Mercedes-Benz India has sold over 1,700 cars in India in the last three weeks under a brand new business model which the company has implemented in only four of its markets globally.
The strategy has already helped the company amass orders worth $110 million or 825 crore INR in less than a month in one of the largest and toughest car markets, receiving orders for more than 1,700 cars aided by the festive season.
The German auto pioneer has unveiled a new business model that has helped it boost car sales in India. As part of the new strategy, the luxury car manufacturer intends to offer benefits of 1-2 lakh INR on the selling price to its customers.
Mercedes-Benz has also pumped in equity of 1,700 crores to implement its strategy that it has termed ‘Retail of the Future’ or ROTF from the 1st of October.
The ROTF is a direct-to-customer sales model under which Mercedes-Benz India owns the entire centralized vehicle stock and will directly invoice a purchase to the buyer and will also handle processing and fulfillment.
India is the first Completely Knocked Down(CKD) market and only the fourth for Mercedes-Benz globally after Sweden, South Africa, and Austria to adopt the ROTF model.
CKD refers to import or export in parts and not as one assembled unit.
According to Mercedes-Benz India MD and CEO Martin Schwenk, the company will sell directly to customers under ROTF and all dealers will compete directly to provide ‘the best customer experience.’
Its direct-to-customer model ensures transparency in pricing and best deals taking charge of all the inventory which in turn reduces interest burden on dealers taking away incidental or handling charges from the system.
The company said the new model helps it bring more flexibility in overall operations and benefits all stakeholders ensuring a better cost structure and charges the profitable business for dealers, transparency in pricing for customers, and an overall closer relationship between the company and the end customer.
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