3 Reasons Why LYFT Is “Winning” The Ride Share Industry

It appears that recently the brand equity of Lyft is ‘winning’ in the ride share industry.

Uber has been in the media over the past year for negative reasons such as poor leadership, low employee morale and disgruntled drivers. Uber has been recovering by shuffling the executive leadership team and soothing unhappy drivers by having tips included in their rides.

While all of this has been going on Lyft has been stealthily planting messages in the media about its company culture, its ride share approach and how they treat their drivers. (Hint: Lyft has always had tipping for drivers as part of their app).

In a highly competitive market the companies that focus on ‘people’, companies like Lyft are “winning”.

Uber’s list of scandals has provided Lyft a huge opportunity to position itself as the warmer, fuzzier alternative – one that Lyft has seized through a series of well timed announcements.

Here are 3 Reasons Why Lyft Is “Winning” In the Ride Share Industry:

1. Lyft has always focused on treating people well. “The one thing that really sets Lyft apart is how we think about treating people,” says Gina Ma, one of Lyft’s first employees who now heads up the company’s brand strategy.The reason this is a winning approach is that when a company focuses on ‘people first’ the people will respond by supporting the brand.  Lyft maintains that during the Uber scandals they have not done anything new,  they are simply behaving they have always behaved, but people are noticing now.
2. Reputation always impacts a buyers decisions. Consumers today want to deal with and interact with brands that make them feel good. Of course Uber is convenient and is the bigger name in the ride share industry AND its recent missteps have caused a ‘feeling’ among consumers that the brand is not as trustworthy as once thought. For example women riders may choose Lyft over Uber because of the sexism claims against Uber leadership. Or riders may choose Lyft over Uber because tips have always been built in to the prices.
3. Being the “little guy” in an industry can create major opportunities. Gina Ma of Lyft says that Uber’s problems haven’t changed Lyft’s overarching strategy but have given the company more of a voice.“People are starting to get really curious about how Lyft is different and what our value system is,” she said. Lyft is small compared to Uber, meaning that it is not in as many cities as Uber. Uber is in 600 cities in 81 countries and is valued at a whopping $70bn. Lyft, meanwhile, is valued at $7bn and is operating in 300 cities in the US. So with Lyft being a small player in the market the Uber scandals has created an opportunity to increase market share.

Lets face it Uber will weather through these scandals due to its market reach and still being the ‘top of mind’ major disrupter in the ride share industry. However it certainly has me looking for Lyft rides first in the cities that I visit and when I can’t find a Lyft then I go to Uber. Uber has an opportunity for major change up with creating an inclusive and diverse workplace culture and shifting entire strategic focus to ‘taking care of people first’.

For me I want to support companies that have a “people first’ approach – its just the right thing to do AND its good for business.