Growing Uber's Business With Older Adults: Segments, Barriers and Product Bets

You are a product manager at Uber. How would you grow Uber's business by going after older adults as a customer segment? ```hint Look past the person in the back seat For many older adults, someone else plans, books or pays for the trip. Decide whose problem you are solving, and whether the rider ever opens the app, before you pick features. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "grow the business" mean more trips on the core rides product, or can the answer include Uber Eats, grocery and pharmacy delivery, or healthcare transport? - Which older adults are in scope: active retirees who already use smartphones, or people who are less comfortable with apps or who no longer drive? - Which markets should the answer target, given that ride-hailing use and the age profile of the population vary widely between countries? - Is the aim near-term revenue, or a long-term position with a fast-growing age group? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A segmentation of older adults, and of the people who arrange trips for them, with a reasoned choice of focus. - The specific barriers the chosen segment hits when booking, at pickup, during the ride and when paying, and how they differ from a typical rider's. - Solutions prioritized by impact and effort, with attention to riders who may never use a smartphone app themselves. - Success metrics with guardrails for safety, driver experience and support cost. - Risks such as safety incidents, scams aimed at older people, accessibility obligations and the cost of slower, assisted trips. ### Follow-up Questions - Drivers complain that helping older riders with bags or walkers takes extra time they are not paid for. How would you handle it? - A daughter books a ride for her father, and the driver cannot find him at the pickup point. What should the product do? - How would you tell whether new trips by older riders are new demand or trips that family members used to drive themselves?