Analytical Report on E-Business: Zimride

DIGITAL BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS | UMMDF7-15-M

Analytical Report on E-Business

ABSTRACT

Electronic commerce, also known as ecommerce is a type of industry where buying and
selling of a product is conducted over electronic systems such as the internet.

The purpose of this application is to bring knowledge to students about ecommerce and how
an interactive ecommerce application can be designed from scratch using client-side
languages, such as JavaScript and HTML, combined with the server-side Java language
through

Java Server Faces. The server side, mostly Java, contains all the implementation related to
setting up the database, creating session models for joining different user-interface (UI)
pages, calculating the shipping costs and sales tax, etc. It is responsible for taking information
from the database and making it available to the UI by mapping the category or item ID to the
respective

IDs stored in the database. The client side is responsible for showing the entire user interface,
containing the CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.

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Analytical Report on E-Business

CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... 2

1. INTRODCUTION .............................................................................................................. 4

2. BUSINESS MODEL .......................................................................................................... 5

3. VALUE PROPOSITION .................................................................................................... 6

4. REVENUE MODEL .......................................................................................................... 8

5. MARKET OPPORTUNITY............................................................................................... 8

6. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................... 8

7. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE ....................................................................................... 8

8. MARKET STRATEGY ..................................................................................................... 8

9. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 8

10. LIST OF REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 8

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Analytical Report on E-Business

1. INTRODCUTION

This report is prepared to present a diagnostic review on electronic business elements of

online carpooling service provider, Zimride.

Zimride is an online based ride sharing business which connects drivers and passengers via
social networking platforms. The business was found in 2007 by Logan Green and John
Zimmer. Started as a ride sharing service targeted to students who travel to and from
universities, Zimride is largest rideshare service in USA. (Sullivan, 2009)

According to official website of Zimride, the slogan of the company is “life is better when
you share the ride”. This is simple tagline appealing to youth and lower-class passengers who
opts to share a ride rather than using own vehicle. An overview of the company is given in
Zimride’s official website as follows:

“Zimride is a simple way to find friends, classmates, and coworkers going the same
way you are.

By focusing on college, university and corporate communities, we're building a

critical mass of users necessary to sustain Zimride as a reliable form of transportation.

It's simple! Zimriding is a fun way to get where you need to go. Connect with friends,

Figure 1: Zimride milestones

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DIGITAL BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS | UMMDF7-15-M
Analytical Report on E-Business

reduce your carbon footprint and save money.”

Based on the ethos of the company it can be said Zimride focuses on utilizing vacant seats of
commuting cars, thereby providing affordable ride to commuters and reducing carbon
footprint.

Since its inception in 2007, Zimride has achieved several milestones before becoming the
largest rideshare service in the USA.

2. NEW BUSINESS MODEL

According to (Ostewalder & Pigneur, 2010) a business model is about how an organization
creates, delivers, and captures value.

This notion of business model is further elaborated by Clark, Ostewalder & Pigneur (2012) as
a blueprint describing how an organization operates. According to the authors, just as an
architect prepares blueprint to guide the construction of a building, an entrepreneur designs a
business model to guide the creation of an enterprise.

As clarified by Osterwelder & Pigneur (2010), new business models are formed on the basis
of creating value, delivering value and capturing value. In creation of value, a customer need
or business opportunity is identified. This opportunity is utilized in delivering value or in
other words satisfying customer needs and capturing value for the company in terms of
revenue.

Another traditional definition of business model is that it depicts the content, structure, and
governance of transactions designed so as to create value through the exploitation of business
opportunities. (Amit & Zott, 2001)

Similar to physical businesses, the major principle of content, structure and governance also
applies to virtual business or electronic businesses.

The following are the some of the examples of major business models in today’s e-business:

 Flash sales
 Freemium

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Analytical Report on E-Business

 Sharing
 Reverse auction model
 Crowdsourcing

Since Zimride is based upon capitalizing on idle, unused seats of commuting cars with
consumer participation in the value creation process, it can be deduced that it is a sharing-
economy model.

Sharing Economy is described as collaborative consumption made by the activities of

sharing, exchanging, and rental of resources without owning the goods. (Lessig, 2008)

3. VALUE PROPOSITION

Value proposition is defined by (Murphy & Narkiewicz, 2010) as an offer to a customer that
includes elements in terms of target customers, the benefits offered to those customers and
the price. Price has a relationship to the competition. The authors also assert that according to
branding advocates, the value proposition includes more than product features, price, and
benefit. According to the authors, combining of a total customer experience when selecting,
purchasing, and using, the product is the measurement of an effective and well-defined value
proposition.

In this regard, the value proposition of Zimride is identified as below:

For customers:

 No need to own cars or wait for taxis for a long time.

 Drivers are not strangers. Drivers are authenticated by Zimride and can be viewed by
passengers.
 Track travel routes.
 Cheap rides – Zimride charges are mostly based on fuel cost only.
 Cashless payment – Fare is deducted from customer’s credit card account.
 Corporate customers:
o No parking required. For commuting workers the hassle of finding a parking
space is avoided. For companies, it relieves them from parking congestion.
o Increases employee productivity and promotes wellness.

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Analytical Report on E-Business

o Promotes the company’s image by contributing to sustainability - Reduces

carbon footprint.
o Provides a recruiting and retention benefit.
o Offers a solution for office relocation
 University customers:
o Reduces campus traffic
o Reduces infrastructure costs and parking congestion
o Reduces carbon footprint
o Offers a unique benefit for students and faculty to improve recruiting and
retention
o Complements shuttles, bike and car sharing programs
o Fosters a stronger sense of community

For drivers:

 Additional source of income or cover fuel cost of a personal trip.

 Cashless payment
 Passengers are not strangers. Passengers are authenticated by Zimride and can be
viewed by drivers.

Other value propositions:

 Key statistics to report savings, activity and growth

 A fully hosted, private solution with email or single-sign on authentication
 A dedicated rideshare specialist
 Extensive marketing support
 A clean and easy user interface
 Co-branding opportunities

(Zimride, 2016)

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Analytical Report on E-Business

4. REVENUE MODEL

5. MARKET OPPORTUNITY

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-02/lyft-is-racing-to-win-more-corporate-clients

6. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-02/lyft-is-racing-to-win-more-corporate-clients

7. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

8. MARKET STRATEGY

9. CONCLUSION

10.LIST OF REFERENCES

References
Amit, R. & Zott, C. (2001) Value creation in E-business. Strategic Management Journal , 22(6-7),
pp.493-520.

Clark, T., Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. (2012) Business Model You. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons
Inc.

Lessig, L. (2008) Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. New York: Penguin.

Murphy, R. & Narkiewicz, V. (2010) Electronic Commerce and the Value Proposition. The Journal of
Human Resource and Adult Learning, 6(1), pp.99-105.

Ostewalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. (2010) Business Model Generation A Handbook for Visionaries, Game
Changers, and Challengers. 1st ed. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Sullivan, C. (2009) Startup Bets That Social Networking Will Spur Carpool Craze [Online]. Available
from: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/07/29/29greenwire-startup-bets-that-social-
networking-will-spur-36381.html [Accessed 26 June 2016].

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Analytical Report on E-Business

Zimride. (2016) About Zimride: Zimride [Online]. Available from: https://www.zimride.com/about/

[Accessed 26 June 2016].

1. Revenue model

Pay per use model

2. Market opportunity

3. Competitive environment
4. Competitive advantage
5. Market strategy

http://nextjuggernaut.com/blog/how-uber-works-business-model-revenue-uber-insights/

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