"Earthquake" with rapid progress
On April 14, 2023, electric taxis under the SM Green brand simultaneously "landed" on the streets of Hanoi, marking the official entry of GSM into the taxi market of more than 440 million USD (according to 2020 data from Mordor Intelligence). Notably, the pure electric taxi company worth thousands of billions invested by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong went into operation after a record short preparation time of only 38 days.
On the day of its launch, the SM Green Taxi application reached 100,000 downloads, and “climbed” to the Top 1 travel and Top 2 network of the Apple Store rankings in just a few hours. The impressive debut opened up the hope of dominating the ride-hailing market share in Vietnam when “Mr. Vuong’s taxi” was widely accepted by users.
The Cyan “earthquake” continued to spread to Ho Chi Minh City on April 27. GSM’s new milestone was recorded with unprecedented numbers: 1,700 employees were recruited and worked in 51 days, 400,000 people downloaded the app in 2 weeks, 300,000 discussions on the media…
Riding on the momentum, Xanh SM continuously "landed" in Hue, Nha Trang, Da Nang, Phu Quoc, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa... These rapid steps are part of GSM's strategy to "green" 27/63 provinces and cities in 2023. Along with that, the fleet size of Xanh SM taxi is also expected to increase to 30,000 in the first year of operation.
The position of SM Green Taxi is increasingly clear when reaching the milestone of 6 million customers after only 5 months of "launch".
GSM also quickly entered the field of two-wheeled vehicle calling when launching Xanh SM Bike on August 14, 2023 in Hanoi. This is the first step in the plan to "cover" 5 provinces and cities in 2023 of this service with the number of up to 90,000 vehicles.
"Participating" in the 2-wheeled ride-hailing segment in a market that is almost completely in the hands of "foreign soldiers" such as Grab and Gojek, GSM has shown its parity by setting a record of 1 million customers after only 1 month.
In particular, the ability to think big and act quickly of “Mr. Vuong’s taxi” was further affirmed with the bold step of advancing to Southeast Asia. On October 13, a batch of 150 cyan taxis was officially imported into Laos, starting GSM’s journey to conquer the world.
Expectations to reshape the Southeast Asian ride-hailing market
In fact, the internationalization strategy was conceived by GSM from the very beginning. Sharing with the press in May 2023, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, CEO of GSM, revealed that the ride-hailing platform invested by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong will soon be present in Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.
According to Blackbox, a Singapore-based global trends research firm, by 2022, Grab will dominate the ASEAN ride-hailing market with an absolute market share of 75%, far surpassing runner-up Gojek with only 13%.
Although it is a latecomer, GSM has many opportunities. Transport expert Vu Anh Tuan said that GSM has at least four advantages to become a “challenger” in the Southeast Asian passenger transport market.
GSM chose the right time to “go abroad” when the ride-hailing market in ASEAN is experiencing a compound annual growth rate. According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, by 2028, the ASEAN taxi market alone will reach 30.23 billion USD, a sharp increase compared to the current scale of 21.14 billion USD.
Meanwhile, according to Blackbox, ride-hailing has become an essential part of daily life in Southeast Asia. More than half of respondents (53%) used ride-hailing apps during the survey period. Demand for ride-hailing in the region has increased sharply in recent years as Covid-19 has changed the travel habits as well as the way most people work and organize their lives.
“The market space for new players like GSM is huge. In particular, GSM’s choice of Laos as its first international destination is very wise because this country of more than 7 million people currently has only one domestic ride-hailing platform. Successfully conquering the Lao market will create more buzz for GSM internationally,” said expert Vu Tuan Anh.
According to the expert, GSM also benefits greatly from its “brother” VinFast – the only global electric car company in Southeast Asia founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong. Thanks to VinFast’s reputation and international position, GSM will quickly become a symbol of civilized, environmentally friendly transportation in new markets.
“GSM can control the service well thanks to proactively sourcing high-quality vehicles from the supplier VinFast. This is something other ride-hailing companies cannot do because they depend entirely on the vehicles of their driver partners,” Mr. Vu Tuan Anh analyzed.
The next advantage of GSM, according to the expert, is its financial potential and the solid support from founder Pham Nhat Vuong - one of the richest billionaires in Asia.
“Even Grab took 2 years to go international, so GSM going overseas after only 6 months of launch can be considered a record. The financial platform will continue to be a springboard for GSM to make rapid progress and breakthrough growth,” said expert Tuan Anh.
Going abroad when competitors like Grab or Gojek have established a solid base in the regional market, GSM faces many challenges. However, experts assess that with its strategic vision, boldness, lightning-fast "genetic code" and a series of outstanding advantages, GSM is expected to reshape the ride-hailing market in the region. This is also the launching pad for GSM to become an international ride-hailing startup with a global scale.
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