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 1. Executive Summary

This report will contain a brief company analysis of Pick Me Sri Lanka and their current
internal and external environment analysis. And also, it analysis the social, economic and
political impacts of business in the country. Along with them, the cooperate social
responsibility activities conducted by Pick Me in several situations of the country. As a
transport provider in the country their service should be appreciated for the development of
the country.
 Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary............................................................................................................1
2. Introduction.........................................................................................................................4
2. Critical Assessment of the Company.....................................................................................5
2.1. The Brand Competition...................................................................................................5
2.2 The market opportunity....................................................................................................6
2.3 Growth of the Market.......................................................................................................7
2.4 Pattern of Customer Behavior..........................................................................................7
2.5 Analysis of Competitors...................................................................................................8
2.6 Analysis of Industry.........................................................................................................9
3. Environmental analysis........................................................................................................10
3.1 SWOT Analysis..............................................................................................................10
3.2 PESTEL Analysis...........................................................................................................11
3.3 Identifying potential opportunities.................................................................................13
4. CSR by Pick Me Sri Lanka...............................................................................................14
5. Conclusion and Recommendations......................................................................................15
6. References............................................................................................................................16
 2. Introduction

Pick Me, established in 2015, is a product platformed association that gives taxi flagging
down administrations through web-based versatile applications in Sri Lanka. Pick me is
owned by Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka Pvt Ltd.

Pick Me is the most successful start-up in Sri Lanka's history. It revolutionized public
transportation and now offers taxi services to Colombo, its surrounding areas, and a portion
of Kandy. They are currently expanding their customer base by offering trucking and food
delivery services. Pick Me gives day to day transportation administrations to over 1.5 million
clients by furnishing 75,000 outings each day with more than 25,000 dynamic drivers and
180 workers.
2. Critical Assessment of the Company

2.1. The Brand Competition

In Sri Lanka, the taxi hailing industry is advanced. The services were initially offered to a
small number of businesses, but this number has now increased. TUK" has generally been Sri
Lanka's most famous and most affordable method of transportation. Consequently, Sri
Lankans typically have a high demand for Tuk services. "OL-A, Doorbi Taxi, Uber,
YogoTaxi, and Taxiyak Local taxi, and public transportation services" are the primary
competitors of Pick Me.

Uber is a top contender of pick me, which is an American-based world-driving taxi hailing
organization that gives ridesharing, hailing, and food conveyance administrations in north of
63 nations with more than 22,000 workers (2018) and yearly income of more than $ 11.27
billion.

The first taxi service in Sri Lanka is Kangaroo Cab. They have been providing kangaroo
Tuks, Budget Meter Taxis, City Taxis, and kangaroo Vans to customers as needed for more
than 30 years. Over 3,000 registered drivers and 150 permanent employees make up
Kangaroo Cabs.

Doorbi taxi was established in Kotikawattha, which is in the Western province of Sri Lanka.
It offers transportation at a lower price than its rivals.
Yogo taxi also provides taxi services and has one of Sri Lanka's largest networks of taxi
drivers. In the western province of Sri Lanka, they provide transportation services..

Taxiyak is a rival to pick me, which is also a local taxi service provider.

Public transportation, which is utilized by many low-income individuals due to its low cost, is
another significant competitor.

2.2 The market opportunity

With over 100,000 rides per day and the highest market share among registered hailing
services in Sri Lanka, Pick Me dominates the taxi hailing industry and is the market leader.
With over 60,000 rides per day, Uber is Pick Me's main rival. (From the Mirror Daily). Over
1.0 million people have downloaded Pick Me from the Google Play store.
2.3 Growth of the Market

According to market development, Pick Me has registered his brand name for the most
successful startup company in Sri Lanka. Pick Me generated a gross billing of more than 2.3
billion Sri Lankan rupees in a relatively short period of time, recording more than 10,000
rides per day in 2017, 35,000 rides in 2018, and more than 100,000 rides per day in 2019.

Pick me has recently begun food delivery and truck services in Sri Lanka's western province.
They also plan to offer courier services in the near future.

2.4 Pattern of Customer Behavior

In Sri Lanka, the transportation service industries have been transformed by Pick Me. The
majority of Tuk Tuk drivers have introduced metered taxis and reduced their transportation
costs since its introduction. Today's customers are more focused on price and quality.
Customers can easily compare price and service strategies to get an idea of the next steps and
check the prices of their rides from the comfort of their own homes.
2.5 Analysis of Competitors

When we look at the competitors of Pick Me, Uber, which entered the Sri Lankan market in
2015, is Pick Me's main rival. Over 65,000 rides are currently recorded by them each day.
Kangaroo Cabs, the first taxi service in Sri Lanka and the only one that accepts bookings
through WhatsApp and Skype, is another significant rival of Pick Me.
2.6 Analysis of Industry

Utilizing Porter's five forces framework as a tool for industry and competitor analysis to
develop a business strategy based on strengths and weaknesses According to Michael E.
Porter (1980), the five forces are "threat of new entry," "battle power of the customers,"
"battle power of the suppliers," and "threat of substitute products."

3. Environmental analysis

3.1 SWOT Analysis

Strength
  The most popular taxi hailing service in Sri Lanka, with over 25,000 active drivers
and more than 100,000 rides per day
 Customers can easily interact with the systems.
 Pick Me has a self-review system where customers can comment on drivers and share
their riding experiences, making it simple for us to keep an eye on drivers and
services.
 Reorganization of the local brand
 New and innovative technology
 Expansion of the tourism industry
 Emergency SOS function

Weakness

 Services are restricted to Colombo and its rural areas, as well as certain pieces of
Kandy.
 Services can only be used with connections to the internet (customers can book
rides if they have a good internet connection, but there are problems with internet
connections in some areas).
 Drivers are the product's brand ambassadors, and their bad behavior damages the
cooperative image of the brand.

Opportunities

 Pick Me has partnered with more than 18 businesses.

 They add truck services and food orders to their market.
 Numerous taxi services avoid short journeys;
 Sri Lanka's growing use of smartphones and the internet • inadequate local
transportation services

Threats

 Need to compete with competitors both locally and globally

 Technology is changing frequently
 Technology development costs a lot of money at first
 Customer retention
 Uncertainty about global economic conditions/Threats from terrorism

3.2 PESTEL Analysis

Political

The business's political aspect is more significant. Political factors have led to the failure
of numerous Sri Lankan businesses. Due to the sudden curfews, roundups, and police
checkpoints that resulted from the Easter Sunday attack in Sri Lanka, many people were
forced to shorten their travel times. This had a negative impact on transportation services,
which were among the many businesses that were affected. The tense circumstance was
brought under control as a result of the various actions taken by the government.

Economic

Pick me has had a significant economic impact on Sri Lanka. It has provided unique
employment opportunities for over 27,000 Sri Lankans who would otherwise have been
job seekers in Sri Lanka. It has also reduced transportation costs, which were previously
very high due to the presence of traditional tuktuk and taxi services, but have since been
reduced due to the arrival of taxi hailing services. It absorbs foreign investments
indirectly, which has a direct impact on our GDP growth.

Social

The social factor is more important to businesses; businesses cannot grow unless they
consider people's social norms. As a result, Pick Me wants to play an important role in
developing a socially acceptable brand image. Two factors could help the company gain
popularity. The first is price, and the second is customer service quality. These are two
different concepts.

Customers are given an advantage in cases where the service was previously unavailable
to them. Such businesses face little competition in the market and can quickly become
well-known. And pick me is also very concerned about human resources, where they
provide proper training on customer service, communication channels, and software
handling.
Pick me also focuses on the welfare of their employees, as they provide free life
insurance coverage for their taxi drivers through a partnership with the LOLC insurance
company Ltd.
 Technology

In the twenty-first century, technology is the most valuable resource. Pick me's success is
due to their advanced technology, which has attracted a large number of customers in Sri
Lanka. However, network connectivity is poor in some potential Sri Lankan locations.
The Pick Me engineering team was proactive in identifying these issues and
implementing a few changes to the initial system process. They also introduced an "IoT
protocol" system that supported connections with low bandwidth and reduced the amount
of data flowing, creating over 150 micro servers with the ability to decrease capacity or
increase intensity. As a result, Pick Me is providing his customers in those areas with
highly satisfactory services.

Environmental

Businesses must consider environmental pollution, waste management, and climate change
when evaluating business opportunities.

Many people were affected by the massive floods that hit Sri Lanka in 2015. Pick Me
performed a significant social work activity during that tense situation. They altered their
application platform and added a new donations button, through which anyone can
voluntarily donate money. Pick-up drivers were paid and the money was given to the
beneficiary. At the time, they established a large cooperative brand image among the Sri
Lankan people and received favorable reviews throughout the island.

Legal
Organizations should be worried about legitimate issues. They may lose their business license
and face significant fines if they don't follow the rules set by the government. Pick Me is
more concerned with general laws, and their drivers have been educated to treat everyone
equally and to offer opportunities to everyone, regardless of gender, age, disability, ethnicity,
or religion.

3.3 Identifying potential opportunities.

The company needed to focus more on cashless transactions, which would enable customers
to pay for their actual taxi fare using their debit or credit card systems, when we focused on
"Pick me" prospects.

On social media, pick me, numerous negative reviews related to the same issue were posted.
Drivers who refused to accept card payments were the subject of numerous customer
complaints. Pick me, specifically, ought to acquaint these administrations with all taxi
administrations, as numerous unfamiliar vacationers and a few local people like to utilize
cards as opposed to conveying cash.

Their main rival, Uber, has already entered the northern capital, Jaffna, and is increasing their
market share, so they should focus on expanding their transportation networks to other major
cities in Sri Lanka.

4. CSR by Pick Me Sri Lanka

Pick Me helps a wide range of people in Sri Lanka through a variety of collaborative social
responsibility projects in addition to their business. As part of the annual "Nena Pahana" CSR
event, which was held for the second year in a row at the BMICH, Pick Me recently
distributed useful gift packs to the children of 1,000 driver partners. A water bottle, lunch
box, and a year's worth of stationery and school supplies were included in each gift pack. The
1,000 drivers were chosen based, among other things, on their conduct, performance—not
just financially, but also on the number of complaints, ratings, and reputation.

For this worthy cause, Pick Me spent Rs 4.5 million and provided school supplies to over
2500 children. 50 additional driver partners who had been with Pick Me for three and a half
years and had maintained commendable ratings, performance, and reputation were also
honored by the company.

Pick Me's leadership team met soon after the first case of COVID - 19 was discovered in Sri
Lanka to devise a viable strategy. The team decided to rally the organization around the core
theme of'safety first,' and to adhere to the protocols and measures recommended by
authorities in order to protect the Company's employees, drivers, and customers.
Hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves, as well as WHO instructional videos, were provided to
Driver Partners by the business. Pick Me's armada of vehicles showed security informing as
stickers and banners. The company's drivers and employees consistently followed the new
safety rules set by the government.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

Apart from their business Pick Me Sri Lanka motivate their drivers by providing support for
their day-to-day life. The transportation is one of the important factors for the development of
the country. Personal vehicles and public transport facilities are not adequate to accommodate
the passengers’ requirements and that gaps are filled by companies like Pick Me. And also, it
supports the country to acquire additional income from the tourist and help people to travel
during their emergency within the country.

During the Covid 19 pandemic and the during the economic crisis pick me support many
people to run their day-to-day operations in an affordable price and in future the company can
develop with new features and new services.

6. References

Baker, M., (2009), The Marketing Manual: Taylor & Francis.

Basu, R .,(2013), Managing Quality in Projects: Gower Publishing, Ltd.

Heinze, A.,(2016), Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach:

Routledge.
Fabbi,M.,(2013),Feeding the Marketing Plan with Innovation and Responsibility: GRIN
Verlag.

Hisrich,(2011), Entrepreneurship 6/E: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

About pickme: Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka (pvt) ltd (no date) PickMe. Available at:
https://pickme.lk/about-pickme (Accessed: March 11, 2023).

Cab and taxi booking: Fastest, safest and smartest (no date) PickMe. Available at:
https://pickme.lk/ (Accessed: March 11, 2023).

https://medium.com/@k.shayanthan/pickme-the-story-of-sri-lankas-booming-tech-platform-
80671f572df1

Bhasin, H. (2019) Marketing mix of Ola Cabs - Ola Cabs Marketing Mix, Marketing91.
Available at: https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-ola-cabs/ (Accessed: March 10,
2023).

Abhijeet Pratap (2023) Uber pestel analysis, blog.notesmatic. Abhijeet Pratap. Available at:
https://notesmatic.com/uber-pestel-analysis/ (Accessed: March 9, 2023).