CARS24 was founded in 2015, it is the leading global e-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles with a robust presence in India, the Middle East, Australia and Southeast Asia. With a consumer first approach, CARS24’s mission is to transform the used car industry by taking the entire journey of searching, buying, selling, and financing online..
CARS24 has just added yet another feather to its long-term association with cricket in the country, this IPL they have partnered with Sunrisers Hyderabad, winners of IPL 2016, to become the new Principal Sponsor for IPL 2022. With this partnership, CARS24 also becomes the first pre-owned car player to enter into partnership for IPL. Under the newly-inked strategic partnership, Sunrisers Hyderabad team jersey will sport the very striking blue and orange CARS24 logo on the front, establishing their position as a market leader and cementing their space in the minds of fans this season of the IPL.
Sudhir Shukla, CMO, CARS24 speaks exclusively to MediaNews4U on the partnership, the upswing in the buying of pre-owned vechicles in the new normal.
The IPL is a marquee event in a country where Cricket is a passion, what made you partner with Sunrisers Hyderabad? Why did you zoom into this team?
As you’ve mentioned, the Indian Premier League is one of the biggest sporting leagues globally and enjoys great engagement across audiences. This makes it a natural choice from a brand building perspective. We are excited to partner with SRH as they are one of the most consistent teams in the league with 5 playoff appearances in the last 6 seasons and one title in the bag. In our discussions, we found a lot of similarities in the approach of the two brands with focus on dependability and a flair for innovation. With our focus on building a global brand & using technology to disrupt the pre-owned cars market partnering with SRH at IPL is a natural fit with our overall brand strategy.
What would be your Marketing Strategies for the team and the coming IPL?
Cricket has always been a strong part of our marketing mix. We recently also partnered with MS Dhoni for our latest ad campaign “MRL paas toh gaadi first class”. Our focus with the SRH campaign will be to position Cars24 as the best platform to buy pre-owned cars internationally. This campaign will feature legends of cricket such as Kane Williamson, Brian Lara, and Dale Steyn to build greater awareness of our offerings, leveraging all parts of the marketing mix such as TV, Digital etc. We will also be running strong consumer engagement activations and contests as a part of the campaign.
What made you to think of getting into sponsorship for IPL?
As I mentioned previously, we have historically invested in IPL through our presence as advertisers. Through our marketing efforts in the past, we feel good about the salience that we have built for ourselves. A recent study we undertook with IPSOS showed greater willingness amongst the younger audiences (25-35 years) to consider buying pre-owned cars online as a smart choice i.e, ~40% respondents. We believe IPL as a platform offers great opportunities to build reach within a short span of time in this consumer group. We will continue to drive awareness of the Cars24 offerings and look to further expedite their adoption of online e-commerce when it comes to buying or selling pre-owned Cars.
Later will you also look at other sports for association?
Sports genre has historically been a natural fit for the automobile category. And given the fact that younger audiences over-index on both sports as well as our consumers, we are certainly going to evaluate all options in sports with an open mind. Historically, we have advertised on the Olympics as well as the Euros in football.
As an E-Commerce platform for pre-owned cars how has the demand been in the new normal?
The Indian car market is still at a nascent stage and underpenetrated in comparison to its counterparts of developed markets. The Indian pre-owned market has immense growth potential with car ownership at a meagre ~2%. The pre-owned vehicles industry is largely unorganised in India and is plagued by information asymmetry.. Our vision is to make this tedious and tiresome process of buying and selling cars organised and online, we aim to solve the problem of trust.
Since the pandemic outbreak, interest in buying a car online has increased significantly. After an unprecedented year that saw record e-commerce adoption across the board, online car buying has proved to be one of the hottest trends of the year. According to a recent CARS24-IPSOS Study, the frequency of an individual upgrading his/her car through a complete end-to-end online platform has substantially increased- nearly 40% of the respondents said they will prefer to buy their next car online.
Young buyers (millennials & GenZ), who account for 80% of buyers’ base, are helping feed the growing field of app- and web- based channels. The rise in new-vehicle prices and lifestyle changes due to the pandemic as well as emergence of online players are the major factors contributing to this shift- we’re talking about actually buying a car online while in your pyjamas cozied up on the couch in your home.
Over the past 6 years, we have identified and solved these various genuine customer pain points and disrupting the market, making us the market leader in the online used car industry with a 90% market share. In this pursuit, we have recently announced the launch of Mega Refurbishment Labs (MRLs) to ensure our customers have access to cars as good as new. We feel very excited about the future of the category and look forward to accelerate the adoption of buying and selling pre-owned Cars online.
Your Focus for 2022 and where do you see the platform in the next 2 years?
CAR24 recently launched its business in Thailand, Australia, and UAE and is ready to launch business in other Southeast Asian and Middle East countries this year. We have earmarked an investment of over $100Million for international markets in 2021. We will soon be aggressively expanding in other Southeast Asia regions in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.
In addition to this, we are expanding and strengthening our financial services side to deliver the best customized financing solution to our prospective buyers. We have also invested in building seven company-owned and India’s largest refurbishment vehicle facilities called Mega Refurbishment Labs (MRLs) to provide top-notch quality cars. The focus of the entire organization is to maximize growth in the near future and aim to become the world’s biggest auto-tech company.
