Driving growth in multi-sided markets

Irfan Ganchi Ahmad Anvari

Reliable transportation
everywhere, for everyone.
It started with connecting drivers and riders…
inspired by customer needs
...followed by Uber Eats to connect restaurants
with delivery partners and customers.
Uber customers are on all sides of the marketplace
Riders Eaters

Delivery
Drivers Restaurants
Partners

2-sided platform 3-sided platform

...and we’re
adding new
modalities to
an already
complex
platform
Uber is not just a local platform, but a
HYPER-LOCAL one...
Global Platforms

Local Platforms

Hyper-local Platforms
...and not just a temporal platform business,
but a HYPER-TEMPORAL one
Managing a hyper-local,
o d, et .)
hyper-temporal, Lo, cne b
o

multi-sided platform (ci

(bi , ca , bo , p a , et .)
business is complex and

t
poses unique challenges

Pro
● Spatial ● Human
Cus
● Temporal ● Real-time (p i rI
/ti
ni v ig
, et .
● Human ● Scale )
 Uber leverages network effect to stimulate a
growth flywheel...
LOWER ETAS &
MORE LOWER ETAS MORE MORE CHOICES
DRIVER HOURS COURIER HOURS

EARNING MORE RIDER EARNING MORE EATER

OPPORTUNITIES REQUESTS OPPORTUNITIES ORDERS
FOR DRIVERS FOR COURIERS &
RESTAURANTS
...and leverages Uber’s Family of Platforms:
the cross-platform network effect

DRIVERS RIDERS

Drivers can become

Couriers, and
vice-...versa Riders can become
Eaters, and
vice-...versa
COURIERS

EATERS

RESTAURANTS
...but acquiring
driver and
courier hours
takes time and
investment...
...and balancing utilization of hours and customer
satisfaction while driving growth is incredibly hard.
Not Earning Earning

Driver Hour = Driver Idle Time + En-route time + On-trip time

Influenced by market balance, market

TRIPS concentration, market density

Rider Session = Time to Request + Wait time + On-trip time

Not Riding Riding
Achieving this balance is critically important to our
platform’s reliability and growth.
How we drive growth and address
marketplace balance
The Uber Marketplace is a complex ecosystem -
we use a number of methods to try to manage it...
Driver Positioning Dynamic Pricing
Forecasting Fares

Intelligent Dispatch Marketplace Health

Driver / Rider Pricing Marketplace Platform & Data
In our Marketplace, there are the models that
describe the world and the decision engines that
act on those models
Forecasting across time in a multi-sided
marketplace is difficult...
● Driver hours are
unpredictable but less
Today Future
volatile
● Rider sessions are
Trips more volatile
● Balancing the two
across time is the
challenge

Target
Forecast
Actuals

Time
...and even if we forecast well, it is not easy to
know how to respond to a future imbalance.
Today Future

Trips
How should we
respond??

Target
Forecast
Actuals

Time
We also continually forecast at a very granular
level.
Other
Supply Demand
quantities
Request times, Arrival Times,
Open Cars / Available Drivers App Views / Sessions
Airport Demand, etc.

for a given space

and time horizon.

We use a set of acquisition and engagement levers
to address current and future market imbalance...
Acquisition Levers

New Drivers and Riders

Driver Hours or
x = Rider Sessions
Existing Drivers and Riders Retention Engagement

Engagement Levers
 ...our acquisition levers drive growth and
add new customers to our platform

Top of Funnel Acquisition Onboarding Sign-up Incentives

● Paid Marketing ● Support ● Guarantees
● Organic - SEO ● Personal Outreach ● Promos
● Referrals

New Drivers and Riders

...some of our acquisition levers focus on acquiring
new, high value sign-ups...

Top of Funnel Acquisition Onboarding Signup Incentives

● Paid Marketing ● Support ● Guarantees
● Organic - SEO ● Personal Outreach ● Promos
● Referrals

New Drivers and Riders

...while others focus on converting those sign-ups
into high value customers

Top of Funnel Acquisition Onboarding Sign-up Incentives

● Paid Marketing ● Support ● Guarantees
● Organic - SEO ● Personal Outreach ● Promos
● Referrals

New Drivers and Riders

Targeting the right high value customers for our
top of funnel acquisition is critical...
Lookalike Marketing
Modeling Channels

Audience
Existing Users Audience Builder Promo System
Publisher

Personalization
Platform

Engagement
Audience Store
Store
...while predicting high lifetime value in our
two-sided marketplace is very hard

LTV Definition at Uber

24-Month Gross Marginal Contribution Market
LTV = Bookings Projection x Margin
x Balance
We also use certain levers to engage our existing
customers to drive marketplace balance...
Acquisition Levers

New Drivers and Riders

Driver Hours or
x = Rider Sessions
Existing Drivers and Riders Retention Engagement

Engagement Levers
 ...these levers come in many different
shapes and sizes...

Pricing Incentives Marketing

● Dynamic pricing ● Guaranteed surge ● Engagement
● Subscriptions ● Do X, Get Y ● CRM

Incremental Driver Hours and Rider Sessions

 ...and are deployed across a number of geo
and temporal levels.

TRIP PRODUCTION

Hex Dynamic Pricing

Minute
 ...and are deployed across a number of geo
and temporal levels.

TRIP PRODUCTION

Zipcode Incentives

Hex Dynamic Pricing

Minute Week
 ...and are deployed across a number of geo
and temporal levels.

TRIP PRODUCTION

Sign Up
City
Guarantees

Zipcode Incentives

Hex Dynamic Pricing

Minute Week Month

 ...and are deployed across a number of geo
and temporal levels.
Country Re-engagement
& CRM
TRIP PRODUCTION

Sign Up
City
Guarantees

Zipcode Incentives

Hex Dynamic Pricing

Minute Week Month Quarter

Long-Term Sustainable
Differentiation
In addition to our acquisition and engagement
levers, we differentiate our product by...

...innovating to
...standing for deliver the ...and earning our
Safety lowest cost customers’ love
offering
Standing For Safety
Safety Center Trusted Contacts 911 Assistance
Earning our Drivers’ Love
Real-time More Trips
Earnings Tracker Showcase Yourself!
Nearby
Earning our Riders’ Love
Save a Lot! More Transportation Seamless Pickup
Express Pool Options - Bikes Chat Ahead
 Innovating to deliver the lowest cost offering

uberX includes down time where drivers could uberPOOL matches riders heading in the same
be earning while reducing riders ETA. direction, so the ride and cost are shared.
Questions?