Not just a sneak-peek, these are real stories of people who make #ParkingAwesome.
In a startup you have limited resources and little time to get things done. As you might expect, things are rushed and sometimes mistakes are made. We've made many and here's one of them. We accidentally gave one user a lifetime supply of free credits. To find out how that happened and what happened after, you gotta read on.
Read Moreby Warren Chan, CEO of ParkEasy
On 27 Sep 2016, ParkEasy announced ParkEasy Share to the world with much fanfare. The idea was to put the power to solve parking into the hands of those who suffer from it. The idea was to solve the parking problem together as a community.
It's quite simple - allow people who want parking to exchange with people who are leaving their parking. Voila! Problem solved.
People were already doing that without ParkEasy, and we believed that with the help of an app, we could make it easier and thus happen more.
And guess what? We did. We succeeded.
In the few months that ParkEasy Share operated, we processed close to 8000 requests in 2 of the most congested malls in the Klang Valley - Sunway Pyramid and Mid Valley Megamall. The response was great with lots of positive feedback and happy repeat users. With all this great news, why terminate the service?
ParkEasy Share has Parkers and Leavers. Those who want parking, and those who are leaving. In an ideal system, the number of Parkers equal the number of Leavers. Unfortunately, we often found there were more Parkers than Leavers. There are a few reasons for this, but the main one was the Parker to Leaver conversion rate. We found that 7 out of 10 successful Parkers will become a Leaver. Ask anyone and they'll tell you this is an impressive conversion rate. Yet, it was simply not enough.
Imagine on a normal day ParkEasy's first round of exchanges has 100 successful Parkers who later become 70 Leavers.
Then on the next round, the most you can have is 70 Parkers, who later become 49 Leavers (70*70%).
Then on the next round, the most you can have is 49 Parkers, who later become 34 Leavers (49*70%) and so on and so forth.
As you can see, unless you have (a) 100% conversion rate; or (b) enough 'new' Leavers who were not Parkers first, you will always find the number decreasing. Furthermore, even if you manage to get 100 Parkers to become 100 Leavers, that is only enough to maintain the user base, not to grow it.
Two of the most famous startups that leverage the power of user communities is Uber and Airbnb. Uber has Drivers and Riders, Airbnb has Hosts and Guests, ParkEasy has Parkers and Leavers. While it may seem that ParkEasy Share is using the same model, there is a fundamental difference. While one Driver may serve many Riders, or one Host may serve many Guests; one Parker may serve only one Leaver.
Due to this unavoidable spanner in the clockwork, we have decided to terminate ParkEasy Share.
Since January this year, we've been operating ParkEasy Reserve in iOi City Mall with an amazing response and growth. Through ParkEasy Reserve, all you need to do is press "Reserve" to guarantee yourself a space for just 1 credit (RM1). Once a reservation is made, you have 1 hour to reach and claim your parking spot or else it will be forfeit together with your booking fee.
Our vision is to emulate countries like Australia, UK and US where car park bookings have become normal. Rather than everyone visiting at the same time and fighting for parking. Customers can book appointments so that they arrive at different times and get to park instantly.
I hope you get the opportunity to try us out at iOi City Mall soon or elsewhere as we expand.
Think of anywhere where parking is hard, like malls, shop lots, universities, schools, hospitals.
If you or someone you know manages such an area, please let us know and we'll see how we can solve their parking problems.
After all, life is too short to be spent on parking.
Have a Parking Awesome day!
You might have noticed in the recent update that ParkEasy parkers are now protected by Allianz Malaysia. So recently, Allianz and ParkEasy has formed a beautiful partnership to keep you safe, and it’s entirely free.
Allianz is notably one of Malaysia’s top auto insurance companies, which is kind of why we’re ecstatic to team up with them.
It all started off with Allianz approaching us for a collaboration. But before anything, we had to decide what exactly we want to insure. So, we sent out surveys and wanted to see what our users would like to have insured. Also, since drivers already have car insurance, we didn’t want to provide benefits you already have.
We found that the majority of users would like their personal belongings to be insured. Second to that is insuring their personal safety.
We decided it’s best to provide our users with the coverage of accidents involving self and their personal belonging:
1. Accidental Death/ Permanent Disablement – Sum Insured of RM1,000
2. Break – in / Snatch Theft – Sum Insured of RM 1,500
Accidents involving accidental death or permanent disablement refers to your injury while in the designated shopping mall.
Accidents involves break-in or snatch theft refers to your loss and or injury while in the designated shopping mall.
Unlike a claim where you’re only reimbursed for only the damages caused, ParkEasy is offering you a relief. In the event that you do face an accident causing break-in or snatch theft, you will be compensated for the full sum of RM1,500.
There’s a few things you’ll have to do to claim your insurance. Firstly, these are the documents required:
1. Mall management incident report
2. Onsite photo of break-in and physical damage of named vehicle due to break-in
3. Police Report
4. E-payment form
It is important to note that this coverage is subject to a police report and mall management report being lodged within the twenty four hours of the incident of break-in or theft.
There is no application form. Once you’ve made an account, you’re already entitled to this insurance package.
How much do you have to pay? None at all! This coverage is completely free.
Of course, to use this app, you’d have to be parking at shopping malls available to ParkEasy. To validate this, you need to make sure that you have allowed ParkEasy location services. This insurance is only applicable to ParkEasy listed shopping malls.
If you’d like to know in full detail the specifics of the insurance, you may look at the product summary sheet here.
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