Segmentation and EVC - Grab

Through the use of Facebook’s Audience Insights, Grab’s brand audience is 350-400k people per month in Malaysia. The gender breakdown leans heavier towards men with 58% of the users. Women make up the other 42%. Education level also plays a significant role in the customer base of Grab. In fact, 71% of the audience has a college education.

As mentioned in the first blog post, Grab has two main customer groups: Riders and Drivers. For the purpose of this analysis, the focus will be on Riders, noting that Grab continue to market towards this group more significantly that Drivers.

After the initial analysis,  the focus will be on three main customer segments. Below are said segments Grab targets, and the basic assumptions we’ve made using Facebook Audience Insights (FAI). These definitions will also be used when conducting the competitor analysis.  

Tourists	Business Travelers	Young Professionals
18 and older	21 and older	Age 21-35
Behavior: Travels frequently	College Educated (Including Grad School)	College educated (including Grad School)
-	Frequent international travelers and/or traveled within the last two weeks	-

Based on FAI, Grab has roughly the below monthly active users under each segment in Malaysia:

• Tourists - 80-90k monthly active
• Business Travelers - 20-25k monthly active
• Young Professionals - 150-200k monthly active

Tourists (18+ and Travels Frequently)

The segment breakdown is 80-90k monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 57% compared to 43% women
• Top likes are: Travel (Airbnb, KLM Malaysia, Malindo, and Malaysia Airlines); Entertainment (iflix and movie theaters); and Retail (shopping malls, Uniqlo and Lelong)
• Top three job functions are: Management, Administrative Services, and Sales.
• Only 44% use Mobile Only

Business Travelers (21+, College Educated, Traveled < 2 Weeks)

The segment breakdown is 20-25k monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 64% compared to 36% women
• Top likes are: Business (Imoney and RinggitPlus); Beer (Carlsberg and Guinness); and Coffee Shops (Starbucks and The Libar Coffee Bar)
• Top three job functions are Management, Administrative Services, and Sales.
• Combination of Desktop and Mobile = 67% of users

Young Professionals (Age 21-35 and College Educated)

The segment breakdown is 150-200k monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 59% compared to 41% women
• Top likes are: food and drink (Nando’s, Starbucks, and MOVIDA Kitchen); Travel (KLM Malaysia, Malindo Air, and Tourist Guide); and Electronics (SENHENG).
• Top three job functions are Management, Administrative Services, and Sales.
• Top three locations are Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor
• Majority, 54%, are mobile-only users

Based on the segmentation above, along with our assumptions, it is important to compare how many people in Malaysia fall under these categories:

• Tourists: 2.5-3.0 MM Monthly Active Users
• Business Travelers: 900K-1.0 MM Monthly Active Users
• Young Professionals: 5-6MM Monthly Active Users

When looking at the percentage breakdown below, despite the marginal difference, the biggest opportunity for Grab is within the Business Travelers segments.

• Tourists: 80,000/2,500,000 = 3.2%
• Business Travelers: 20,000/900,000 = 2.2%
• Young Professionals: 150,000/5,000,000 = 3%

The 350-400k people per month under the Business Travelers segments,  implies this could be the total Serviceable Addressable Market; however, this number appears low. By looking at other competitors in the country we can see if it validates the size of the SAM or if Grab is underutilizing Facebook in its marketing efforts.

Competitor Analysis

In Malaysia, Uber is the dominant competitor for Grab. New, and significantly smaller companies are now appearing in the market. With this in mind, we will evaluate Easy Taxi, a new entrant in the market.    

Given Easy Taxi’s small market share, we will also consider a third competitor, Go-Jek, which operates exclusively in Indonesia.  There, Go-Jek competes with both Grab and Uber. Noting this, Go-Jek will be treated as a regional competitor, and further assumptions shall be made to create more accurate comparisons.

Uber

Uber’s audience is 1.5-2 million active people per month

Below is how they are segmented using Facebook’s Audience Insights:

• Tourists - 400-450k monthly active
• Business Travelers - 100-150k monthly active
• Young Professionals - 800-900k monthly active

Tourists (18+ and Travels Frequently)

This segment breakdown is 400-450k monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 56% compared to 44% women
• Top likes are: Food (Fave App, Starbucks and Subway); Media (D’ Jesselton Sabah and Sayang Sabah); and Airlines (Malaysia Airlines and Malindo)
• Top three job functions are Management, Administrative Services, and Sales.
• Only 46% use Mobile Only

Business Travelers (21+, College Educated, Traveled < 2 Weeks)

This segment breakdown is 100-150k monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 62% compared to 38% women
• Top likes are: Finance (Imoney and Maybank); NGO’s (Bersih, Curi-Curi, and Najib Must Go);  and Tech (Windows, iflix, and Airbnb)
• Top three job functions are Management, Administrative Services, and Sales.
• Combination of Desktop and Mobile =’s 66% of users

Young Professionals - (Age 21-35 and College Educated)

This segment breakdown for the 800-900k monthly active users is:

• Made up of majority men, 54% compared to 46% women
• Top likes are :food and drink (Nando’s, Baskin-Robbins, and Starbucks), Dance and Night Club (Zouk);  and Computer & Software (Mi Inda and Windows)
• Top three job functions are Management, Administrative Services, and Sales.
• Top three locations are Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor
• Majority, 51%, are mobile-only users

An interesting thing to note is the size of Uber’s monthly Facebook brand audience (1.5-2.0 MM) compared to Grab’s (350k-400k). It is much larger. According Fortune Magazine on July 27th of this year, Grab owned 95% of the market for third-party taxi-hailing and 71% of the private car hailing in Southeast Asia. Despite its leading market share, the Facebook audience is lower, highlighting how aggressively Uber is expanding in Malaysia. This is something Grab needs to be aware of and should consider upping its efforts on the platform.

The 1.5-2.0 million brand audience is likely a more accurate SAM for ride-hailing in Malaysia.

Source: Fortune Magazine

Easy Taxi

Easy Taxi is the world’s most downloaded taxi app. It operates in over 420 cities worldwide. Unlike Uber and Grab, however, Easy Taxi is platform targeting traditional taxi drivers, instead of private drivers.  

In Malaysia, Easy Taxi’s audience is 7K - 8K monthly active people per month.

Below is how they are segmented using Facebook’s Audience Insights:

• Tourists - 1K - 1.5K monthly active
• Young Professionals - 3.5K - 4K  monthly active
• Business Travelers - N/A

Tourists (18+ and Travels Frequently)

This segment breakdown is 1K - 1.5k monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 65% compared to 35% women
• Top likes are: College and University (SEGi College of KL); Foodservice Distributor (Lipton Ice Tea); Men’s Clothing Store (SmartMaster)
• Top three job functions are Sales, Administrative Services, Management
• Only 50% use Mobile Only

Young Professionals - (Age 21-35 and College Educated)

This segment breakdown for the 3.5K - 4k monthly active users is:

• Made up of majority men, 64% compared to 36% women
• Top likes are: Taxi Service (Easy Taxi); Business Services (Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers); Foodservice Distributors (Lipton Ice Tea, FoodPanda)
• Top three job functions are Sales, Administrative Services, Computation and Mathematics
• Top three locations are Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor
• Majority, 64%, are mobile-only users

Go-Jek

Go-Jek’s audience is 10- 15 million active people per month in Indonesia. It’s important to conduct this research to see how other players in the region, not necessarily just Malaysia, are using Facebook for their marketing activities. With Go-Jek owning over 50% of the market share in Indonesia, Facebook is playing a large role to keep their advantage. Seeing this size of the size of this audience is another reason for Grab to up it’s Facebook efforts in Malaysia to help fight off competitors like Uber.

Source: Tech in Asia

The 10-15 million active people per month must be further segmented, given Go-Jek’s business model which extends beyond ride hailing (including  food delivery, parcel delivery, and payment services). With this in mind, the following assumptions are to be made:

• 80% of the above active user will be assumed to use ride-hailing services
• 95% of Frequent and Business Travelers will be assumed to use ride-hailing services
• 80% of young professionals will be assumed to use ride-hailing services  

Below is how they are segmented using Facebook’s Audience Insights:

• Tourists - 3.8m - 4.2m monthly active, assumes 95% indicated above
• Business Travelers - 475K-570K monthly active, assumes 95% as indicated above
• Young Professionals - 3.6M - 4M, assumes 80% as indicated above

Tourists (18+ and Travels Frequently)

This segment breakdown is 3.8m - 4.2m monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 55% compared to 45% women
• Top likes are: Airlines (AirAsia); Companies (Facebook, Gramedia Store); and Professional Services (Informasi Beasiswa)
• Top three job functions are: Sales; Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Media; Government Employees (Global)
• Only 34% use Mobile Only

Business Travelers (21+, College Educated, Traveled < 2 Weeks)

This segment breakdown is 475K - 570K  monthly active users:

• Made up of a majority of men, 69% compared to 31% women
• Top likes are:  Local Business (Go-Jek, Starbucks Indonesia); Cause (Indonesia Unite); Airline (AirAsia); Computers & Internet Website (Berita Teknology Terbaru); Professional Service (Jobs in Indonesia); NGOs (Indonesia Mengajar)
• Top three job functions are: Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Media; IT and Technical Services; Computation and Mathematics.
• Combination of Desktop and Mobile =’s 47% of users

Young Professionals - (Age 21-35 and College Educated)

This segment breakdown for the 3.6M - 4M  monthly active users is:

• Men and Women are respectively 50%
• Top likes are: Local Business (Go-Jek, Starbucks Indonesia); Community Organizations ( I love Indonesia, Komunitas Pegusaha Muslim Indonesia); Professional Services (Jobs in Indonesia); Cause (IndonesiaUnite)
• Top three job functions are Sales, Business and Finance, and Healthcare and Medical Services
• Top three locations are Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surakarta
• Majority, 69%, are mobile-only users

Final Thoughts

In Malaysia, Uber proves there is a valuable ride-hailing audience on Facebook. Based on FAI alone, the conclusions seems to highlight that Uber is more competitive than Grab, despite multiple sources noting the opposite. With this in mind, it is important to acknowledge some of the limitations of FAI, while leveraging the power to highlight specific customer segments.

As Uber expands, Grab must respond in kind, investing efforts in more social media engagement.