Hertz recently announced plans to move into the car-sharing space, joining Enterprise’s WeCar to compete with ZipCar. First some data on the size of the market then tips that might be useful to Hertz and anyone entering the car-sharing market.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Zipcar is by far the biggest player in the car-share world with more than 250,000 members and 5,500 cars in locations throughout the U.S., Canada and the U.K.” ZipCar’s share of US Internet visits remains relatively small, receiving 0.0002% of all US Internet visits and ranking 146 among Travel- Transport websites in the week to December 20th, 2008 (WeCar and Connect By Hertz haven’t received sufficient traffic to be ranked). Hertz by comparison ranked 26th and received a 13x larger share of US Internet visits.

Lessons for Hertz from Hitwise Data
Type of Car and Family Profile: Hertz’s timing may be good. As consumers look to cut spending, families may try to cut down on the number of cars they drive. In fact, according to Hitwise Lifestyle data, the MOSAIC groups that are most highly indexed on the ZipCar website are those that are more likely to own one car. Hitwise Lifestyle data also provides statistics on the type of car these groups drive, with Hybrids and small cars coming up frequently. This data could help determine which cars to offer as the fleet may need to be very different from the regular Hertz offering.
Comparison Shoppers and Frequent Travellers: According to Hitwise clickstream data, 10% of visits to ZipCar.com came from Travel websites and 22% went to Travel websites in the week to December 20th, 2008. This indicates that ZipCar is being used in part when people are booking trips. This is a great opportunity for Hertz and other car rental companies who have locations at airports.
Another insight from clickstream data is that consumers engage in quite a bit of comparison shopping when booking a rental car. In the week to December 20th, 2008, 23% of visits to Hertz.com came from other Automotive sites (mostly car rental competitors). A car sharing program might help Hertz increase customer loyalty, which could be critical in a recession.
Location of Vehicles: Where should Hertz put its cars? I looked at Hitwise demographic and lifestyle data for Hertz and ZipCar. As you’d expect, ZipCar’s strengths are in urban areas. The following chart shows the state by state data for ZipCar.com

Comparing the state for visitors to ZipCar.com to those to Hertz.com clear differences in the location of visitors is evident. For example, Florida, Hawaii, and Colorado are all particular strengths for Hertz.com while Internet users from those states are less likely than average to visit ZipCar.com. Internet users in Florida in particular are 74% more likely to visit Hertz.com but 76% less likely to visit ZipCar.com.