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Uber Battle Intensifies: Gett Launch On-Demand Delivery Service


Gett, the app for hailing black taxis, is broadening its offering as competition intensifies in the taxi technology sector by launching an on-demand delivery service that will allow users to order a wider range of goods and services.

The Tel Aviv-founded company has partnered with Veuve Clicquot for what it calls the "first of many new products" that will be available via the app.
For £50, Gett promises to deliver a bottle of the yellow label champagne and two flutes within 10 minutes to users in Shoreditch, Clerkenwell, the City, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Belgravia and Kensington between 4pm and 10pm.

Black taxis will not be involved in the new service, but the move is not a complete step away from Gett's core business. The bubbly will be delivered by people who are learning The Knowledge in order to qualify as a licenced Hackney Carriage driver.

"For the last five years, we’ve been moving customers around safely and now Gett Clicquot will use the same business model to bring this revolutionary new service to Londoners," said Remo Gerber, Gett’s UK CEO. "This is the start of a wide new range of services to be offered through the Gett app. The consumer demand is enormous.“

Gett founder and chief executive Shahar Waiser has previously indicated that the app's other services could include Gett Pizza, Gett Sushi, Gett Grocery, Gett Wine, Gett Flowers, Gett Dry Cleaning and Gett Plumber as well as the original Gett Black Taxi.

The company, which has raised $220m in funding, recently changed its name from GetTaxi ahead of the launch of its new platforms.

The change in Gett's business model comes amid fierce competition in the taxi industry, with Uber, one of the most highly-capitalised private companies in the world, pitted against London's iconic black taxis and a handful of apps including Hailo, Maaxi, Kabbee, Addison Lee, Green Tomato, MiniCabster and Minicabit.

The struggle to win a share of this increasingly crowded market has sparked a price war among the various apps, which have attempted to lure drivers with sign-up bonuses and offered passengers lower rates and one-off promotions. Uber allowed users to order Cornetto ice creams on Friday, while Gett is offering £10 rides anywhere within central London throughout July.

Uber has also dabbled in delivery and transports food under its UberEats brand in Barcelona, Chicago, LA, New York and Toronto. But Gett claims to be the first taxi app to branch out from its core transportation business to offer users a “permanent and broader” service that is unrelated to its drivers.

"We are a service company," Mr Gerber told the Telegraph. "A black taxi is a luxury product for many, and there's a service expectation comes with that."

He added that this degree of vetting and quality would run throughout the app's other services as Gett, which has 8,000 drivers in the UK and provides 2m rides per month globally, transitions from a taxi-hailing app to a broader on-demand platform.

The Telegraph