摩拜Mobike:一夜爆红的共享单车

2016 was a tough year in the venture capital market, with perhaps the only exception being in the bicycle-sharing industry – many projects were not only funded repeatedly but also received large sums of money in each round. Unlike the conventional government-run public bicycle rental service through which users needed to pick up and return bikes at designated locations, the new form of bicycle-sharing business allowed users to rent a bike wherever available through a mobile app and drop it off anywhere they wanted after use. As a newcomer to the “sharing economy”, the bicycle-sharing industry was described as serving “the last kilometer of traveling”. It has spread rapidly in first- and second-tier cities in China, and the competition is as intense as seen in car-hailing industry in 2015. Unlike the car-hailing industry where a competitor can expand its market share by finding ways to attract more private drivers and cars to join its service platform, a bicycle-sharing company needs to invest heavily in providing a large number of bicycles. In the beginning stage, the entry barrier is low since no one can provide enough bicycles to cover the whole competing territory. But, as the number of competitors increases and bicycles appear on every street corner, user acquisition becomes intense. Mobike was one of the first companies to enter the bicycle-sharing market. With its huge number of bicycles, user base, volume of daily business, and brand recognition, it has quickly become a leader in the industry. However, even with these advantages, Mobike is still unable to prevent its archrival, OFO, from threatening its market leadership. Both sides are in constant seesaw battles with each other. To triumph, Mobike must plan and think wisely about its next moves.