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Maruti focuses on rural market , plans to double outlets |
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| The Hindu Business Line |
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Mumbai: Maruti Suzuki plans to double the number of its outlets in rural India from the present 231 to around 450 in the next two years. By this time, the total number across the country will be closer to 1,000, up from the existing 680 dealerships.
Simply put, rural outlets will account for nearly 50 per cent of Maruti’s network (550 will be located in urban centres) compared with just around 35 per cent now, an indication of the potential these regions have when it comes to car buying.
This objective is also part of Maruti’s mid-term plan to generate sales of 2.5 lakh cars annually from rural India which, in turn, will go a long way in helping it meet its target of a million vehicles in the domestic market by 2011-12. It clocked 7.22 lakh units in fiscal that just ended.
Mr Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager, Marketing, told Business Line that initially volumes from rural outlets would be small.
“But it is absolutely important for us to be present in those centres because numbers will come eventually,” he said. Maruti has seen a steady increase in the rural component (of sales) during the last two years to nine per cent (over 63,000 units) last fiscal from 3.5 per cent in 2007-08. The goal for this year is more ambitious at 15 per cent, which will translate into one lakh cars.
The rural market, from the company’s viewpoint, is the geography which is beyond the 40 major cities. These areas, dotted with small towns, typically have a strong agrarian base. Maruti has an exclusive rural marketing department which employs 2,500 rural development sales executives. In all, it has 15,000 such executives.
Special Schemes
As part of its drive, there are special schemes and programmes which include sponsoring kabaddi tournaments, tie-ups with panchayat members and sales fairs (grameen mahotsavs).
“We began focusing on the rural market when we sensed the economic meltdown was affecting larger cities especially in the IT and realty sectors,” said Mr Srivastava.
The biggest draw is its portfolio of small cars which is a hit with customers in these regions |
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