The European vehicle rental market is anticipated to register a CAGR of about 6.23%, during the forecast period (2019 – 2024). One of the major factors driving the growth of the passenger car rental market is the growth in the tourism industry (resulting in an increase in the number of tourists visiting the region per month) and growing business opportunities in the region. The intensity of competition is high, while the market is consolidated, dominated by major players, like Avis Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz, and Sixt.
But lots of new startups are coming up in this segment as there are still gaps to be filled. At the same time, the market in the region has undergone a lot of mergers and acquisitions, the latest one is by a Dutch startup EasyTerra.
EasyTerra acquires carrentals.co.uk
EasyTerra, a company based out of Leeuwarden, The Netherlands has recently acquired UK-based platform carrentals.co.uk.The company basically wants to increase the annual number of reservations for rental cars via the website from 120,000 to 150,000. While, the exact figures remains undisclosed.
Customer retention is the main priority!
Moreover, the objective of the company right now is to earn back the investment made within three years. Also, EasyTerra will focus on customer retention in the coming period.
For the uninitiated, EasyTerra Car Rental is an independent company dedicated to online car rental price comparison. At present, the company has tie-ups with major suppliers such as Hertz, Europcar, Avis, Budget and Alamo.
According to Tjeerd Kramer, founder of EasyTerra, the purpose of this purchase is to scale up. “We want to serve a larger audience with roughly the same development force.” Post the acquisition, the company is planning to focus on new features, transparency and customer services.
EasyTerra was founded in 2005 to introduce transparency to the car rental market on the Internet. The platform is now available in a large number of languages and works with numerous suppliers at more than 7,000 locations worldwide.
Focus on transparency of the car rental market!
When asked about the competitive advantage of EasyTerra over others, Kramer, said: “We focus on transparency, more than others. We try to educate the consumer – the cheapest price is not always the best option (on the contrary, actually).”
Talking about the challenges, he added, ” Amongst other things, we have a rating system that is controlled by user reviews. Our ‘worry free’ filter option removes anyone with a poor and mediocre rating from our results – which is what we recommend people use.”
Challenges of the car rental market
According to Kramer, “most consumers tend to choose the cheapest offers available in the market and then face a lot of issues at the counter. Sometimes, they are forced to take insurances, which are amongst other common issues.”
We try to overcome these challenges by being as transparent as we can be. Amongst other things, we have a rating system that is controlled by user reviews. If more users have poor experience, for example the local branch of Goldcar in Alicante, they will receive a poor rating. Our “worry free” filter option removes anyone with a poor and mediocre rating from our results – which is what we recommend people use.”
Expansion plans
In the upcoming future, EasyTerra is planning to expand its market to Russia and Turkey, followed by other markets. Also, the Dutch startup main focus for 2019 lies on new features, transparency and customer services.
Further, the company is also on a look out for more meaning expansions. Kramer said, “If an opportunity arises for another takeover, we are open for discussion.”
Notably, EasyTerra B.V. is part of WAKR! Holding B.V., a company that focuses on managing Internet concepts mainly geared towards the travel industry. The company has extensive experience in this sector.
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/want-to-get-your-hands-dirty-with-kubernetes-then-you-cant-miss-this-event/
01
From port to startup fort: How Lars Crama is ‘Making it Happen’ in Rotterdam