International Marketing Plan for BlaBlaCar: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report provides a detailed international marketing plan for BlaBlaCar, a ridesharing service. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction to BlaBlaCar and its business model. The discussion section includes a situation analysis, highlighting the company's competitive advantages and target markets. External analysis utilizes PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces models to assess political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors, along with competitive dynamics. Internal analysis employs a SWOT analysis to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report then explores market entry strategies and concludes with a marketing mix recommendation, offering a comprehensive overview of BlaBlaCar's global expansion potential.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING PLAN
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING PLAN
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Executive Summary
This paper is going to shed light on the Bla Bla Car, an app-powered transportation
service, founded in the year 2006. The company wants to expand to new international
markets around the globe and in this context, this paper has presented a marketing plan for
the same. It has made an in-depth analysis of the company, its marketing strategies, its
strengths and weaknesses along with the threats and opportunities that are present for it in
order to expand globally. It has also made an external analysis of the company by making use
of external analysis tools such as PESTLE and Porter’s five forces.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
1. Situation Analysis..............................................................................................................3
2. External Analysis...............................................................................................................4
3. Internal Analysis................................................................................................................6
4. Market Entry Strategy........................................................................................................7
5. Marketing mix....................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Bla Bla Car is an online website marketplace that is used by the customers in order to
get an access to ridesharing or carpooling. It is a mobile application that also connects the
drivers around the city who are with empty seats to passengers who wants to travel towards
the same direction in between the cities and to share the cost of their journey so that none
would have to pay more. It is very convenient in this modern world where people get access
to everything sitting at their home. It is convenient yet pocket friendly (Farajallah, Hammond
and Penard 2016). The company is actually a French based company which was founded by
Frederic Mazzella in the year 2006 (Tataj and Verganti 2017). It makes use of technology in
order to bring the drivers and the customers together. This paper is going to elaborate on
analyzing this company with an aim of making an International marketing plan report on this
company. It will shed light on the corporate strengths of Bla Bla Cars along with its
competitive advantage. It will assess its strengths, weakness and the threats and opportunities
through using the tool of internal market analysis. It will also elaborate on competitor
analysis of the company by using the Porter’s five forces model. Lastly, the paper will point
out the best suited marketing strategy for the company based on the analysis.
Discussion
The main objective of the company is to develop and operate in the emerging markets. For
hiring and recruiting drivers, the company makes use of the recruiting strategy of
drivers/logistics and social media/ public relations. The key capabilities of the company are
that there is no dispatcher required for its service. It is very user friendly. People could book
the service anywhere and at anyplace. They can even track their booked cars and even cancel
them if they want. It is a shared economy, just tap and ride.
1. Situation Analysis
1.1 Competitive advantage
• Part of the ‘shared economy’
• Shared costs among riders
• Only ridesharing services to travel between cities in Australia
• No legal issues are present due to the fact that the drivers are not employed by
BlaBlaCar (minimum wages, interests etc.)

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• Ride sharing is made legal in Australia since 2015 (Allen 2015)
• Mostly positive reviews
1.2 Target market(s)
The target market of the company are the local public above the age group of 18, the
students, the office going employees, the people who cannot afford owing a car, the
tourists/visitors and the backpackers, the below average income earners, the public who
wants cost-efficient mode of transportation and the ones who are unable to drive out of their
residing cities.
1.3 Competitive strengths
• Cheaper than other long distance modes of travel
• Fixed prices for certain common places
• Cashless payments
• Additional source of income
• Flexible working schedules
2. External Analysis
2.1 PESTEL factors affecting the company.
Political- The political factors that are affecting the company are that of the licensing issues
in relation to the drivers, the low level of regulation as because the company does not owns
the cars which are used for the ridesharing service only for connecting the drivers with the
passengers. With the same, there is none to bear the cost of any occurrence of accidental
incidents. It is a big question that who will take the responsibility in case of any accident, the
company itself or the drivers (Taylor 2017). There is also a tax regulation as because Bla Ba
car is a foreign based company which is operating its business in the abroad.
Economic- The economic factors that are affecting the company are many. One of the key
capabilities of the company is that it is a part of “shared economy” and it is also acting as a
political factor that could influence its business. The company also operates in a dynamic
pricing model and the drivers here are all self-employed. With the same, it has raised 200
million dollars from the three ventures, making the Australian government revenue

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economically beneficial (voeth and Stief 2016). It has a great contribution to the Australian
GDP as well. In order to become economically stable, the company has also lowered the
shared cost of the same service that is offered by its other competitors.
Social- the Company has multi-national operations along with reasonable and pocket friendly
fares with trustworthy service. Its concept of shared economy has permitted establishment of
new relationships which would have been hampered by the time, distance, and other
limitations (Arcidiacono and Pais 2018). There are no special skills required for the drivers,
other than the one to operate a vehicle safely and smoothly. It is also to note that the company
also features a ‘’ladies only’’ travel, which is making it safer for the females to travel
together.
Technological- The technology that it uses are safe, simple and convenient to use by the
people in today’s era. Now-a-days there is none to say that he or she does not know how to
use a mobile phone. Mobile are used by each and everyone and that too for more than 15
hours a day. Hence, it has chosen a right way to get in touch with the modern day’s
passengers. Also, it uses the concept of cashless economy and depends on the internet access
to run its business. Hence, technology is an important factor that is driving the BlaBlaCar’s
fast growth (Prieto, Baltas and Stan 2017). It is also to note that the application of the
company uses the Java and Python operating systems.
Legal- There is very little or no legal issues for the company. This is due to the fact that it
does not operate ridesharing services such as Uber and taxis (Pahuja and Tan 2017). Drivers
do not profit off of the journey so there is no need to pay taxes. With the same, the app only
connects the drivers with the passengers, who is held accountable in the event of any
misfortune.
Environmental- There is reduction of pollution in the environment as well as in the
greenhouse gas emissions as because the concept of travelling together and having fewer cars
on the road is environment friendly. Hence, it can be said that the company provides services
with an eco-friendly initiative.
2.2 Porter’s five forces
Bargaining power of the buyers- The consumers in today’s market have high bargaining
power. They are very price sensitive and it is indeed true that they would tend towards the

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better service within low cost. The price sensitivity of the consumers is likely to result in their
shifting to any other services whose shifting cost is low in the market.
Bargaining power of the suppliers- The company has any other outsourcing service and does
not own any of the vehicles operating on its behalf. Bla Bla car is dependent on its drivers,
who own the car (Bonazzi, Poli and Kuonen 2013). Hence, it is therefore to note that the
suppliers (the drivers) too have high bargaining power as the company is highly dependent on
them and their vehicles.
Threat of new entrants- The major threat for the company would be the low cost startup
companies, which are likely to shift the consumer’s preferences towards them. The
competitor of Bla Bla Car is Uber, Ola and Taxify. Taxify is planning to enter into the
Australian marketing by the mid of 2018 (Nwogugu 2017).
Threat of substitutes- The services such as yellow cabs, white cabs, silver top taxis, and the
other means of transportation such as buses and trains that people in Australia still make use
of on a daily basis as well as the companies such as Qantas, Airlines Jetstar and Virgin
Australia are the major means of transportation that are prevailing as the substitutes of the
Bla Bla Car (Homsombat, Lei and Fu 2014).
Industry rivalry- The rivalry companies of the Bla Bla car are the intercity buses such as the
Greyhound Australia, Airlines and the taxi services such as FlexiCar, Car Nextdoor and
GoGet. It therefore needs to make improvements in order to remain competitive in the
market.
3. Internal Analysis
3.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths- The main strength of the company is that the services of it are at very affordable
and lower prices as compared to the other existing companies. This is attracting the
passengers towards using its service even more. With the same, the operational cost of the
company is also very low (Andersson, Hjalmarsson and Avital 2013). There are a large
variety of the routes where the services operate. Hence, people, belonging from large range of
area could use this app and use the rise sharing and carpooling services. However, the most
important part of its strength is that such a transport service reduces the ecological footprint.
For example, at a time three different people could use a single vehicle in order to reach their
destination, instead of using three different vehicles individually. In present days, reducing

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pollution and maintain ecological balance has become very important to take into
consideration.
Weaknesses-There are some weaknesses of it that are been identified. There is a risk of
travelling with the strangers. There are people who do not find it safe at all. Also, avoiding
the legal issues by not permitting the drivers to make profit is creating an increase in the
competition and lowering of the company’s margin. Furthermore, the company has to
completely depend on the others to run its business and there are very little to no baggage
allowance in fact. It becomes very inconvenient for the passengers sometimes who need to
travel to a distant destination. Moreover, as discussed above, the company operates its
business by means of technology (mobile applications) (Bicocchi and Mamei 2014). Hence, it
is also contributing to its negative aspect, as because the company has to rely completely on
the internet access and mobile phones to have its business run smoothly.
Opportunities- There is a good array of opportunities present for this firm to grow and
develop its business further. There is a room for improvement and innovation for the
company. The company could improve its service even more by allowing baggage for the
passengers while travelling to distant places. It could also exploit new and bigger markets in
developing countries such as in Mexico, India, and Indonesia where the cost of travelling and
traffic congestion is very common. Furthermore, one of the legal opportunities present for the
company is that of the system of taxation of tolls for the cars with one person.
Threats- The most significant threats that is present for the company is that of the ever
changing government laws and the change in regulations and legislations on car pooling and
ride sharing (Gargiulo et al. 2015). The fall or rise of such company is completely on the
hands of the governmental bodies. With the same, there are few notable competitors of its
who are no way less popular than itself. The main substitute competitor of it is Uber. There
are also other modes of transportation available in the places including that of the airlines,
taxis and trains.
4. Market Entry Strategy
The market in the Australian region favors ride hailing and ride sharing since the
domestic government has made the ride sharing legal in the year 2015. It welcomes the
growing trend of modern society- ‘shared economy’. The working hour for the drivers is very
flexible and that too along with no specific skills required other than of the skill of driving
safely and smoothly. It is to be noted that the domestic tourism in the Australian market with

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the long distance travelling has grown up significantly since the year 2015. The revenue of
the ride sharing in Australia in the year 2018 amounts to about US$447m (Standing, Standing
and Biermann 2018). In the cities like that of Melbourne and Sydney, the ramshackle public
transport offers an extensive and immense growth prospects for such services. It is also
expected the market penetration of the country will be growing to 7.6% from 7.3% by the
year 2022. With the same, it is also mention that the yearly revenue growth rate in the
country is 3.8% and this is resulting in a market volume of about US$519m in the year 2022.
5. Marketing mix
Promotion- The promotional methods that are to be used for the promotion of the company in
the international market are through social networking sites, billboards, YouTube, word of
mouth promotion, TV programs, partnership, general and specialized newspapers and
brochures in popular destinations. With the same, it would also give discounts to the new
users.
Product- The only product that is to be sold is that of ridesharing and carpooling service
Place- The customers would let book its services through the Bla Bla Car mobile application
and through websites as well.
Price- The prices would be kept the same. It would be less than its competitors and would be
very affordable that it could be afforded by anyone.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above analysis it can be said the Bla Bla Car is potent enough to
expand its business in the international market. Although, like any company, it has few
weaknesses and threats too but the opportunities too are very long and therefore, it must be
introduced in the international market. It also has a long list of competitive strengths that
could better assist it to foster in the international market such as India, Indonesia and Mexico.

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References
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Driving share and share alike on a mass-scale.
Arcidiacono, D. and Pais, I., 2018. Individual Rewarding and Social Outcomes in the
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Bicocchi, N. and Mamei, M., 2014. Investigating ride sharing opportunities through mobility
data analysis. Pervasive and Mobile Computing, 14, pp.83-94.
Bonazzi, R., Poli, M. and Kuonen, P., 2013. Free lunch and ride sharing. A new business
model for winter sport resorts.
Farajallah, M., Hammond, R.G. and Pénard, T., 2016. What Drives Pricing Behavior in Peer-
to-Peer Markets? Evidence from the Carsharing Platform BlaBlaCar.
Gargiulo, E., Giannantonio, R., Guercio, E., Borean, C. and Zenezini, G., 2015. Dynamic ride
sharing service: are users ready to adopt it?. Procedia Manufacturing, 3, pp.777-784.
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