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| Edited By: Soumonty Kanungo |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 20, 2018, 04:18 AM IST
How has the self-driven car market evolved in India?
Prior to Zoomcar, there was nothing in this short-term space. We are the one who created this market when we started in 2013. The Indian market was occupied with small local players who didn't have the appropriate licences, so that was a very sketchy kind of services for the customers as these type of players don't have the necessary resources, or have the right team in place. So particular with short-term services as you can imagine it is a very experienced service and product. If you are taking a car for a couple of hours or days or you are going far away, driving out of city, you would want to have some sort of comfort level, you would want to know whether the company or brand you are using is someone you can trust, can offer support while you are driving out. In reality, cars are complicated machines and you may need support in any instances. One way to build up customer trust and royalty is by providing very consistent, convenient and flexible experience for the consumers. That really was missing before and so we stepped up doing that.
How much have you grown in this two years?
We are now in six cities (Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai) with over 1,600 cars. We have grown quite a bit in the last two years and we want to continue growing quickly to keep up with the demand. We have seen a remarkable demand here for these products, so we want to move ahead systematically. Our revenues have grown four times in the last calendar year. So the growth has been really remarkable. We want to grow our fleet size to 50,000 over the next 3-4 years.
There is a trend globally where young people are not too keen to own a car and more keen to rent one. Do you see a similar trend picking up in India as well?
Yes, we are seeing a trend in India where people under 30 are not actually buying a car. They are going for rental services or are choosing to move in taxis. That would help to push the short-term car rental space growth.
Are people booking with you only for vacations, or do you see bookings happening for official purposes also?
Yeah, out of three cases, we see at least 1 such case where we see people using it for official purposes. We offer the flexibility to book, so people are booking on weekdays, weekends, during morning or evening. It is really a function of requirements and we have the flexibility to serve any such requirements. There is no constraint on booking duration, so one can book for three hours or for three days or three weeks.
How does your model work?
We are a hyper-local service and we have pick-up and drop points across cities. One can pick up or drop a car from 80-plus or 100-plus points that we have. The booking has to be done online, through website or mobile app. Most of our bookings take place through mobile app now. We charge a small security deposit of Rs 5,000, which is totally refundable. Once the booking is done, one can pay through credit or debit card. To unlock the car, you can use your phone. You can use the app or an SMS when you are near the car to automatically unlock the vehicle.
Is it necessary for the pick-up and drop point to be same?
As of now, the pick-up and drop point have to be same. We are working on that and we are launching a home delivery service this year. We will be piloting it in Bengaluru and then, extending it to other cities.
