[TusharK]

Hero Motocorp will now deliver new 2-wheelers to the customer's doorstep. Those opting for home delivery will have to pay a nominal charge of Rs. 349.



Customers who wish to avail of the home delivery service can do so by ordering the vehicle on Hero's e-commerce portal.

Customers can select their preferred vehicle, choose a dealer and pay the booking amount online. A representative will then collect all the necessary documents from the customer's residence or office at the desired time slot. Once the vehicle is registered, it will be delivered to the customer.

This service is currently available in Mumbai, Bangalore and Noida, however the bike maker plans to expand this service to 25 cities over the next few months in a phased manner.

Link to Team-BHP News

[libranof1987]

Not quite sure what problem Hero is trying to solve here. The vehicle buying process in India remains a fairly sentimental process with the entire family getting involved. The buyer likes to have friends/family involved through it; right from booking to delivery. I don't see a lot of value in having the new vehicle delivered at the doorstep. Further, this process removes a very important aspect of the entire purchase: haggling for a good deal.

As for the intermediate processes (document collection, cheque handling and so on), most SAs and bank reps are only too eager to do that for you (to expedite and confirm the booking) even today.

[Sk8r]

I think they are trying to solve the problem to Over stocking of Inventory.

For Ex : LG, Whirlpool all have major warehouses in cities like Chennai and the company direct sells these items through Amazon and delivers it themselves !

Hope Automobile dealers ( How Tesla sells ) can as well sell the same way and save all the margins that the dealer pockets !

[Funny]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Hope Automobile dealers ( How Tesla sells ) can as well sell the same way and save all the margins that the dealer pockets !

As per my understanding, the bikes will still be delivered through an Hero dealer. Meaning that the bike will still come from the dealer's stockyard, and not from the factory directly (which is anyway not feasible in this case). So I do not see any reason for any price reduction for the so called "home-delivery" of Hero bikes.

[Samba]

A good product lineup will automatically bring customers to their showroom.
This new strategy wont help them to increase their monthly sales even by 1%!

Even if they do this, it should be free of cost. Why will they charge Rs 349 for this?

Hero is just clueless. They need some proper good looking performance bikes. They have lost it since Honda left them.
The only product from Hero which appeals to me at this time is the X-pulse 200. The rest of their lineup simply do not offer anything special and looks dated.

[carfreak7]

I think that this option already exists since I had got home delivery of my Hero Maestro back in 2014, that too without paying anything extra.

[bigron]

Just a manufacturer trying to market something different which in reality is not really solving anything. Hard times is forcing manufacturers to offer services that are not really needed.
Also, if they can deliver the vehicle after service to your home free of cost they should definitely not charge you for home delivery when you buy a new one.

[gkveda]

This may be useful for people who do not know driving and will struggle to ride the vehicle after taking delivery. And this may be for ladies when husbands ride the bikes and wives would not have confidence to ride the scooter to home independently,

In my opinion, ladies, when they are first time riders ,would like to take the delivery at home, learn leisurely at playgrounds and then start riding on roads.

One may argue, they would have obtained driving license before purchasing the scooter.

But, you know how driving licenses are issued today to even people who do not where the wheels are ?

[nishkamm]

Not quite sure how useful this move is from Hero Motocorp. They should instead concentrate on getting the new Xpulse 200 demo bikes to showrooms and start offering test rides. It’s been months since I’ve been trying to get my hands on an Xpulse 200.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by nishkamm

Not quite sure how useful this move is from Hero Motocorp. They should instead concentrate on getting the new Xpulse 200 demo bikes to showrooms and start offering test rides. It’s been months since I’ve been trying to get my hands on an Xpulse 200.

Go to Sai Hero in Banashankari. Test rides available in full freedom.

The other hero dealers dont deserve this bike. They are fit to only sell the splendors.

[neil.jericho]

Desperate times. Desperate measures.

I will give credit to Hero for trying something new and I think they have come up with a really good idea! It is important to remember who the target audience is. Our forum members will likely go do PDIs and check every nook and cranny of the bike before conforming it can be registered in their names. 99.999% of Hero's target base doesn't.

If done properly (and that is the big clinching factor), the door step delivery experience could be quite popular. This may not appeal to many of the forum members here but if the dealership can bring some pomp and splendour (no pun intended) to the customer's home while handing over the motorcycle, Im sure Hero will find takers. If we look at vehicle handovers, it is usually only the immediate family who can attend. Given that our Indian culture traditionally takes pride in ownership of vehicles, the new found ability and convenience to take delivery of your bike in front of your neighbours and relatives might ensure you truly can become king or queen, for the day.

Also think of scenarios where a working son / daughter wants to gift their parent a new motorcycle / scooter as a surprise. The option of doing it at home can make it a great experience as compared to dragging your parents to a Hero dealership. Or vice versa. If a parent wants to gift their son / daughter their first motorcycle / scooter as a surprise, this is a really convenient option. Rs 349 doesnt seem like a lot really when you consider the benefits.

[silverado]

They are clearly looking to reduce staff at dealerships and also maybe reduce showroom size in future.
I would not expect much pomp and show for Rs 349. It should be more or less like any other online purchases.

[Iyencar]

The question is how are they planning to do this? Is this getting delivered in a tempo or will a dealer rep be driving it? If it were me I'd hate for an unknown person to drive my brand new vehicle.

[RD150]

This might help the ladies working/staying away from families , with no prior riding experience, and are buying one for the first time.

[T.U.P]

Went through the site for kicks.

The order option does not work: Keeps throwing up an error "this variant and this color are not available with any dealerships". Either the SKUs have to be updated or it's an error because it didn't work with any model I tried.

The rest of the website does seem good. The spares directory, the new layout. The old layout was quite bland, IMO.

About test rides in Bangalore: Sai Motors in Banashankari is the only Hero showroom that's offering TD at the moment. I finally had the chance to try the bike out a couple of weeks ago.
I don't know if it's just me but the engine actually didn't feel very refined. Don't know if that's because it was a test bike/wasn't completely run in (didn't check the odo). But everything else about the bike felt lovely. Seating/ergos, suspension, instrument cluster.

And this may be for ladies when husbands ride the bikes and wives would not have confidence to ride the scooter to home independently. In my opinion, ladies, when they are first time riders ,would like to take the delivery at home, learn leisurely at playgrounds and then start riding on roads.

That's very weird logic there