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Tag: CarDekho

  • CarDekho calls for safe driving environment for senior citizens

    CarDekho calls for safe driving environment for senior citizens

    NEW DELHI: Auto tech company CarDekho has rolled out a thoughtful campaign ‘E’ for Elderly, to promote a safe driving environment for senior citizens.

    Because of the pandemic, commuters are choosing personal mobility options over shared mobility. The campaign aims to promote greater responsibility towards self-driving senior citizens and to create awareness about road safety. Brand ambassadors Akshay Kumar, Mahesh Babu, Rahul Dravid and K L Rahul have also become a part of the new initiative.

    Conceptualised and executed by Leo Burnett, the campaign is currently live across all digital platforms. Due to the pandemic, the elderly are reluctant to take cabs and have started driving, and the company wishes to create a safe driving environment for them. Just like ‘L’ stands for learners, ‘E’ will be for elders. The campaign is targeted towards all the eligible drivers to take extra caution while driving close to a car with an ‘E’ symbol on it.

    It asks family members to put an ‘E’ symbol on the windshield/back glass of their senior citizen’s car to warn other drivers that the vehicle is driven by an elderly person.

    CarDekho Group CMO Gaurav Mehta said, “This campaign reflects an ideology that the brand stands for – developing an inclusive and caring personal mobility environment for everyone. There has been a huge change in the way we live now. We want to make everyone feel safe and have a hassle-free driving experience, especially senior citizens. We hope this campaign will promote simple, incremental behavioural changes and more empathy towards elders driving on the road.”

  • How CarDekho is zooming ahead amid Covid2019 pandemic

    How CarDekho is zooming ahead amid Covid2019 pandemic

    NEW DELHI: CarDekho, the flagship site of GirnarSoft, is considered a leader in digitising the auto ecosystem in India. It works directly with more than eight car and motorcycle manufacturers, and accounts for 15-30 per cent of their combined annual sales.

    While the Covid2019 pandemic may have brought the auto industry to a halt, CarDekho in the interim has witnessed a tremendous surge in customer traffic on its website and app. As per Comscore data, the brand has moved up from 13M UU in July to 15M UU in August, which indicates that customers are depending on personal mobility more than ever before.

    In a one-to-one discussion, CarDekho CMO Gaurav Mehta explained that when the pandemic struck, the business was disrupted badly, resulting in zero car sales in the months of April and May. This, however, didn’t mean the company sat around twiddling its thumbs, rather it tackled the problem at hand with a two-pronged approach. “We worked on two factors, first to work with dealers and provide them with health insurance. Second, to introduce home inspection so that customers don’t come to CarDekho Gaadi stores owing to the safety concerns,” he said.

    Due to Covid2019, personal mobility has seen a boost; customers are looking to buy their own vehicle because of the virus risk. He explained, “In June we started to see traffic coming back. We used to be around 36-37 million unique users on a monthly basis in March. In April, it went down to 18 million. In May, it bounced back to 27 million. By June we recovered and went back to the normal traffic. Compared to September, the number now is 51 million unique users on a monthly basis.”

    The reason behind the spike, claimed Mehta, is many new users coming online to shop for cars and motorcycles. In fact, even users from tier-2 & tier-3 markets are searching for the latest motorcycle. “The segments that have recovered faster than the others is used cars in the two to four lakh range. Meanwhile, entry-level hatchback segment in the two-five lakh range in new cars is also doing well. The two-wheeler section has recovered to 80-85 per cent.”

    Further breaking down these traffic figures, he said that 15 per cent of the site traffic comes from the website whereas 85 per cent comes from mobile platform. In mobiles also, 50-66 per cent comes from website and 30-35 per cent comes from apps.

    The brand is also expanding in a big way. It recently launched its online insurance portal InsuranceDekho.com offering services in motor and health insurance. Apart from this, CarDekho has decided to open 50 offline stores in the country within the next six months given the rising demand for used cars. The firm is working on franchise models and the cars sold through these stores will be certified by the company and a warranty will also be provided.

    Asked about how the brand utilises its marketing budget across different mediums, Mehta said traditionally, the business has relied on publishing editorial content on a daily basis. Content marketing is something the automobile platform does all year round, with SEO being a core part of it. After this, the focus is on paid marketing. “Eventually, we started focusing on brand marketing and working on different ideas of campaigns to reach people. We are seeing the results also; due to the campaign execution the new users went up by 90 per cent and 110 percent respectively for CarDekho and BikeDekho.”

    The company is also dabbling in advertising on TV, though with limited scope and targeted campaigns. “They’re not like a huge campaign where you take up big properties like IPL. We invest in the media mix and then study to understand which medium drives the most amount of growth for us. We are very specific on brand investments because we invest in areas that work for the business. The performance marketing has gone down a lot and brand content marketing is something that we have found very good success in and we're trying to be more aggressive on that,” elaborated Mehta.

    CarDekho recently announced its latest campaign for CarDekho Gaadi Store under the theme Karo India Forward, Karo Gaadi Forward with brand ambassadors Rahul Dravid and Mahesh Babu. The campaign highlights how easy it is to sell a used car, sitting at your home, office, or anywhere. It further stresses the thought of moving ahead in life despite all odds created by the pandemic.

    In a similar fashion, Mehta projects the ongoing festive season will help the auto industry overcome the tribulations of the last few months. “Car segments like used car, entry-level and two-wheelers will perform well. The financial health of the country is improving gradually. With the fact that personal mobility would be there, I think the festive season will be better than what was forecasted a few months back. Looking at the traffic on the site, it will be a good Diwali for the automobile sector. However, manufacturers are still facing production and supply chain issues, which is holding up the industry somewhat.”

    Over the years, the brand has proved itself a bankable property, having raised funds from marquee investors like Sequoia India, Hillhouse Capital (formerly known as Google Capital), HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Times Internet, Trifecta, and Ratan Tata. And from here on out too, CarDekho hopes to keep zooming ahead, a few bumps in the road notwithstanding.

  • Revolutionising ecommerce: How technology is stepping up in the game

    Revolutionising ecommerce: How technology is stepping up in the game

    NEW DELHI: Ecommerce businesses are having a field time, reaping the benefits of an otherwise massive calamity. More and more people are getting online for shopping everything from grocery to apparel, to automobile, to precious jewellery resulting in a massive jump in their numbers. However, it has also paved the way for the requirement of modifying their business models, amplifying the user experiences, and marrying the offline experiences with online shopping. 

    In a recent panel discussion on “Enhancing the Virtual shopping experience in the New Normal" organised by AnimationXpress.com in association with Autodesk, Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari discussed with the leading industry experts their experiences and strategies for ushering in the new era of e-commerce and online shopping that has customer interest at the centre of it and is driven by life-like experiences. Sitting on the panel were Jio VP – advertising and innovations Mohit Kapoor, Future Group group CMO (marketing, digital, and e-commerce) Pawan Sarda, CarDekho, Gaadi & Zigwheels CMO Gaurav Mehta, Vedant Fashions Pvt.Ltd. (Manyavar) head – global ecommerce Prateek Kumar, mirrAR byStyleDotMe co-founder and CEO Meghna Saraogi, Prorigo Software Pvt. Ltd (Jewelfie) founder-CEO Surendra Karandikar, and Autodesk India sr.technical sales specialist, M&E Samit Shetty. 

    The Whole New World of Opportunities

    All the panellists were delighted to agree that Covid-2019 has created a very positive atmosphere for the online retailers and associated businesses who are helping them in curating exciting virtual experiences. 

    Read more news on e-commerce 

    Kumar shared that he was surprised to witness a 350-400 per cent jump in Manyavar’s online sales during the lockdown. “If I talk about pre-covid times, we were already recording a 200 per cent y.o.y growth on our brands. To my surprise, when the lockdown ensued in March and in the following months, we recorded a 400 per cent jump in our online sales. And it was all for pre-paid orders. So it was quite interesting for me to see that people are buying online during the pandemic too.” 

    And this growth in online retailing and shopping isn’t only limited to tier1 cities and metros but goes deep down within the nooks and corners of the country. 

    Saraogi noted, “We are working with around 225 jewellers across the country and I am not only talking about the big brands. There are jewellers who are sitting in tier 3-tier 4 cities, where an aeroplane won’t land, but they are digitising their shopping experience.” 

    Creating Immersive Experiences 

    All the categories which are selling online are now busy in evolving their businesses to offer immersive, real-like experiences to customers online. They agree that the fear associated with the virus is not going away anytime soon and more people are going to explore and buy products online, therefore they are trying to offer as advanced as possible AI, VR, and MR shopping experience to the consumers. Here are the few top trends that the panel highlighted: 

    Digitising Trials 

    Mehta quipped, “While auto-buying and car-buying was already a very digitised function, which we have been noticing for the past few years, in the last six months we have witnessed a number of new users coming on-board. They are looking for as real and as close to natural look and feel of a product as they can get. So, we are investing a lot of time and effort in sharing 360-degree views of the car, along with more raw experiences like how the door opens, how the engine sounds, etc. Whatever can be digitized is being digitized.”

    He added that a lot of focus is put on personalisation of the vehicles for the consumers too, so one can put in place the filters regarding various aspects and functionalities of the sort of vehicle they are looking for and see in options only the relevant results. 3D imaging is also playing a big role.  

    Sarogi pointed out that they personally observed 3D imagery creating a lot of problems for them in terms of offering a smooth user experience, therefore for the time being they have moved to 2D images of products. However, a great emphasis is on facial recognition technology that puts the jewellery right in place and a person can experience it how they will look like wearing it in real life. “We are creating exciting co-shopping experiences too, where you can get on a video call, do screen sharing and show others what the jewellery is looking like on you.”

    Kumar highlighted, “We launched our own app a few weeks ago. Apart from that, we are offering WhatsApp video call options to our customers who can get assistance for shopping just like they get into physical stories. Another thing that we tried was getting chatbots on our sites. And we are seeing around 2000 people interacting with those bots on a daily basis. In fact, 90 per cent of our queries come from those chatbots.” 

    WhatsApp to the rescue 

    While WhatsApp might be dealing with its own shares of problems when it comes to the privacy of chats, it has surely turned out to be one of the favourite tools for online businesses. Not just Manyavar, but other brands have also invested in WhatsApp video calling options and other shopping tools to ease out the process for customers. 

    Kapoor noted, “India has around 60-62 million SMEs and around 30-32 million Kirana stores. When we talk about real-life experiences or 3D imaging, etc., these models won’t work for them. You do not need to see the 3D image of your grocery. They require a whole different model of ecommerce. “We (Jio) have one model, in which we are working with Facebook right now; opening up shopping within WhatsApp and getting on board the small merchants.”

    He added that the firm is working on a number of direct-to-consumer models wherein the focus on simplifying the experience as much as possible. “You can share a handwritten list of your grocery with us in a photo, and we will get it delivered.” 

    Reshaping Offline Stores

    The whole going online business will not necessarily mean that offline brick-and-mortar shops will go irrelevant and non-existent. In fact, the idea is to turn them into exhibition centres for experiences and then the purchases can be made online. 

    Kapoor shared his personal experience of shopping a bicycle from Decathalon wherein he was allowed to test the bicycles in physical stores, but he eventually had to place the order online. 

    Sarda elaborated, “I think stores can really up their capacity in terms of doing businesses if we put another layer of digital on top of it. We can see stores typically as exhibition centres. It will have to be constrained in terms of the number of people who can go inside but I see it as a large opportunity.”

    How Technolgy Firms Are Helping

    There is as much as backend work required to create seamless online shopping experience as much as you see online. Therefore, technical firms and partners are surely playing a key role in assisting online businesses in making shopping a truly immersive and gratifying experience for consumers. 

    Shetty noted, “When it comes to 3D experiences, the smallest of factors like lighting impact the overall experience of a consumer. When it comes to the artist who is working on it, rendering is a big issue; it takes a lot of time. Therefore, the creator might lose patience and just give up on the project and might not try more variants. We are working on specific pain-points like that. We now have GPU rendering, which is an integral part of Autodesk that makes the job simpler, cutting the time significantly.”

    It is also allowing them to make 3D models more real with more apt textures, colours, and backgrounds. 

    Apart from that, they are working hard on collaborative technologies like Shotgun that allows various stakeholders to interact easily on creative projects that can accelerate the approval processes as well. “All this delivers a good ROI to not just us but also to businesses.” 

    Karandikar added that going ahead, there is a lot of constant innovation happening in the technology industry and tools like voice are going to be the next big thing. He suggested that apparel brands can also innovate on aspects like creating life-size mannequins based on a customer’s measurement to give them a real feel of how the product will actually look on them. 

  • CarDekho focuses on personal mobility in its new spot

    CarDekho focuses on personal mobility in its new spot

    NEW DELHI – CarDekho has launched its newest TV campaigns ‘The everyday hero’ championing the cause of personal mobility.

    As people have got accustomed to the new normal after the Covid2019 induced lockdown, there is a growing preference for personal mobility. An owner-driven car offers a more controlled environment and limited exposure to the outside world. The new campaigns reiterate this by showing how a vehicle keeps a frontline worker safe as he responds to the call of duty and at the same time provides peace of mind to his family members.  CarDekho aims to partner in people’s journey towards personal mobility.

    The campaign has been created by Leo Burnett India. 

    The film depicts a safe commute for all those who are leaving the safe haven of their homes for duty. It is a heart-warming story depicting a retired doctor who decides to resume his duty against the wishes of his family. The family soon realizes that while they cannot challenge the doctor’s invincible spirit; they can definitely help him stay safe by buying him a car that limits his exposure to public transport thereby underlining the message of safety and security. The new campaign will be released across digital and electronic media. This will be followed by a festive campaign, which will further showcase the brand offerings. 

    The film captures how the frontline worker, be it a doctor, police, or delivery support perform their duties in such trying times with their trusted two-wheelers partner. At BikeDekho, consumers can compare the prices, get expert reviews about the bikes and avail the best offers and discounts, thus making them the trusted personal mobility partner in their journey.

    Read more news on CarDekho

    Furthering its aim to become the country’s trusted personal mobility partner, CarDekho has associated with Rahul Dravid, the legendary former Indian cricketer, and captain. Also known as The Wall, Rahul Dravid will testify the ease and simplicity of buying a new car through CarDekho. Consumers can compare cars, check expert reviews, and get best offers, suitable to their preferences. The teaser is live on Hotstar and the campaign is all set to be launched during the week of Diwali.

    CarDekho CMO Gaurav Mehta said, “Consumer behavior has shifted and personal mobility and a trusted mode of transportation have taken center stage. Since commuting is unavoidable, everyone wants a trusted and secure means of personal mobility.

    Rahul Dravid embodies Trust and Security for all Indians and constantly motivates us to dig in for a long and successful inning, despite overwhelming odds. His team-centric performances inspire us to collectively push towards success. We are honored to partner with him and inspire people to take their destiny in their own hands. CarDekho aims to become a personal mobility partner to every Indian in their journeys ahead.”

    Read more news on Gaurav Mehta

    Speaking about the campaign, Leo Burnett MD – India & chief creative officer, South Asia  Rajdeepak Das said “With the current situation dictating personal mobility as one of the key measures for safety. And online car buying has seen a major boost. The good news is with the new behavior CarDekho is becoming the first choice for most buyers. Having one of the finest Indian cricketing legends, Rahul Dravid on board as our brand ambassador further cements our relationship with the audiences.

    We are working with CarDekho and Rahul to create a new blueprint for the car buying process and establish itself as the most trusted and preferred partner for new buyers. We can’t wait to create some magic with both these powerhouse brands.”.”

  • CarDekho to invest $20 million in the pre-owned car business

    CarDekho to invest $20 million in the pre-owned car business

    NEW DELHI: CarDekho will invest $ 20 million (approx. Rs 150 crore) in its used car business in the ongoing financial year.

    The Girnar Software owned venture plans to open 250 franchise stores this year and ramp up this network to over 1,000 retail locations by 2022. The franchise outlets would be branded CarDekho Trustmark stores.

    The used car market is seeing a surge in demand as buyers are increasingly preferring for personal mobility instead of public transportation due to Covid2019 scare.

    CarDekho co-founder, Amit Jain said, “There is a surge in demand for used cars as this pandemic has reinforced the need for a personal vehicle. In FY20, there were 1.3 used car transactions for every new car transaction. We see this number going well above 1.8 times in the current year as people prefer personal mobility at a lower cost. We are entering into the franchise business model for selling Trustmark cars with the aim of providing economical personal mobility solutions to people in the most transparent and hassle-free manner.”

    The pre-owned car market in India crossed 4 million units in size as the industry saw tailwinds post the GST rationalization to 12-18% and penetration of organized channels, said findings of the Indian Blue Book, compiled by Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd, released last year.

    The Trustmark stores will also provide on the spot Loans and insurance service along with RC transfer facility under one roof. Moreover, the evaluation report of every Trustmark car is transparently available on the website and any customer can see it and discuss it before buying.

    Announcing its foray, the company said it has launched its first franchise store for the sale of certified used cars in Jaipur. The next upcoming stores are planned in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru respectively.  

    The company already operates over 50 CarDekho Gaadi stores across India where it acquires used cars from their existing owners.

    Earlier in June, CarDekho reported that its digital platform saw a 99% recovery in customer traffic for used cars after the lockdown wherein cars in the ₹1-5 lakh range saw maximum traction.

  • CarDekho launches new ‘monu-mental’ TVC highlighting new feature

    CarDekho launches new ‘monu-mental’ TVC highlighting new feature

    MUMBAI: CarDekho’s recently released quirky TVC will strike a chord with auto enthusiasts who are ‘senti-mental’ about their car and if they believe that all the information, right down to the vehicle’s sound, is ‘instru-mental’ before making a purchase?

    Highlighting the new ‘Feel the Car’ feature available on the CarDekho app, the off-hand, humorous TVC highlights the unique approach undertaken to bring alive a car through the app feature that enables a truly immersive virtual car experience for users.

    Contrary to the normal video advertisements featuring “industry experts,” the entire TVC has been shot with real employees, with all the aspects such as shooting, editing, casting or post-production being handled in-house by CarDekho to maintain the integrity and clarity of the messaging.

    Speaking on the TVC, CarDekho CMO LK Gupta said, “We know how attached Indian consumers are to their cars, and we know how crazy our own employees are to develop product features to really bring alive a virtual car experience. This new TVC is the perfect way of defining the new feature, explained and demonstrated by the actual mavericks behind the development. We are confident that our new feature will enhance user experience and allow consumers to make the most informed car purchase decisions.”

    With a full 360 degree interior and exterior view, recreation of the sounds such as horn, ignition or revving, embedded video and text pop-ups to explain various car features, CarDekho’s ‘Feel the Car’ feature is a high-functionality development. With a unique confluence of video, text and audio stimulus made available for users to peruse, CarDekho has customised the feature for more than 40 popular car models.

  • Hatchbacks most favoured by customers; Maruti & Hyundai lead auto category: CarDekho

    Hatchbacks most favoured by customers; Maruti & Hyundai lead auto category: CarDekho

    MUMBAI: The Indian consumer is now more discerning than ever before. Even when bombarded with options galore, consumers today know exactly what they want. And this can well be seen in the findings of a recent report released by Indian online automobile marketplace CarDekho.

     

    The report on online search patterns of the Indian consumers compared to actual in-market sales of cars during the festive season showed that when it comes to cars, hatchbacks were the most preferred customer choice, figuring in consideration sets for nearly 47 per cent consumer with their actual demand clocking in 48 per cent of the overall figure. The sedan category also saw consideration (26 per cent) and demand (25 per cent) nearly at par with one another.

     

    On the other hand, Maruti and Hyundai occupied the top slots in the hatchback as well as the sedan segment, with Honda also marking prominent presence in the latter category.

     

    The report, which is based on CarDekho’s platform traffic as well as Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, focused on various car categories such as hatchback, MUV, Sedan, SUV and Compact SUV/MUV to present a comprehensive statistical picture of the user consideration versus actual demand.

     

    Compact SUV/MUV section saw a high consideration per centage (17 per cent) due to the buzz effect surrounding the new category launch. However, the actual demand for the segment was only 10 per cent, which could be attributed to the relative unfamiliarity of the Indian public with the category. MUVs, on the other hand, resulted in a much higher actual demand (12 per cent) than consideration, which stood at a mere two per cent.

     

    GirnarSoft CMO LK Gupta said, “The October-November festive season is a time when Indian consumers wield their financial clout to buy things that they have shortlisted over the year. As such, this report provides a valuable insight into the shopping trends during this busy period. These insights will help car manufacturers to better understand the dynamics of consideration sets that buyers go into the market with, and how they change through the purchase process. The report also helps us as an auto portal to improve upon our existing services and shape our product offerings to be more in sync with the consumer preferences.”

     

    CarDekho’s report also highlighted the importance of price and value-for-money proposition for the Indian consumers. Amongst hatchbacks, Hyundai’s Elite i20 saw nearly 17 per cent user consideration; however, the actual conversion stood only at nine per cent. In comparison, its Grand i10 model, priced nearly Rs 2 lakh lower, managed to record 11 per cent demand despite a measly four per cent consideration. The Alto also recorded 18 per cent actual demand as compared to eight per cent consideration owing to its lower price and Maruti’s brand value. Similarly for the Sedan category, Dzire’s actual demand (37 per cent) far eclipsed its consideration (16 per cent), while the case was reversed for Honda City, which saw 20 per cent consideration, but only 11 per cent actual demand.

     

    However, while price was an important factor that drove transactions, performance and features were also given due consideration. In the Compact SUV/MUV category, both the consideration (14 per cent) and actual conversion (12 per cent) for Maruti’s S-Cross was much lower comparatively to Hyundai’s Creta (32 per cent consideration and 28 per cent actual) despite a lower price. This was attributed to more attractive features offered by Creta as compared to S-Cross.

  • CarDekho buys Zingwheels; Times Internet invests in Girnar

    CarDekho buys Zingwheels; Times Internet invests in Girnar

    MUMBAI: In a bid to consolidate its position in the auto portals space, Girnar Software, which owns CarDekho.com & Gaadi.com, has acquired Zigwheels.com. 

     

    Additionally, Times Internet has come on board as an investor in Girnar Software along with Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse, Tybourne, Ratan Tata and HDFC Bank.

     

    Zigwheels.com will operate independently within the Girnar Software umbrella.

     

    “Having been a part of India’s leading and most respected media group, Zigwheels.com comes with a very strong content pedigree. This strategic acquisition reinforces our commitment to further enrich our content to enable us to engage even more deeply with our consumers. This also takes our market leadership to the next level in the digital auto vertical across visitors, dealer base and revenues,” said Girnar Software CEO Amit Jain.

     

    “We are delighted to welcome Times as a new investor in our company and look forward to their support as we continue our journey and further consolidate our leadership in the online auto space,” added  Jain.

     

    “We see tremendous growth and value creation opportunities in the online auto industry in India and overseas.  Girnar Soft, as the leader in this space, is best positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. We are excited to be partnering with an exceptional management team which has built great value and we are confident will continue to blaze trails in the years to come,” added Times Internet CEO Satyan Gajwani.

     

    This is Girnar Software’s second acquisition. Last September, the company acquired the Nasper Group-owned Gaadi.com, to fortify its position in the digital used car segment. 

     

    The core business model of Girnar Software is earnings from lead generation for new and used cars, media sales on their portals, monetising the lifecycle of a car owner via CarBuddy app.

     

    The company is also expanding across SE Asia, Africa, Middle East and South America.

     

    The Rainmaker Group (TRMG) is the financial advisor to Girnar Software for the transaction.