Auto firms increase online spends

Auto companies in the country like Maruti, General Motors, Volkswagen, Honda, Mahindra and Bajaj have increased their online spends significantly.

The reason is not hard to fathom. Going by a recent report by J D Power and Associates, over a third of prospective vehicle customers in India are opting for the internet to search for information on vehicles. The figure has risen from 21 per cent in 2007 to 34 per cent in 2009.

Advertisements like plain banner ads, flash ads, and click to play videos are the most popular ads placed by auto companies, according to Saurabh Bhatia, Chief Business Officer, Vdopia (India’s largest Video Ad Network). “Recession has made companies nimble. Auto companies, specifically, realised that when people are not buying as before, it is sane to put money where most potential buyers hop. We have seen a 200-300 per cent increase in our revenue from auto companies as compared to the last year,” he says. Vdopia’s clientele includes Maruti, GM, Mahindra and Bajaj.

Vehicles are a high-value item. With the urban, upper-middle and middle class population typically into surfing the internet, the shift to cyberspace is a lucrative option for these auto companies. Maruti is a case in point. It gets on an average 3,500-4,000 test drive requests online every month and around 2,000 enquires for ‘True Value’ — its pre-owned car business. Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager (Marketing), Maruti Suzuki, says: “With our product range and profile moving towards younger audience, at Maruti Suzuki, we are focusing on this medium in a big way.”

Declining to give any figures, Srivastava, adds: “We have upped our investments on the internet. Compared to last year, we are spending almost 3 times more on the online medium.”

Maruti’s focus on the web can be gauged with its innovative initiatives like virtual test drives on the web for Ritz and Swift Life - an online community portal for Swift owners. Its campaign for A-Star was extremely successful. Its initiative for the Ritz got it over 21 million impressions from webusers. Over 5.90 lakh unique visitors during very first month of Ritz’s launch has helped in a strong brand positioning for the Ritz. Maruti was the first company to offer online booking as well as sales through Internet for NRIs, started three years back.

Another point in case is Tata Motors which used the internet extensively for Nano marketing. It had a section on the Nano website to design ones own car. Nano communities established on Orkut and Facebook, prior to the car’s launch, helped it gather the opinion and preferences of the customers. It also launched a game and conducted regular contests on the website to keep customer interest alive.

Tata Motors also introduced online booking feature for Nano in April 2009, allowing online payment. On the launch, the website received 5 million hits in a period of 24 hours. During the booking phase of Nano, the website received at average 8 lakh hits per day. One can also buy Nano merchandise online. A Tata Motors spokesperson says: “Use of online marketing tools have helped us capture the preferences and feedback of the customers on a real-time basis as against traditional media.”As if on a cue, auto companies have also revamped their websites. The websites which earlier used to look like only information brochures now sport a 3D view of the automobiles and have onling booking features.