Uber: Your One-Stop Shop for Everything
For myself as well as many consumers, Uber has become one of the most-used apps on our devices. From satisfying food cravings to heading out for the night, Uber has developed a platform that makes it easy for me to get where and what I want. And with the launch of Uber Explore earlier this month, the brand has transformed from solely a ride-hailing and delivery app to a platform that integrates a taste of adventure.
Explore with Uber
As users have witnessed, Uber is constantly finding ways to evolve its service and improve the consumer experience. When that ease of use is seamless, customers come back time and again. With Uber Explore, users will be able to browse and reserve nearby experiences including restaurants, nightlife, events, and cultural attractions. As part of the Uber app, there’s an option to schedule or ride immediately to your reservation. The feature also makes suggestions based on your past use of the app and displays Yelp reviews, photos, and directions.
Uber Explore is more than just a feature that allows users to browse experiences in their area. It’s about looking beyond the beginning and ending destination to find the in-between, a connection. As Adib Roumani, the product lead for Uber Explore, commented, “We’ve built Uber Explore to take our customers beyond the ride… People have always come to the Uber app for the point A to point B piece of the journey… and [now we can] help inspire the destination, too.”
Remaining Relevant
By integrating this new feature, Uber has sought a way to drive incremental trips through increased user engagement and use, resulting in increased revenue for the company. But is Uber extending itself too much? I remember the days when Uber was just a ride-hailing platform — a convenient and cheap alternative to taxis. A few years later, it became a ride-hailing platform with food delivery. Perfect — I could eat at restaurants outside of my comfortable walking distance. Not long after that, it was a ride-hailing platform with food, package, and grocery delivery. Essentially, I never had to leave my home. And now… Uber is a ride-hailing platform with food, package, and grocery delivery that also promotes experiences… Hmmm, what’s next?
The Challenges of Extension
In an ever-growing and competitive market where brands are constantly undermining one another, Uber insists on being here to stay. But the constant extension of its services creates confusion and can become overwhelming for customers who likely associate the brand with its beginnings, a ride-hailing platform. Additionally, if the brand continues to expand in unrelated markets, this may lead to a loss of reliability from expanding too far, thereby compromising all the brand’s efforts.
Discovery
As an individual who frequents multiple news sources and travels around the city daily, I actually wasn’t aware of Uber Explore until I was randomly browsing through the app’s features a couple of weeks after its launch. Instead of assuming its original brand name will compensate, Uber should consider investing in advertising campaigns to introduce its new service and generate more awareness around the feature. With Uber, more isn’t necessarily better — unless it’s valued and continually used by customers. But Uber shouldn’t expect users to randomly stumble upon its new features as I did. Rather, it needs to be placed in front of them.
