Lime builds its first "lifestyle brand store" of scooters in Los Angeles – TechCrunch



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How can lime to differentiate his scooters and bikes from the piles of Birds and Spins filling the sidewalks of Los Angeles? Apparently, with a physical showcase where he can convince customers of the wonders of on-demand mobility. According to a job offer from Lime looking for a "store manager", the start-up plans to open a "lifestyle brand store in Santa Monica" that "will attach great importance to the brand experience and the commitment of customers ".

It appears that Lime rents vehicles directly to the store, as the role of the full-time director includes "inventory level monitoring" as well as day-to-day operations and employee recruitment. They will also organize live events to create Lime's hype. Given that the company calls this a lifestyle store, the goal will probably be to show how Lime scooters and bikes can become part of people's lives and improve their happiness, rather than maximizing the volume of rental.

A rendering of the new Lime office built in San Francisco. The design could indicate what Lime wants to do with the brand of his retail store.

The list was first identified by Nathan Pope, transportation researcher at Steer, and later by Alex Heath of Cheddar. We have contacted Lime and we will keep you informed if we have news of the company. Glassdoor shows that the position of store manager has been posted for more than 30 days and that the site estimates the potential salary of $ 41,000 to $ 74,000.

The impressive number of Lime scooters in Santa Monica, where the store will be born, is already stunning. Supply does not seem to be a bottleneck as in other cities. Instead, it's the fierce competition of the city's startups, such as the local Bird favorite, that Lime wants to defeat through traditional marketing. You will often see Lime and Bird scooters lined up right next to each other. And with similar prices, the decision to use returns to the affinity with the brand. According to Apptopia, Bird's monthly US downloads surpassed Lime's in July for the first time in its history, although Lime offers bikes and scooters.

There are many people who have never tried an electric scooter on demand, and the process of renting, unlocking and using their scooter can be discouraging for some. If employees at a physical store can teach people that it's not too difficult to board, Lime could become their default scooter. Of course, this also involves risks, as electric scooters can be dangerous for novices or uncoordinated ones. More aggressive in-person marketing could attract users who feared to ride the scooter for the right reason – safety concerns.

While cities are discovering the best way to regulate scooters, I hope we will focus on uptime, ie how often scooters actually work properly. In Los Angeles, it is common to rent a scooter, then discover that the handlebar is loose or that the acceleration is slow, stop driving and rent another scooter of the same brand or a competitor in the hope of get one that works properly. I abandoned several Lime scooters like this while I was in LA last week.

Regulators should be aware of the percentage of broken scooter company fleets and the percentage of trips that end within 90 seconds of start-up, which is usually due to a defective vehicle. Cities could then license businesses that keep their fleet of vehicles running, instead of leaving huge weights on the street or, at worst, vehicles that could collapse and injure people. Scooters are fun, cheap and therefore accessible to more people than Ubers and reduce traffic. But unless startups like Lime put more emphasis on clothing and safe behavior, we could trade congestion on the roads against congestion in the emergency room.

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