A couple of India’s largest manufacturers of two-wheelers have jumped onto the online sales bandwagon. HMSI (Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India) stated that it would go online. Also, Suzuki Motorcycle India announced a partnership with Snapdeal that has a dedicated vertical for automobiles on its platform.
HMSI has taken this decision of going online a year after its rival and former partner Hero MotoCorp partnered with Snapdeal in order to sell motorcycles online. The manufacturer is likely to partner with Snapdeal for the sales of its two-wheelers next month.
The e-commerce platform Snapdeal is looking forward to start the online sales of cars. It is also expected to announce two tie-ups by December. Already, Snapdeal has tied up with Piaggio.
The Senior Vice President and Operating Head of HMSI’s Sales and Marketing, Yadvinder Singh Guleria stated that they are exploring the opportunity of selling online. They have almost finalized a move and they might announce the same in the next month. Being the second largest two-wheeler maker in India, HMSI has sold 4.26 million two-wheeler units in the country in the fiscal year 2014-15.
On the whole, around 16 million two-wheelers are sold in India on an annual basis. Almost a million can be sold online in the next year. Notably, more than 50 percent of the customers who plan to buy an automobile carry out an online research.
Tony Navin, the Senior Vice President as well as Head of Strategic Partnerships at Snapdeal stated that the dealers receive incremental footfalls that are not possible without online. The customers have transparency on the product and its price as the inventory of the dealers is available to choose from.
This month, Snapdeal launch an exclusive automobile platform known as Snapdeal Motors that lets the online vehicle booking and loan approvals.
Hero MotoCorp partnered with Snapdeal in December 2014 and it managed to sell 400,000 two-wheelers estimated to cost Rs 2,000 crore in just 11 months. The online sales have contributed to six percent of the overall sale of Hero MotoCorp that is 6.43 million two-wheeler units.
