in

The Difficulty of The Ride-Hailing Business: When ‘Grab’ can make a Profit?

Grab Car - Astro Awani

Startups in the field of ride-hailing were booming when they first appeared. With the existence of online transportation applications, users are facilitated in terms of time, cost, and convenience. With just one click, users of ride-hailing apps can determine their planned trips.

Grab became a successful Malaysian ride-hailing app. Grab’s long journey, founded by Anthony Tan, has experienced twists and turns in business. Grab, which currently has the status of a Decacorn (the company’s valuation above USD 10 billion) has not turned to be a profitable company until now.

What has always been a challenge for ride-hailing business is the large amount of sales and operational expenses. Since Ride-hailing business operates daily, hour to hour, even minute to minute. The big question is, when can Grab make a profit?

One way that Grab can do is to change the stigma of Grab from being called as transportation company to a one-stop application company. Starting from food delivery services, taxis, health, payments, shopping for daily necessities, delivering goods and ordering hotel rooms.

This is Grab’s way to reduce operating costs by increasing revenue from other sources.