BNP Baripas, with a partnership aimed at assisting VTC drivers that use this application for purchasing recent used vehicles.With this alliance the Uber drivers could therefore benefit from specific acceptance criteria to obtain this financing and even use a dedicated website that offer them direct access to a large range of used vehicles carefully chosen to meet their requirements that respect the VTC regulations.The drivers can thereby reserve their vehicle directly online using this service.To enable this partnership the BNP Paribas, through their subsidiary Cetelem, created a specific financing model for this Uber partnership.This will undoubtedly enable Uber to recruit more drivers that are often reluctant to launch into this business due to the necessary purchase of a vehicle, notably by the need to obtain credit in their specific professional capacity as an independent worker.
- More recently again it was with the Toyota Motor Corporation that the Uber subsidiary Uber Technologies signed an agreement aimed at enlarging their existing partnership by advancing and launching a mobility service based on autonomous and shared vehicles.With this partnership the two groups brought together their knowledge and technologies in the creation of Toyota vehicles specially produced to be deployed in the Uber fleet.Toyota would thereby invest over 500 million dollars in the American company.It should be noted that this partnership was also seen by the two companies as important to the future opportunities offered by autonomous vehicles for which this technology needs to be developed.The challenge in this case is seen to be a way that these autonomous vehicles can be used by third party autonomous fleet operators through the signature of specific agreements.At present, the fleet of vehicles currently called Autono-MaaS will be based on the existing Toyota Sienna monospace platform which will integrate an Autonomous Driving System finely tuned by Uber with Toyota’s Guardian automatic security assistant.Toyota will also provide this project with its Mobility Services platform, its basic information infrastructure dedicated to smart vehicles.We look forward to seeing the launch of the pilot phase of this project on Uber’s Autoshare network which should begin in 2021.
As you may have noted, these partnerships implemented by Uber touch different sectors and therefore different activities.Depending on the objective of each alliance the effects on the stock market price of each share may be variable and you should therefore carefully evaluate this impact.
The advantages and strengths of the Uber share as a stock market asset :
We would now like to show you what strengths the Uber share has to support its upward trend.In order to understand this, it is necessary to determine the strengths of the company at the present time.We will now take a closer look at these strengths:
First of all, the solution implemented by the Uber Group has a very interesting evolutionary character.Firstly, the solution implemented by the Uber group is very interesting to evolve.This easy evolution of the services offered should indeed enable Uber to maximize the effectiveness of its international expansion.Taxi services are ubiquitous in every country in the world and the needs are therefore very real, enabling Uber to respond effectively by easily adapting its offer to the specific conditions and constraints of each country.
Uber's facilities in terms of managing its staff, i.e.its drivers, are also an advantage for the group, which can choose qualified drivers and does not have the same constraints as other companies.It should be remembered that Uber's system is based on self-employed and self-employed drivers, which also limits labour costs.Similarly, the group's operating costs are also very low with the absence of certain needs, since the interaction between drivers and customers is only done through the mobile application.
With regard to the group's business model, another undeniable advantage of Uber is the ability to offer an easy and clear service to users.In particular, users know the price of the race in advance and can order a vehicle at any time.
The value of this company is another advantage that you should take into account.Indeed, significant sums have been paid by investors in this company, which gives it the opportunity to develop more significantly and to expand its business around the world through investments in research and innovation in particular.
The policy of low fares compared to the offers of classic taxis is another of the strengths of the Uber model and allows it to easily win new customers.
Finally, account will also be taken of the Group's well thought-out strategy of diversifying its activities.Following the creation of Uber Eats in the field of meals-on-wheels delivery, it is likely that the group will soon set up other services of this kind, building on its know-how and efficient model.
Disadvantages and weaknesses of the Uber share as a stock market asset :
While the Uber group seems to have many assets that should enable it to grow and thus raise its share price on the stock market, it also has a number of shortcomings that we suggest you discover here in more detail thanks to the list of its current weak points.
First of all, the ethical issues surrounding Uber's relationship with its drivers remain at the heart of investors' concerns.Indeed, this business model based on the employment of self-employed rather than salaried employees has been the subject of much debate in recent years and although Uber has made real efforts in this direction, it is not impossible that new social movements will disrupt its activity in the years to come.
Similarly, there is no real link and loyalty programme between Uber and its passenger customers, which could lead to their flight to a potential competitor and in particular to competitors with lower prices or higher quality services.
Laws and regulations in the markets in which the Uber group operates may hinder its growth because of the constraints they impose.These rules differ from one country to another and Uber is obliged to adapt to them as best it can.
Account will also be taken of the arrival on the market of new competitors to Uber, which no longer enjoys a monopoly in this sector of activity.The low barriers to entry make it easy for new players to enter the market, which of course limits Uber's growth opportunities.
Finally, and despite operations aimed at simplifying this problem, such as the partnership with BNP Paribas bank that we presented to you above, the fact that Uber drivers have to finance the purchase of their vehicles themselves may prove to be a major obstacle to the strong development of this business.