| |
Zipcar, World's Leading Car Sharing
Service, Races Ahead with New Reservation Technology and Fleet Optimization
System

Builds patent-pending technology to create unprecedented solution
for managing dynamic network of vehicles and users
CAMBRIDGE, MA, (March 12, 2007) —
Zipcar, the world's largest car sharing service, today unveiled
the redesign of its web-reservation and patent-pending "Z3D Knowledge
Center." As the most ambitious and significant upgrades in the company's
history, these enhancements allow Zipcar to strengthen its award-winning
membership experience while preparing to scale its service in existing
and new markets.
The web-reservation redesign follows Zipcar's "member first"
philosophy, and was completed based on member feedback, including 30,000
survey responses, one-on-one meetings, and usability testing at various
stages of development. The result is a completely enhanced system that
allows members to find and reserve vehicles two to five times faster than
the previous version. Members will experience:
- Simple Usability: Targeted search results with one-click reservation
option that includes a single reservation confirmation review page featuring
vehicle photo, reservation time, reservation cost, location maps, instructions,
and applicable policies.
- Intuitive Design: Unique use of Ajax technology allows members real-time
interaction with ever-changing vehicle availability resulting in click
and drag functionality for changing reservations "thermometer."
- Quick Reservations: Available cars and the estimated costs of a particular
reservation are viewable in a single browser window, allowing users
to quickly scan available vehicle choices by location, time and price.
The new reservation system is supported by Zipcar's "Z3D
Knowledge Center" that hosts all data in real time and synchronizes
it with data collected from each end point: interactive telephone systems,
vehicles, member service agents, regional employees, and the new web-reservation
system. The Knowledge Center then uses patent-pending, unique caching
to push the synchronized data out to each end point in the most efficient
manner. This upgrade enables Zipcar to better manage, monitor, and maintain
its vehicle fleet as well as plan and optimize fleet size and future vehicle
locations. Other benefits include:
- Support Global Expansion: "Z3D Knowledge Center" is capable
of delivering a world-class online experience for up to one-million
Zipcar members and supporting tens of thousands of vehicles, globally.
- Increase Self-Service: Targeted search results are expected to lower
reservation abandonment rate and reduce reservation assistance calls.
- Improve fleet yield management: By applying proprietary business
rules to the synchronized data, the Z3D knowledge center provides Zipcar
with location-specific vehicle deployment needs.
"With this launch, we are now prepared to support tens of thousands
of cars and hundreds of thousands of members throughout the world by presenting
them with an efficient and intuitive reservation and service experience,"
said Scott Griffith, CEO of Zipcar, Inc. "The upgrades to our Knowledge
Center and backend systems are based on the experience of processing 1.5
million reservations, and we are confident that they will allow us to
intelligently manage our growing fleet while providing an easier and faster
user experience for our members."
Zipcar's technology leadership and commitment to providing the
industry's premier membership experience has fueled the company's
100%+ growth for each of the past three years. Zipcar currently operates
in London, England and 13 states and provinces in North America, serving
more than 85,000 individual and business members with 2,500 vehicles.
In the past 18 months, Zipcar has launched, and seen rapid growth, in
six new markets: London, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Minneapolis
and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
About Zipcar
Zipcar is a leading urban lifestyle brand that provides an alternative
to car ownership to more than 85,000 consumer and business drivers worldwide.
By providing urbanites with hourly and daily access to fun, affordable,
and conveniently-located vehicles, Zipcar has grown to be the world's
largest and fastest growing car sharing service, currently operating more
than 2,500 vehicles in London and 13 North American states and provinces,
including metropolitan, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco,
Toronto and Washington, DC. With Zipcar's award-winning technology, accessing
and using a Zipcar is as easy as getting cash from an ATM. In minutes
or up to a year in advance, members can reserve Zipcars online or by phone,
24 hours a day, seven days a week. Zipcar members have automated access
to any Zipcar across North America and the United Kingdom using a "Zipcard"
to simply unlock the door and drive away. For more information, visit
http://www.zipcar.com.
|