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In line with the success that online shopping festivals for apparels and electronics have witnessed in India, the recently concluded ‘Online Auto Mela’, which was hosted by Amazon India's price comparison portal Junglee.com, saw a strong response from consumers.
During the event, which started on February 27 and ended on March 8, Junglee.com witnessed a three times growth in demand for the automobile category.
The ‘Online Auto Mela’ had on offer over 30,000 pre-owned cars and 5,000 bikes from online and offline automobile sellers across the country for customers to buy from. Among others, automobile players like Carwale, CarTrade, Mahindra First Choice, Gaadi, Cardekho and Zigwheels participated in the festival.
While there was an increase in demand across categories, Mahendra Nerurkar, general manager at Junglee.com said the two wheelers category saw higher demand than cars. “Two-wheelers have grown 40 per cent faster than cars (for Junglee.com),” Nerurkar said. “Cars however still get the larger share of the demand enjoying 70 per cent share of overall demand.”
Even as the company has not yet taken a decision on hosting more of such events, Nerurkar said, “There is every reason to believe that we might try it again.”
After the electronics and fashion segments, new categories such as automobile, home furnishing, and gourmet food have started getting increased interest from online shoppers. For Junglee.com as well, the automobile segment has been a strong growth driver, since it was launched on the portal in December 2014.
Besides the regular models, Junglee.com has also seen users registering top-end luxury cars for sale, such as Rolls Royce and Lamborghini. The company has at least six listings for Rolls Royce in Delhi itself.
While transaction in automobile sale still remains offline, due to reasons such as need for inspection in a pre-owned car, Nerurkar said that transactions in auto parts and accessories have moved to online.
The shopping festival also included offers on auto parts and accessories. Sellers like Naaptol, Autofresh, Grabmore and Autotrends participated in the event for discounts on auto-accessories such as helmets, riding gear and car care products. Junglee.com had also tied up with Policybazaar.com for special offers like free roadside assistance to every customer who registers on a partner site.
“The event resulted in a great response for Mahindra First Choice dealers,” Nagendra Palle, chief executive officer of Mahindra First Choice Wheels said. “There was a positive impact on the showroom footfalls and the activity has helped us to build a healthy pipeline of prospective customers.”
Junglee had tied up with Mahindra First Choice for customers to avail a free vehicle inspection and get a fair price based on that report.
