HMSI is likely to announce a tie-up with Snapdeal for online two-wheeler sales next month.
Two of the country's largest two-wheeler companies jumped on the online sales bandwagon on Monday.
While Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) said it would go online, Suzuki Motorcycle India announced a tie-up with Snapdeal, which has a dedicated automobile vertical on its e-commerce platform.
HMSI's online trip comes a year after former partner and rival Hero MotoCorp, the country's largest domestic two-wheeler player, tied up with Snapdeal to sell motorcycles online.
HMSI is likely to announce a tie-up with Snapdeal for online two-wheeler sales next month.
Snapdeal is also looking to start online sales of cars and will announce a couple of tie-ups by next month. Snapdeal also has a tie-up with Piaggio.
Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice-president and operating head, sales and marketing, HMSI, told Business Standard, "We were exploring an opportunity to sell online. We have almost finalised a move and you can expect an announcement from us next month."
HMSI, the country's second largest two-wheeler player, sold 4.26 million two-wheelers in India in the year ended March 31, 2015.
Around 16 million two-wheelers are sold in the country annually and nearly a million could be sold online in 2016. Over half the consumers who intend to buy an automobile, research it online.
"Dealers get incremental footfalls, which they would otherwise have not got. Consumers have complete transparency on price and product as the inventory of all dealers is available for them to choose from," said Tony Navin, senior vice-president and head of strategic partnerships at Snapdeal.
Early this month Snapdeal unveiled an exclusive automobile platform, Snapdeal Motors, that allows online vehicle booking and loan approvals.
Snapdeal hopes the platform will clock over $2 billion in sales over the next two years.
Hero MotoCorp, which tied up with Snapdeal last December, has sold 400,000 two-wheelers worth Rs 2,000 crore online in 11 months.
Online sales were six per cent of Hero MotoCorp's 6.43 million annual domestic two-wheeler sales and more than the total sales of Suzuki Motorcycles (340,506) and Mahindra Two Wheelers (165,344) last year.
The festival season was especially good for Hero MotoCorp when a quarter of its online sales took place in less than a month beginning October 13. The company is now working on its own online sales platform.
SADDLE UP FOR E-TAIL
DEC 2014
Hero MotoCorp tied up with Snapdeal for online sales
MAY 2015
Hero crossed 100,000 units sale on Snapdeal
Piaggio ties up with Snapdeal to sell Vespa
OCT 2015
Hero's Snapdeal sales cross 300,000 units
NOV 2015
How to ace your next job interview
Togadia wants to bring law in Parliament for building Ram temple
Financial transaction motive behind Sheena murder: CBI tells court
Sheena married diamond merchant in US, Indrani told Vidhie