Xanh SM marketing strategy: consistency is what riders pay for
Riders rate Xanh SM highly for clean cars, polite drivers and an easy app. Small brands can copy how it holds that standard, but not the capital behind it.
On 14 April 2023, Xanh SM, an all-electric taxi service, began operating in Vietnam. The operating company is GSM, founded in March 2023 by Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam's best-known tycoon and the founder of Vingroup, with his personal capital (Cafebiz). Less than three years later, according to a Q4 2025 report by Mordor Intelligence as cited by VnExpress, Xanh SM held 51.5% of Vietnam's four-wheel ride-hailing market by gross merchandise value (GMV). Grab had 42.64% and Be had 5.86% (VnExpress).
The easy story is "electric taxis win because they are green." Our reading of the Xanh SM marketing strategy is different. In Mordor's user survey, the things Xanh SM scored well on were clean cars, polite drivers and easy booking. What Xanh SM sells is a ride you can predict. Small Vietnamese brands can copy how it picks and holds a standard like that. The money behind it can't be copied, and this piece says so plainly.
How did Xanh SM's market share grow, and who measured it?
Start with the source. Almost every Xanh SM market share figure in the press traces back to one research firm, Mordor Intelligence, through articles that cite it. So read the numbers below as "according to Mordor," and cross-check them against other measures where they exist.
The scope matters too. In Q4 2023, according to Mordor via VnExpress, Xanh SM had 18.17% of the ride-hailing market, second to Grab and ahead of Be (9.21%) and Gojek (5.87%) (VnExpress). That measure was described as the general ride-hailing market, with Gojek in the ranking. The 51.5% figure is described as the four-wheel ride-hailing market. Putting the two side by side to say "nearly tripled" risks comparing two different rulers.
For recent quarters, according to Mordor via Phap luat & Xa hoi, Xanh SM passed Grab for the first time in Q4 2024 with 37.41%, rose to 39.85% in Q1 2025 and 44.68% in Q2 2025 (Phap luat & Xa hoi), then reached 51.5% in Q4 2025 (VnExpress). The press does not describe the measurement scope of each quarter in the same way, so this series is best read as an upward direction, not as exact percentage-point subtraction. Also per Mordor, the four-wheel ride-hailing market in Q4 2025 was worth about 490.72 million USD, equal to more than 133 million trips (Doanh nhan).
There is one measure outside Mordor. According to Q&Me, cited by Tuoi Tre, Xanh SM is the ride-hailing app that users use most often, at 52% (Tuoi Tre). Q&Me measures frequency of use and Mordor measures GMV, so the two numbers can't be compared directly. They only point the same way.
The earlier picture shows a market that once leaned heavily to one side. In 2019, according to ABI Research, Grab handled 146 of the 200 million app-booked rides in the first half of the year, about 73%, motorbikes included (Znews). VOV reports that as late as Q4 2023, Grab still held more than 50% of the app-based taxi market (VOV).
Photo by Leonie Clough on Unsplash
Why do riders choose Xanh SM?
According to CafeF, in the Q1 2025 user survey Mordor recorded Xanh SM as highly rated on these criteria: clean cars, polite drivers, simple booking and an easy-to-use app (CafeF). All four happen within a few minutes of opening the app and the ride itself. The word "xanh" (green) is right there in the brand name, yet the criteria quoted all revolve around the trip experience.
Another Mordor assessment, via Cartimes, is more explicit: Xanh SM's advantages lie in total revenue, average order value (AOV), wide coverage and "highly uniform service quality" (Cartimes). That last phrase is the one we find most worth reading.
Uniformity is built from specific actions. According to VOV, the company rolled out an active safety monitoring system called S2S across its whole fleet and standardized driver uniforms and service behavior. Cartimes quotes a technology manager in Ho Chi Minh City who picks Xanh SM to pick up international guests because "the drivers are very professional and the cars are always clean," which "makes the company look more professional in the eyes of clients." This is one customer's voice, so treat it as an illustration. What stands out is that the reason matches the survey: this person needs to know in advance what the ride will be like, because the ride represents their company.
Think of a regular barbershop: people come back because they know how they will look when they leave. Vietnamese elders have a saying, "one breach of trust, a thousand times of distrust" (một lần bất tín, vạn lần bất tin). In ride-hailing, one dirty car or one curt remark is enough to send the rider to another app next time.
Did Xanh SM win by being cheap?
Low prices are the easiest explanation for any share grab, so the question deserves asking. What Mordor names points elsewhere. Mordor lists AOV among Xanh SM's advantages (Cartimes), and VOV mentions riders' "willingness to pay." A company living on subsidies alone would struggle to have value per trip named as a strength.
Our reading: promo money buys the first ride, service standards buy the tenth. A discount gets people into the car. What makes them open the app again next week is the feeling that last time was fine and the belief that this time will be too. Small brands often do the reverse: they pour money into discounts while the product is not consistent enough to keep customers, and customers then follow the next sale. We covered a similar point in our piece on why 99k pricing draws shoppers and when to use round prices (in Vietnamese): the number on the price tag gets attention, but the reason to buy again has to come from somewhere else.
What can small brands copy from the Xanh SM marketing strategy?
What can be copied is the mechanism, and the mechanism doesn't need scale. It has three steps:
- Pick a standard customers can see, and say it in one sentence. "Clean car, polite driver" is a standard anyone stepping into the car can check. "Dedicated service" is not checkable by anyone.
- Turn the standard into concrete actions for each touchpoint: uniforms, greetings, how to handle a late arrival. Xanh SM has S2S and uniforms; a small shop might need only a checklist taped behind the counter.
- Test the standard at the weakest touchpoint. A standard that holds only at your nicest store is not yet a standard.
Suppose a laundry has three branches in Hanoi. It could promise something customers can verify themselves: clothes returned at the promised hour, folded one way, with a tag naming the person who folded them. That promise has to hold at the farthest branch, on the busiest Saturday afternoon.
The same logic appeared in our piece on Phe La's brand strategy (Phe La is a Vietnamese specialty tea chain): when the origin of the tea is the promise, every new store is another test of that promise. Our article on after-sale promises as part of the product makes the same point from the e-commerce side: customers count the experience after payment as part of what they bought.
Photo by Dan LeFebvre on Unsplash
What small brands can't copy
Holding a uniform standard across a whole fleet requires control over almost every touchpoint, and that control costs money. GSM was set up with Pham Nhat Vuong's personal capital and launched its all-electric taxi service itself from the start (Cafebiz). The S2S system was deployed across the whole fleet (VOV). According to Mordor, in Q4 2025 alone the four-wheel ride-hailing market had more than 133 million trips (Doanh nhan). A brand that relies on freelancers, agents or outside retailers will struggle to enforce a standard this deep, because the person at the touchpoint is not its own employee.
So the Xanh SM case should not be read as a formula of "standardize and you win." A uniform standard is why riders stay. Capital and control are what let Xanh SM hold that standard at market scale. Without the second part, a small brand should narrow its scope: fewer touchpoints, fewer branches, but a standard that doesn't break at any of them. Opening slowly and evenly beats opening fast with every location doing its own thing.
One thing you can do this week: use your own service at your farthest branch during the busiest hour, then write down one thing customers can see that you want to be the same every time. If you can't put it in one sentence yet, next month's promo budget can wait.