Car-hailing apps have over 60% penetration rate across all city tiers and age groups in China. 84.7% users from China’s first-tier cities use car-hailing services; and, they used car-hailing apps 8.7 times on average in the past month according to an FT research.
Over 80% users in 25 to 29 age group use car-hailing apps, and they used it as frequently as 9.1 times in the past month according to FT Confidential Research.
Users’ average monthly spend on car-hailing apps is RMB 181. Users whose annual income is at least RMB 300k use car-hailing apps most, 12.5 times on average in the past month, followed by RMB 100k to 299k income group (7.9 times) and RMB 99k or below (6.6 times).
Didi and Uber are two major car-hailing apps in China. 91.3% respondents listed Didi as top 3 car-hailing apps used while only 35% voted for Uber.
Didi ranked top among five most popular car-hailing apps which are Didi Chuxing, Uber, UCAR, Dida Pinche, and Yongche.com.
Didi Zhuanche, private car service by didi, costs lower than UberX, similar service by Uber.
A common tactic adopted by many internet companies in China is to provide subsidies. Didi announced a total number of 1.43 billion orders in 2015 including taxi, private car, carpooling, bus, test drive, corporate service and other services. And, the total number of registered Didi users had reached 250 million by the end of 2015.
Extended reading: Uber’s battle for China (FT.com)