From 2013 to present, Uber has entered into Chinese market for 2 years, and it seems to be developing very well in terms of market share and brand reputation. As for the local brand Didi, it established in 2012 and now is the biggest taxi-booking software in China.
During the past few years, the competition in car-booking industry has been increasingly intensive and it still remains a question that who will be the final winner in this war. Overall in my opinion, the answer to the question depends on the market segmentation and in different city tiers, the results would differ. However in a long run, I believe DiDi's system would be much stronger than Uber.
1. In second and third-tier cities, DiDi has stronger strengths
By now, Uber has not extended its business into third cities in Mainland China. However, DiDi is using low-price strategies to develop in these cities at a rapid speed. In these cities, Internet is relatively less developed, consumers do not have the habits and the educational cost is much higher than that in first-tier cities. The most convenient way to expand to these cities is using low price to attract consumers.
In this situation, DiDi has more strengths than Uber: firstly, as it has the support of Tencent, the company that owns the biggest social platforms Wechat and QQ in China, it has more cost-effective channels to connect to users; users do not have to download an application, instead they can access to DiDi just in Wechat services.
Secondly, as mentioned before, because of the less-developed Internet environment and consumer habits, these applications are more likely to be an alternative way to book a taxi, and it is exactly how DiDi started its business, thus, it has more connections to these local taxi companies as well as much mature mechanism. In contrast, Uber mostly connects to private cars, there are no clear boundary between drivers and passengers; when it has to enter into these cities, it has to pay much more effort into developing consumers' habits.
Last but not the least, in terms of different services, DiDi is more flexible than Uber, for example, it provides tricycle-booking service in second and third-tier cities, and even ship-booking service in some coastal cities, meanwhile Uber do not have these functions. Thus, DiDi may gain larger market share as consumers may use the application for different options.
2. In first-tier cities, Uber has more potentials
Firstly, Sharing Economy has been a trend in the developed countries, such as the rapid development of Airbnb in developed countries. Uber is exactly this kind of company that provides not only product and service, but also a platform for individuals to share. In first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, Uber has held some campaigns such as "Book a CEO's car", "Book a take-out", etc., users can enjoy different kinds of services and have various experiences. In cities where consumers have higher income and educational level, they are more likely to try something new and novel. Price is not the only consideration when they make a choice.
Secondly, Uber has more marketing strategies in these cities, and it becomes not only a product, but also one kind of media and social hot spot. The campaigns as mentioned before, as well as the social buzz about Uber on social platforms, all offer an good environment for Uber. In June, Shenzhou released some posters that criticized Uber's private-car service, however the public opinion all support Uber, and this controversy turned out to be a total victory for Uber as it even spread its brand reputation and enhanced consumers' awareness. In the first-tier cities, it seems a fashion trend to talk about or use Uber, in contrast DiDi has less topics to talk about.
All in all, the results of this competition may differ in different marketsegmentations. However, in terms of ecology, I think DiDi is much stronger thanUber. Because it now has the vertical business, providing series of private-carservices against Uber, moreover, it got a wide arrangement of differentbusinesses. It makes DiDi not only an car-booking company, but also a travelingplatform, which is a complete eco-system. In every vertical business, DiDi cangain amount of users, and when users gather, flow and cycle between differentvertical business, it would create new values, stronger user adhesiveness,which may attract more users engaging in this platform. Sounds familiar, right?It is the way Alibaba develops and becomes stronger and stronger. I think DiDinow has the ambition and strength to become the next Alibaba in the area of �traveling.
In contrast, Uber is more likely to use different strategies to develop in China. However it lacks development in a complete eco-system. Although share economy is a future trend and Uber indeed made an awesome product, but in China, it may be be defeated by an eco-system, which created by DiDi.