As part of its vision to become a premium motorcycle brand globally, India’s multinational automotive company, TVS Motor has joined hands with Nasdaq listed software services firm, PTC Inc to develop TVS ARIVE, an application that has helped them improve customer experience and reduce sales cycle.
With the acquisition of UK’s iconic sporting motorcycle brand, Norton recently, TVS Motor has set its sights to become a premium motorcycle brand globally, eying 20% of business contribution from premium bikes.
TVS Motor has embraced Vuforia Engine, a leading development software to create powerful, photo-realistic augmented reality (AR) experiences from PTC Inc’s suite, to create a world-class rich interactive digital interface for their consumers to experience their premium range of bikes
Talking about the brief that was provided, Kalyan Sridhar, Vice President & Country Manager, PTC Inc. said, “TVS Motor wanted to give their consumers an experience of their premium bike range — TVS Apache RR310 and TVS APACHE RTR 200 4V, rather than a sales-driven push. With the pandemic, they felt this was the right time to go one up on augmented reality. They wanted to automate the experience process, cut down on training cost & time, as well curb the information loss that transpires during the whole sales process.”
PTC Inc. envisioned an application, TVS ARIVE, that enabled customers to interact with the Apache motorcycles at the comfort of their homes—clicking on parts to view details about key features, watching videos describing the technologies behind the latest innovations, and even changing the colour options in real-time enhancing their buying experience.
The objective for TVS Motor has been to empower their potential customer to experience the product, without the intervention of a human, who can assist where necessary. As per a Mckinsey & Co Study, less than 50% of shoppers believe salespeople can provide all the information they need while purchasing a vehicle. More than 80% of customers are, in fact, already using online sources during the consideration phase where they are deciding on the vehicle.
Talking about the impact of TVS ARIVE, Meghashyam Dighole, Associate, Vice President and Head of Marketing Premium Business, TVS Motor, said: “The application has helped the salespeople in major ways. First of all, it has helped with reducing sales fatigue. If a salesperson is making four sales a day, by the fourth customer, they will be tired and potentially not able to remember every single feature. This way, there has been less burden on the salesperson, making it easier for them to be active and engaged throughout the process.”
He further added that TVS Motor company plans to expand the application’s reach and deploy it for product lines beyond the Apache and eventually expand into international markets. “We’re excited about the impacts of the application. We have huge plans for using Vuforia.”
Kalyan of PTC Inc. believes that the application will enable effective digital marketing efforts in the long run, with the ongoing digital acceleration shifting consumer buying habits.
PTC Inc and TVS Motor have a long-standing relationship that goes back more than decade. TVS Motor has been a user of PTC flagship CAD solution “Creo” and “Windchill” for their product design and development.