Cover news reporter Fu Wenchao.
In the blink of an eye, 2023 is coming to an end.
At present, the online car-hailing industry has become one of the livelihood industries related to the safe travel of people. Looking at the current ride-hailing market, strategic opportunities and risks and challenges coexist. Factors such as intensified market competition, strengthened policy supervision, and changes in consumer demand will all have an impact on the subsequent development of the industry, but in the long run, the online car-hailing market still has broad room for development.
On December 22, Ni Licheng, CEO of Xiangdao Travel, shared his keywords for 2023 and his outlook for 2024 in an exclusive interview with Cover News.
Cover News: Looking back on 2023, what are your thoughts on this year?
Ni Licheng: In 2023, we will see a dynamic and resilient market, especially in the contact and agglomeration service industries. As of the first half of 2023, the transportation, warehousing and postal sectors grew by 69%, the demand of the travel market has been fully released, and the overall recovery momentum is relatively strong. According to the third-party consulting agency**, the scale of China's online car-hailing market will exceed 320 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of nearly 15%.
In the context of overall market growth, we are deeply aware that there is an imbalance between supply and demand in many local markets. In some key travel markets, a large number of drivers have joined the online car-hailing industry, resulting in oversupply in some regions, falling into excessive competition, and involution of travel servicesIn other local markets, there is a shortage of capacity and demand exceeds supply, resulting in problems such as long dispatch distances and long waiting times for passengers. For the entire industry and enterprises, how to maintain the balance between supply and demand is an urgent issue.
For Xiangdao travel, in each local market, we will do a good job in evaluating the growth and change of demand, and introduce or supplement the supply in a timely mannerOn a global scale, we will efficiently balance the supply and demand of the local market, and make the greatest efforts to balance the supply and demand of the entire travel industry. No matter how the market changes, no matter how the relationship between supply and demand is adjusted, the red line of security compliance cannot be broken.
Cover News: What do you think you've gotten in 2023?What was lost?
Ni Licheng: 2023 is the fifth year of the Xiangdao travel brand, and some achievements have been made. First of all, in terms of driver capacity, Xiangdao Travel continues to care for the driver group in three aspects: daily life care, work experience improvement, and career development support through the "Driver Sharing Home Program", so as to help them achieve steady and long-term success in the professional position of online car-hailing drivers. In May 2021, Xiangdao Travel set up the first exclusive festival for online car-hailing drivers in China, "5.20 Online Car-hailing Driver Care Day", and has provided benefits and assistance to drivers for three consecutive years.
Secondly, at the level of improving the travel experience of passengers, Xiangdao Travel continues to upgrade customized products for subdivided scenarios, such as the launch of Xiangxue small car and luxury car products launched this yearIn addition, we continue to explore user needs and go deep into high-frequency travel scenarios. This year, Xiangdao Travel has set up exclusive connection points in leisure and entertainment scenes such as the Lujiazui Coffee Festival and the 321 International Illustration Art Festival to provide users with convenient and efficient travel services.
In the past five years, in this stage of quality control, solidification standards, and precipitation principles, Xiangdao Travel has not blindly pursued market expansion and seized the market on a large scale.
Cover News: What are the keywords for you (your business) in 2023?
Ni Licheng: If you use a key word to describe it, I think it should be "seeking progress while maintaining stability".
On the premise of stabilizing the basic business scale of the country, Xiangdao Travel has further steadily increased its business scale and market share, and up to now, it has achieved business coverage in 61 cities across the country, and has formed a core city with Shanghai as the core and a business layout in 14 key cities. In the future, Xiangdao Travel will accelerate the rhythm of the national opening of the city, make breakthroughs through core cities, achieve multi-point flowering, and realize the rapid radiation of business in major regions across the country in key cities.
Not long ago, relying on the resource advantages of SAIC's vehicle industry chain, Xiangdao Travel and Wuling Motors jointly launched the online car-hailing model "Xiangdao Customized Version". Although it is not the first travel platform in China to launch a customized version of pure electric online car-hailing in collaboration with car companies, it is a representative of the course of "seeking progress while maintaining stability", in which stability is the foundation and progress is the key.
Cover News: Looking ahead to 2024, what are your thoughts and expectations?
Ni Licheng: In 2024, we will anchor the two development goals of "Three Ones" and IPO, and decompose the tasks into the whole cycle of operation and various fields, so as to promote the sustainable and high-quality development of Xiangdao Travel.
On the one hand, we will steadily promote the "Three Ones" in 2024: maintain the first compliance rate in the country;The business covers 100 cities;Strive to achieve a daily order of more than 1 million orders.
On the other hand, we will solidly promote the achievement of the IPO goal in 2025: in the first half of 2024, we will launch and complete the C round (pre-IPO round) financing;In the second half of 2024, prepare and launch the IPO plan;By 2025, the IPO will be successfully completed.