Royal Enfield, one of the most loved two-wheeler brands in India, has managed to take its success to the next level by experimenting with the market by opening mini showrooms. These mini showrooms specifically target the hinterland market with the perspective to turn the tables of dwindling sales.
Royal Enfield has till now opened around 500 studio stores across the country whereas another 300 mini showrooms will become active by the end of this year. The brand understands the lower cost involved in setting up and operating a mini-store, which is the main reason behind Eicher Motor-controlled company taking this step.
Apart from these mini showrooms, Royal Enfield already has 932 full-fledged stores that have been opened by the brand which are concentrated in the cities.
The CEO of Royal Enfield, Vinod Dasari said in an official statement, “We have 932 large-format stores including the four that were opened in the last quarter. But we said that we need to get into a lot more into the rural areas and thus we came up with this unique concept called the Studio Store. It was so successful in a few areas that by August we added 250 of them and by October, we launched another 250. We have now 500 of them, fantastic response for these”.
The size of the mini showrooms varies between 500 to 600 sq. ft. which can be set up within INR 5-6 lakhs in comparison to a regular 2000-3000 sq ft showroom that costs around INR 50 lakhs to 3 crores depending on the location.
The CFO of Eicher Motors, Lalit Malik said, “They were set up with the idea that, depending on location to location, they would do anywhere between 8 to 10 motorcycles a month. And it is not about sales only, it is about service too. So it is a full, smaller size, but a full Royal Enfield store. It is a proper dealership in that sense. So, all put together, from a motorcycle sales perspective, they were to do 8 to 10. The start has been extremely promising.”
