[acidkill]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Shankar and acidkill, you guys are bombarding each other with fancy words and abbreviations pulled out of MBA textbooks... but I still fail to understand what your POV is what the conclusion is. How about just explaining in simple and clear english like GTO does. Is it a good idea or not ...if not why?

Since you put it that way, i would say that Skoda rolling out boutique showrooms is like a regular guy having a high maintenance girlfriend!

The girlfriend is small and petit, great to look at, even better too talk to, everyone likes her, but you have to spend more than you can afford on her. At some point your cash is going to run out - simply because its an unsustainable process! So you'll pretty much be dumped soon enough!

[Vid6639]

In Bangalore this seems to be very popular.

- Dakshin Honda on Hosur Road have a city showroom in Lavelle road. They deliver cars and offer TD's as well. Very small showroom right in the centre of town.

- Ravindu Toyota has a small city showroom on Victoria road whereas the main showroom/service centre is in Rajajinagar.

- Nandi Toyota have a city showroom on Museum road whereas the main service centre is on Hosur Road.

- Navnit Motors, BMW has opened up a very small city showroom on Millers road when there main facility with service is on Hosur road.

- Elite motors, Volkswagen has opened downtown motors showroom on Magrath road next to Garuda Mall. Their main showroom is on Hosur Road.

[Games Goblin]

Going off topic here , looking at GTO's post in the 1st page, is that the new lancer in the Mitsubishi showroom?? Is Mitsubishi finally going to launch it here??

[Ricky_63]

Originally Posted by Games Goblin

Going off topic here , looking at GTO's post in the 1st page, is that the new lancer in the Mitsubishi showroom?? Is Mitsubishi finally going to launch it here??

That is the "new Outlander" looks a lot like the new Lancer from the front detailing !!



Cheers

[Games Goblin]

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

That is the "new Outlander" looks a lot like the new Lancer from the front detailing !!


Cheers

Oof!! Thanks for clearing that up for me Ricky_63

I must say, I liked the old outlander better! And the resemblance between the two is striking

[shankar.balan]

no fancy words. Just facts!

Showrooms of a certain size and above, on a revenue sharing model, if located in a top end Mall/ 5 star Hotel OR High Street, are a good form of advertising and encourage consumers to interact with the brand (s) being showcased.

The other points are simply to illustrate how easily luxury has become commoditized owing to the driving force of "sales" and "accessibility".

cheers!

Originally Posted by Mpower

Shankar and acidkill, you guys are bombarding each other with fancy words and abbreviations pulled out of MBA textbooks... but I still fail to understand what your POV is what the conclusion is. How about just explaining in simple and clear english like GTO does. Is it a good idea or not ...if not why?

[invidious]

Originally Posted by acidkill

Skoda has pursued this small showroom outreach idea for a very long time in delhi. It has only now reached mumbai. Being a strategy consultant, i personally disagree with this strategy completely. Im a strong beleiver in the fact that road presence of a car is its best advertisement, and smaller showrooms like these serve no purpose apart from driving up cost.

In fact the overall per squarefoot cost of having small showrooms in high streets is far far higher than having a targetted large showroom in a prime residential area or a central business district. You may not beleive it, but after a certain size, the bigger the showroom - the lower the effective per squarefoot rental and setup cost. This holds true for both malls and high streets.

Plus Skoda will increase its working capital by a large margin, given the larger number of cars on display and all those really unsaleable accessories.

Valid point. But there is something called "Brand Equity" too. Unlike other markets, Skoda wishes to remain an upmarket player in India. Having these not-so-cost-effective showrooms does create the impression of a premium brand in the eyes of the potential customer. Personally, I find it ridiculous that a person would shell out over 20 lakhs for a Skoda - but Skoda has been very successful at building their image - such stores will only reinforce it. My $0.02

[rjalihal]

Do they have any such Skoda Boutiques in Bangalore as well?

[GTO]

This is taking the concept a bit too far. What is Renault thinking? A display car won't even fit through the opening.

Supposed 'Renault Booking Outlet' at Prabhadevi, Mumbai.

[//M]

Originally Posted by GTO

This is taking the concept a bit too far. What is Renault thinking? A display car won't even fit through the opening.

Supposed 'Renault Booking Outlet' at Prabhadevi, Mumbai.

Reminds me of Renault's "booking outlet" in Ranchi which was just the size of a STD PCO booth with just a table, 2-3 chairs and some brochures of the Duster. Thankfully after the Renault Jamshedpur showroom came up, this outlet was closed. I always thought it was some third party who earned profit by sourcing Duster's to prospective customers due to the unavailability of dealership in Jharkhand. However, I now feel it was nothing but an official "booking outlet" that Renault would have set up through some vendor.