Fit for a princess - Chinese sharing app Ofo woos women riders with made-for-female bikes

It seems that carpeting China’s city streets with as many colourful bikes as possible is no longer enough to stand out in the country’s ultra-competitive bicycle-sharing market.

Chinese start-up Ofo has taken the game to the next level by not only letting people rent bikes anytime via its app, but also ensuring they can ride in style.

Beijing-based Ofo, which boasts a US$2 billion valuation, introduced on Friday its first “female-only” bikes as a way to differentiate itself from rivals.

Targeting female riders, Ofo’s so-called princess bikes, which are still painted its signature yellow colour, have a classic retro-style look, featuring leather seats and cane baskets. In terms of functionality, the company has also taken female riders’ needs into consideration as the new bikes are “much lighter and easier to ride even for women who wear dresses”, said Ofo in a statement.

The move has made Ofo the first in China’s crowded bike-sharing market to tailor-make products for a particular group of users. It will first introduce 10,000 princess bikes in Shanghai and Beijing and expand the offering to more cities in the future.

“We have seen more and more personalised demands from users with the development of China’s bike-sharing industry,” said Dai Wei, Ofo’s 26-year-old founder.