In a bid to increase its market share Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has embarked on a game plan to get closer to consumers both in terms of selling new cars and for post-sales support. For instance, the company has decided to expand its initiatives for providing service-at-the-doorstep to Maruti car owners.

Maruti has launched mobile workshops which car owners can use to get services like washing, oil changes and body polish right where they are. “Till April last year, we had only around 100 vans. We have 1,100 such vans now and this year we will double the numbers. Our target is to reach 5,000 such vans in next three years,” Mayank Pareek, Chief Operating Officer (Marketing and Sales), MSIL, told BusinessLine .

Take Maruti home He said Maruti got this idea from electronic companies, like washing machine brands, which offer repair and service facilities at the customer's home.

The other big idea that’s working well for Maruti is the go-to-market strategy focussed on specific segments. For example, the auto maker sent its sales force to look for new customers among the blue pottery industry of Jaipur or orange growers of Nagpur. Maruti is working on 372 niche customer segments already and have sold 60,000 cars in such markets over the last few months

Pareek said that the company came up with these ideas during the slowdown to maintain its revenue share.

“We identify and use the diversity of this great country. We have been conducting engagement programmes and talking directly to customers over the last two years. We did 100,000 events in June alone. We made customers think positive even during the slowdown so that we could get results,” he said.

Higher conversions Because of such ideas, footfalls at Maruti showrooms have turned into 19 per cent growth in sales in May and 31 per cent in June on a year-on-year basis (YoY).

“For July also, we will grow by around 25 per cent YoY on monthly sales,” Pareek added.

MSIL sold 1,00,964 units of vehicles in June compared to 77,002 units in the corresponding month last year.

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