Minute attraction: kicksharing has started to reduce prices through package tariffs
Kicksharing operators are launching package tariffs to reduce prices. This has already been done by two companies at once — MTS Yrent, and earlier Whoosh. Trips are not paid per minute, and the customer is charged immediately for 20-200 minutes: at the same time, the discount to the per-minute payment is up to 20%. Companies focus on safety — people will stop driving and violating traffic regulations, as they will not think about costs, but experts believe the reason is increased competition and the desire of businesses to attract new customers.
Package rates for scooter rentals
A hidden price reduction has begun in the Russian kicksharing market — operators are launching package fares: when using them, trips are cheaper than when paying per minute. Market participants told Izvestia about this. For example, MTS Yrent launched them in July. The user is offered a choice of packages for 20, 40, 60 and 120 minutes. The more minutes, the lower the cost — compared to the per-minute payment, discounts are 5-20%, according to the company.
— If previously every user was worried about per—minute rentals — the longer you drive, the more you pay - now we offer minute packages. And you can also change scooters without paying for the start until the package runs out. This will allow users to take their time, thereby comply with traffic regulations and use a rented scooter safely," said Ilya Safykh, Director of Safe driving and Sustainable Development Projects at MTS Yuret.
Earlier, Whoosh introduced rental minute packages: 20 minutes, 60 minutes and 120 minutes, the application informs him. With a per-minute payment, a minute of travel in Moscow costs 8.49 rubles, and in a 120-minute package it will cost 5.80 rubles, Izvestia estimated.
— It is important for us to create conditions under which the user will think less about the minute-by-minute payment, which means he will not be in a hurry. Many of our offers include a free start," the company explained to Izvestia.
Izvestia sent a request to Yandex, which also sells scooters. According to the data provided by the company, one minute of a trip without a package costs 7.99 rubles, and a 200-minute subscription for three months costs 999 rubles (that is, slightly less than 5 rubles per minute).
Why do scooter businesses need packages?
Unofficially, participants in the electric scooter market recognize that package tariffs are designed to increase not only the level of safety of using these means of individual mobility, but also the income of rental companies.
"The market is saturated, competition is growing, and distributors are striving to increase the return on customers — selling minutes in packages is more profitable than one at a time," says one of Izvestia's interlocutors in the industry. — Moreover, the minutes from the packages are not always used to the end.
On the one hand, a minute in a package really costs 5-20% cheaper than with a per—minute payment, but on the other hand, the one-time payment for a package is higher, so the option is relevant for those who use scooters all the time, said Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily.
At the same time, the wholesale of rental minutes is really beneficial for operators, he agrees. The expert draws attention to the fact that there are more and more rental scooters in large cities, competition between kicksharing companies is growing, and lowering prices is the easiest way to attract new customers and maintain the loyalty of existing ones. It is necessary to maintain this loyalty: recently, operators have introduced a lot of restrictions, sanctions and fines, for example, for transferring control to minors, taking their time at crossings and much more, Denis Kuskov did not rule out.
Minutes in packages are nominally cheaper than in retail, but they "burn out" after a certain time, meaning the user pays in advance for a service that they may not use, said Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. For kicksharing companies, such tariffs are certainly a tool to increase the average check, he believes.
The expert agrees that package tariffs are needed to attract and retain people who often use electric scooters, they appeared against the background of saturation of the kicksharing market and increased competition in it. Again, the numerous large fines and restrictions that operators are currently imposing make them wary of services, and indirect price reductions are a way to increase users' interest in them, the expert concluded.
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