autojunction.in pioneers auto eRetailing in India
October 15, 2007

• autojunction.in introduces for the first time in India, a complete end-to-end car buying experience over the internet
• autojunction.in brings in tremendous cost and distribution efficiencies for the auto manufacturers and convenience to the car buyers through its auto eRetailing venture in India
• Reva i (the electric car) is the first car brand in India to be sold through auto eRetailing — a complete end-to-end car selling process at www.autojunction.in

www.autojunction.in, the auto division of India’s largest eCommerce company – mjunction services limited, a 50:50 joint venture of Tata Steel and SAIL, today announced its path-breaking venture into ‘auto eRetailing’.

Introduced for the very first time in India, the initiative - autojunction.in, brings in a complete end-to-end car buying experience over the internet for buyers of new car in India. New cars can now be bought over the internet at any time of the day or night, from the comfort of one's home, complete with selected accessories, insurance, finance and all other such requirements that go along with any car-buying process in a typical car dealership. autojunction is set to bring in a revolution in the selling supply chain of the auto majors in India through its customised auto eRetailing solutions.

autojunction.in announced Reva Car Electric Company (RECC) as its first auto eRetail partner to sell the Reva i electric car through a customised version of its auto eRetailing model.

Speaking on the occasion, Chetan Kumaar Maini, deputy chairman and chief technical officer, REVA Electric Car Company Pvt Ltd, said, "We are pleased to be associated with mjunction. This is the first time that a virtual showroom is being set-up by mjunction to sell vehicles online. We are confident that this venture would add value to our customers in Kolkata and soon in the rest of the country. We look forward to this partnership and see this as a new chapter for REVA and marketing of advanced electric vehicles in India through new media."

On this landmark venture, Viresh Oberoi, managing director, mjunction services said, "Auto eRetailing by autojunction, like mjunction’s all other preceding ventures, will transform the supply chain. In its implementation, it will permeate values like cost and distribution efficiency, convenience and transparency in the entire supply chain from the car manufacturer to the end consumer effectively disintermediating value-destroying middlemen. We are proud to have REVA Electric Car Company on board. Reva is a global car brand, and the car of the future, and we are delighted to launch Reva in Kolkata, and look forward to taking Reva to the cities and the smaller towns in India."

Prior to launching of its auto eRetailing venture, autojunction had been selling used vehicles over the internet on "as-is-where-is" basis through its online auto auctions. Most of the leading banks & NBFCs across India are using this online auto auction service from autojunction for the last almost two years to dispose their stock of Repossessed Vehicles transparently, efficiently and conveniently to the used car dealers and traders community across India.

On this occasion, autojunction re-launched its new integrated website www.autojunction.in, to provide access to its auto eRetailing services, online auto auction services and its all other service modules for the auto industry that it plans to launch in the near future.

The new look website will be seamlessly connected and will continue to provide access to all such present and future services from autojunction targeting their respective B2B and B2C communities.

The growth potential of auto eRetailing is immense in India. Auto eRetailing started in the US markets and the actual selling of automobiles over the internet as a percentage of total automobile sales gained rather steadily from 9.2 per cent in 2002-03 to 20 per cent in 2004 -05 in US. In volume terms it stood at 351 Billion US $ in FY ’04-05. The Indian internet population is projected to rise from 38 millions in 2004-05 to 100 million in 2008 while 66 per cent or 19 million Indians shopped online during FY ’06-07.

autojunction’s auto eRetailing model can be customised to the need of the individual car manufacturers and can either provide a stand-alone exclusive channel to sell their cars online or can successfully co-exist along with their existing dealership network supplementing synergistically each other’s operations. With auto eRetailing, car manufacturers can benefit tremendously by increasing their distribution reach, bringing down their distribution cost, advertising and promoting the brand online, getting real-time customer MIS, better car financing terms for its customers through power of aggregation and many such benefits. As per autojunction estimates, cost of selling a car can be reduced by 40 to 45 per cent of its present distribution cost through this Auto eRetailing service. This may result in savings of anywhere between Rs12,000 to Rs14,000 on the ex-showroom price for any of the present day compact hatchback models being sold in India.

The car buyers benefit from autojunction’s auto eRetail services on account of flexi shopping facility (24x7 operations), convenience of home shopping and hassle-free fulfillment services from this one-stop online car shop providing onsite car financing, insurance, accessories, spare parts, service contracts etc. Studies show that in the Indian market the time and money involvement in procuring ancillary services which goes along with buying a car, is very high and hassle prone. www.autojunction.in is now set to change that scenario for the Indian car buyers.