As India's middle class continues to grow, the local car market is going the same way at a fast clip of 15 percent a year. Total sales are expected to jump from 1.3 million in 2006 to 2.1 million in 2010.
Maruti Suzuki is the reigning king of the auto industry in India, owning an amazing 55% of the market.
Not content with their absolute dominance of the Indian car market, they've come up with some innovative ideas to grow the market and thus expand their reach.
Here's what Maruti noticed:
- Many first-time buyers don't know how to drive
- Few women in India drive
- Buying decisions are made by the entire family
- Rural areas are mainly unattended by automakers
Here's what Maruti is doing:
Focus on first-time buyers
35 percent of sales are to first-time buyers. For many of these, a car is an enormous acquisition, so Maruti has learned to treat all customers equal, whether they are buying a high or low-end vehicle.
But here's the more interesting strategy: Maruti sponsors 18 driving schools throughout India, and plan to expand to fifty by March 2008.
Focus on women
More than half of trainees at the driver training schools are female. So Maruti has “lady instructors” to make them more comfortable. Jagdish Khattar, managing director of Maruti Suzuki, says:
"If the wife learns to drive, it won't take long for her to persuade the gentleman to buy a car."
Focus on family
Maruti dealerships are equipped to accommodate buyers in large groups, for example with play areas for children.
Attack rural areas
Indian carmakers mainly focus on urban areas as that is where the money is.
But rural India is home to over 800 million people, with a lower cost of living, and where there are many dual-income families with more disposable income.
Maruti has unleashed salespeople to rural India to target various niches... teachers for example. Last year they visited 30,000 schools and sold 10,000 units.
Ongoing service
There are over 6 million Maruti owners throughout India. Maruti serves them through a huge network of 400 dealerships and 2,400 service shops in 1,100 cities.
They hold free tune-up and service camps that are attended by 450,000 owners a year.
And the end result of all of this?
Maruti not only leads all carmakers in India in sales, they are also ranked #1 by JD Power in customer satisfaction with dealer service (for the past seven years).
Learned of this here.
Tags: customer satisfaction, best practices, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, India, India auto industry, Suzuki, Maruti, Suzuki Maruti
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