German luxury carmaker Audi is gearing up to become a service provider as well, offering a host of premium lifestyle services to its customers in India, according to a top official of the firm.
The company, under its 2025 strategy of focussing on customer centricity besides enhancing product portfolio and sales and service network in the Indian market, is working to develop further on the concierge services that it offers to its car buyers.
“We are a car company at this point of time at least, moving forward obviously from a car company we will probably become a service provider. That’s the way to go…,” Audi India Head Balbir Singh Dhillon told PTI.
Elaborating on the plan, he said at present there are around 75,000 Audi owners in India who have purchased car priced above Rs 30-40 lakh and the data of these customers will help it devise ways to further interact with them and offer what they want.
“So when we move from a carmaker to a service provider there are so many things in your life as an Audi customer which you need on a day-to-day basis. We are evaluating, working on how do we reach your home more than by just selling the car and providing aftersales services,” he said.
For instance, Dhillon said through the concierge services available on the company’s app, an Audi owner can seek help in booking a restaurant, ordering a bouquet, or even plan to watch mega sporting events like Wimbledon.
“It is an extension of the services that we are offering slowly…Basically from car to personal lifestyle that you need. For instance let’s say you need to buy a very exclusive clothing, we may suggest you where do you stitch your clothing. These are all services which are offered as of now as a gesture of goodwill but this could become a profit centre for the time to come,” he said.
Luxury accessories that the company sells to Audi customers, “in the times to come could be co-branded with another brand”, he said adding, these are the new territories which the company will experiment with.
Dhillon further said,”At this point of time where we will reach in three to five years, I don’t know but are we going in that direction? Answer is yes. It is little bit unknown waters.”
When asked how far the company has progressed in this front, Dhillon said Audi will have to do a lot of experimentations.
“We will have to work with a lot of partners, who potentially may not be car companies, but anything and everything which is in and around car…There are discussions with a couple of partners.”
He also said the company will have “customer clinic to also understand, as we don’t want to do things that customers don’t like, where we will not only ask about the car but also about their needs, habits, their lifestyle and how do we reach them more, what else do they expect from us, as manufacturers in the next three to five years time.”
Dhillon further said,”You need to engage with them to find the answers. It is the beginning of it, maybe from a year and half from now we would be in a better position to answer this question when we would have tried some more things. We have just started.”
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