Unlock New Revenue Streams in the Mobility Market

By Simon Wilson, Chief Scientific Officer, GTS

There is barely a business on the planet that isn’t exploring ways to turn data into insights that will make them more profitable. For most, it’s caught up in a process called ‘digital transformation’, where the challenge is updating the legacy technology that runs the business to become data driven. It can be cumbersome and an expensive process. 

The good news for car manufacturers and dealerships  looking to take a slice of the fast-emerging car subscription/rental/sharing market is that they can treat it like a greenfield venture, start from scratch with GTS, and build a data-driven business from the outset, minimising waste and maximising profitability.

Our new eBook – How to Become a Data-Driven Mobility Company – walks through ways data collection and analytics can shortcut the path to generating new revenue streams.

There are a few important factors that need to be considered when introducing a flexible mobility solution and it’s important to understand what flexible mobility model works best and where. You need to think about the demographics of prospective customers in a location and identify good reasons why they would subscribe, share or rent instead of buy. You need to consider the vehicle type that would suit the demographic, how much customers would be prepared to pay and how frequently they are likely to use the service. 

This is where data helps.

Different Data Sources

Data collected from publicly available data sets as well as your customers will inform all of the above. At GTS we use census information in cities to identify square kilometres of densely populated areas made up of apartments rather than housing stock – a much better fit for car sharing services. When separately sourced open data shows a shortage of parking spaces, the location becomes an even sweeter spot. 

For dealer based rental, data insights will also inform major investment decisions at the outset, not just about location but about the size and make-up of the fleet you’ll need on the forecourt. This last point is a big one, particularly when you look to optimise the lifecycle of a vehicle, the way, for example, a subscription or rental car could be transitioned to a second-hand sale over time. Here too, data can inform the decision on the best time to make the switch. 

And one thing is certain, the amount of data available to car manufacturers and dealerships is only going to grow. McKinsey predicts that 90% of vehicles sold in 2030 will be connected, with over 200 onboard sensors collecting data and providing unprecedented insights into everything from engine status to driver behaviour. 

The sooner you build your flexible mobility solution around data collection and analytics, the sooner it will turn a profit.