Hero MotoCorp opens 1,500 retail outlets, begins first despatches of FY2021

Hero MotoCorp, the two-wheeler market leader in India and the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, has commenced its retail operations with the re-opening of more than 1,500 customer touch-points including authorised dealerships and service centres.

The company says over 10,000 motorcycles and scooters have been sold since the reopening of these customer touch-points. These outlets contribute to around 30 percent of the company’s total domestic retail sales.

Meanwhile, on May 7, Hero MotoCorp commenced vehicle despatches from its manufacturing facilities for the first time in the current fiscal year (FY2021). All of its facilities had halted operations since March 22 as a precautionary preventive and mandated measure against Covid-19. On May 4, the company resumed operations at its plants in Dharuhera and Gurgaon in Haryana and Haridwar in Uttarakhand. 

Ensuring safety at plants, dealerships, service centres and parts distributors
Hero MotoCorp says it has issued a Restart Manual to all its dealerships, service centres and parts distributors. Till now, has also conducted training programs though webinars reaching to 700 internal sales, after-sales employees and over 7,000 customer touch-points.  

Besides English and Hindi, the company has released the restart manuals in 10 regional languages, which have proven immensely helpful in rural and interior areas. The manuals have a lot of visuals that accurately yet simplistically convey all crucial aspects to be followed. It is also providing guidance on the acquisition of key safety materials such as masks, gloves, sanitisers, disinfectants, and other equipment to the dealers.

The detailed restart manual covers the whole breadth of activities for restarting operations, from pre-opening preparations to monitoring & operating protocols post restart. The manuals provide guidance on:

- Deep cleaning
- Fumigation
- Safety marking of the channel point
- Rearrangements at the channel point to ensure social distancing
- Seating, washroom, work-station, equipment hygiene
- Staggered break times, staff/ customer entry protocols, use of PPEs
- Encouraging digital payments, careful handling of documents/credit cards/cash 
- Staff training, entry protocols, social distancing, customer entry protocols
- Use of PPEs such as masks, gloves

The manual also covers other aspects like Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI), delivery norms, home delivery, pre-booking to avoid customer rush, social distancing protocol in workshop, hygiene/care of tools, vehicle pick-up and drop protocols, and creation of waiting areas.

Also read: Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp develop contact-tracing app to map supply chain