Zipcar executive summary

Zipcar executive summary
As the traffic problem getting more serious in dense cities these days, more people tend to use public transportation systems instead of private cars. However, people are also need to drive to destinations for some reason occasionally. So, Zipcar targeted on this market in urban areas, and obviously, this market is potentially large and relatively untouched in US. The high parking expenses and limited drive needs in cities are the points to attract customers. Unlike other big car rental agencies, Zipcar provide short-term lease, and also intended to make car rental more convenient and cheaper for users. Thus, there is a potential market and customers for this venture. And besides Europe and America market, there is also big untouched market in Asia.
The business model for Zipcar is car sharing, which provide convenient and cost saving for users. Though car sharing is not a new business model, it is uncommon in US market. Zipcar allows its members to reserve cars either online or by phone, and access the nearest available cars with a card. Zipcar generates its revenue from deposit and annual membership of customers, and also hour charge. The major costs of Zipcar’s venture are parking, attrition, lease costs, and access equipment. Since Zipcar’s business model is car sharing, from the customers’ perspective, the degree of convenient and cost saving should be the key indicators to examine its business model. And at the beginning of this venture, they did not perform very well. Zipcar planned to use card and card reader to let members access the reserved cars, which could be more convenient and simplify the billing and returning process. However, when Zipcar launched their venture, this technology was not ready for use. And some customers reflect that the annual fee is too high, which violate Zipcar’s cost saving idea. And another big problem for this start-up is funding. As the parking and lease cost raise up and continuing investment