Maruti Suzuki digital platform started 2 years ago and now covers 1000 dealerships in the country
In the new era of social distancing, shoppers prefer the online sales strategy of click and order rather than venturing into physical stores. This is seen not only in terms of car buying, but in all buying avenues.
While this style of car buying showed more promise during the last lockdown months due to the pandemic situation in the country, the trend still continues even as we gradually emerge from the COVID-19 crisis.
Maruti Suzuki India Limited, India’s largest automaker, introduced the digital platform two years ago in 2018. Since its introduction, the company has witnessed a three-fold increase in inquiries. This platform now covers 1000 online dealers.
Since the launch of the online platform, the company has sold more than 2 billion cars through this platform. What is even more surprising is that there have been close to 21 lakh of online inquiries since April 2019. Which means that, every minute almost 3 customers ask about a new Maruti car through its online platform.
A recent Google search indicated that there were more 72 percent of car buyers They searched for their distributors online. Over the past 5 months, this digital inquiry process, which had previously contributed about 20 percent of total sales, increased to 33 percent.
According to Google Auto Gear Shift India 2020 report, almost 95 percent of new car sales in India are digitally influenced. This online shopping process was found to help the customer gain better information about their preferred dealers, ensuring a better and more transparent process, and turning digital inquiries into actual sales is a smoother process.
Searches for clients close to me
Maruti Suzuki has seen a two-fold increase in ‘Near Me’ customer searches as the company has integrated over 1000 dealerships into 3000 points of contact online. The digital platform offers customers a virtual showroom experience where they can view the car of their choice, locate their closest dealership, and get quotes, financial inquiries, and EMI calculations at the touch of a button. It was found that customers who inquired through the company’s digital channel ended up making purchases within 10 days, thus reaffirming that turning digital inquiries into sales is easier.
It is with this outstanding demand that the company has created a cutting-edge technology platform in partnership with Google and Facebook. Maruti Suzuki has also started training its dealer partners with digital management teams that are continually updated through physical and virtual training sessions on managing online platforms and keeping up with customer expectations.
