Paytm logs in 30% of initial bookings for Aprilia SR150

Paytm, India’s largest mobile commerce platform, which started off by offering mobile phone recharges, utility bill payments and online retail of goods, is making an impact on auto sales.

The e-commerce platform now accounts for up to 30 percent of the total bookings of Piaggio Vehicles’ recently launched sleek and stylish Aprilia SR150 scooter model, reliable sources tracing the numbers told Autocar Professional.

Piaggio Vehicles India (PVPL) had tied up with the e-commerce platform in the third week of August 2016 to sell its first Aprilia scooter in the booming Indian scooter market. Furthermore, Autocar Professional learns that the company has also tied up with the online retail platform to make complete sales of its Vespa model line-up in India.

“Piaggio has tied up with Paytm to make full sales of its Vespa scooters online, which includes balance tax payments, RTO and other legal charges to be paid at the dealership(s) along with taking the delivery of the selected model. The same arrangement was made for the Aprilia SR150 where bookings are being done for the model currently. Paytm is contributing to the tune of 25-30 percent of the overall bookings of the Aprilia SR150, which is great yield under this collaboration. Piaggio is looking to further extend its agreement with Paytm from accepting bookings for its Aprilia scooter to making full sales, hopefully by the end of this month (September 2016). It is understood that the balance payments covering all taxes and delivery will be made at the dealership(s),” disclosed a reliable source closely associated with these developments.

The Aprilia SR150 is available for booking on Paytm by paying Rs 2,000. While this will earn the customer a cashback of Rs 1,000 in the Paytm wallet, the cashback amount for online customers last month (August) was Rs 2,000. The same amount can be paid at the Vespa dealership to make a booking for the Aprilia SR150. However, comparatively doing so won’t earn any return in the form of cashback to the customer.

Although this clearly indicates that urban customers are being encouraged to use the online platform (via earning cashbacks) to make bookings, the online retail is increasingly catching up with the conventional way of selling vehicles starting from the urban pockets.

Paytm, which claims to have more than 100 million registered users scaling over 60 million orders per month, currently lists not just Vespa and Aprilia scooters on its webpages but has also partnered with Suzuki Motorcycle India, Mahindra & Mahindra, India Yamaha Motor, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Hero MotoCorp and Renault-Nissan.

It can be recalled that earlier this year, in March 2016, TVS Motor Company had announced its tie-up with another growing e-commerce portal called Snapdeal, wherein nine two wheeler models were to be sold via the online platform. Current listings on Snapdeal include vehicles from Hero MotoCorp, Suzuki Motorcycle India, Piaggio Vehicles, TVS Motor Company, Hero Electric, Mahindra Two Wheelers, Renault-Nissan and many others. Stay tuned for more updates on this front.