Zipcar Case Assignment Questions
Assignment Questions:
(1)
How do you characterize the service Zipcar provides?
Zipcar is the world's largest American membership-based car sharing and car club service offering company providing car reservations to its members, billable by the hour or day. It is an alternative to traditional car rental and car ownership. The company shares Zipcars in different States of USA, Canada and UK. The company also has presence on over 230+ college campuses at universities across North America.
Members can reserve Zipcars online or by phone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reservations can be made minutes or up to a year in advance. Zipcar members have automated access to Zipcars using an access card called a “Zipcard,” which works with the car's technology to unlock the door, where the keys are already located inside. The cars are dropped off at the pickup location after use.
With which companies or services does it compete?
Zipcar’s main competitor and rival was a Seattle-based company Flexcar. In the fall 2007 Zipcar purchased Flexcar. In April 2010, Zipcar also bought London-based car-sharing firm Streetcar in its latest bid to expand across Europe.
Rental companies like Hertz, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and U-Haul are beginning to form competitive hourly rental programs, that car compete with Zipcar. I also found a competing company in NYC and Boston called Mint Car. Their web-site looks very similar to Zipcar and the service they provide is the same.
What role does it play on its competitive landscape?
In an interview of January 13, 2008 Zipcar chief executive Scott Griffith while speaking with Globe reporter Nicole C. Wong mentioned: “With our success, we're going to see more entrants into the category. The one thing that really is a benefit from the merger of Flexcar and Zipcar is we're now at a company size of $100 million, which allows us to continue to invest in technology and brand marketing that I think will put us at the top of the
(1)
How do you characterize the service Zipcar provides?
Zipcar is the world's largest American membership-based car sharing and car club service offering company providing car reservations to its members, billable by the hour or day. It is an alternative to traditional car rental and car ownership. The company shares Zipcars in different States of USA, Canada and UK. The company also has presence on over 230+ college campuses at universities across North America.
Members can reserve Zipcars online or by phone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reservations can be made minutes or up to a year in advance. Zipcar members have automated access to Zipcars using an access card called a “Zipcard,” which works with the car's technology to unlock the door, where the keys are already located inside. The cars are dropped off at the pickup location after use.
With which companies or services does it compete?
Zipcar’s main competitor and rival was a Seattle-based company Flexcar. In the fall 2007 Zipcar purchased Flexcar. In April 2010, Zipcar also bought London-based car-sharing firm Streetcar in its latest bid to expand across Europe.
Rental companies like Hertz, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and U-Haul are beginning to form competitive hourly rental programs, that car compete with Zipcar. I also found a competing company in NYC and Boston called Mint Car. Their web-site looks very similar to Zipcar and the service they provide is the same.
What role does it play on its competitive landscape?
In an interview of January 13, 2008 Zipcar chief executive Scott Griffith while speaking with Globe reporter Nicole C. Wong mentioned: “With our success, we're going to see more entrants into the category. The one thing that really is a benefit from the merger of Flexcar and Zipcar is we're now at a company size of $100 million, which allows us to continue to invest in technology and brand marketing that I think will put us at the top of the