Eicher has seen 40% growth in the last four months: SS Gill

Eicher Trucks & Buses has embarked on a new 360-degree brand initiative that goes beyond business. In keeping with the brand promise of ‘Partnering Prosperity’ and developing a strong connect with the next generation fleet owners and stakeholders, Eicher Trucks & Buses has conceptualised #EicherNayiSoch. 

#EicherNayiSoch is aimed at building a strong emotional connect and strengthen Eicher’s image as a premium and modern brand in the commercial vehicle industry. They want to use this platform to showcase this new brand philosophy, and inspire all their stakeholders to embrace this progressive outlook.  Eicher would like to recognise all the partners and stakeholders who have taken the industry towards a forward looking path. 

The comprehensive and collaborative multi-stakeholder initiative seeks to highlight select people and situations that are driven by ‘progressive thinking’ and connect with the power of ‘Nayi Soch’. With this brand new B2B initiative, Eicher plans to commemorate the real heroes of the Indian growth story, who think differently and have brought a societal change and empowered lives with their ‘Soch’. Through this philosophy, the company aims at forging long-term relationships with not just its customers, but all the relevant stakeholders of the trucking community. 

In the multi-phased execution plan, Eicher plans to reach out to fleet operators, driver community, mechanics, etc. The company will also undertake training of sales people with the arsenal of this ideology, which they can utilise to get the customer to connect with the philosophy. 

In conversation with Adgully, SS Gill, SVP, International Business, Eicher, speaks about the commercial vehicles industry in India, Eicher’s performance, the genesis of the #EicherNayiSoch initiative and more. Excerpts: 

How do you view the overall commercial vehicles (CV) industry in India?
The CV industry is extremely positive. The segment has grown by about 68 per cent, which is a very attractive figure. Typically in the last two decades, April drops are drastic as compared to March. This time, though the drop was there, it was marginal when compared with previous figures. It is a unique situation, where the demand continued beyond the Q4 of the previous year and it still continued in a good way in Q1 this year. Also, some of the GST benefits have sunk in, replacement demand is coming in, and e-commerce is going up, where we are poised extremely well. The industry volume has been on the upside. 

How has the performance of Eicher been over the years?
We have grown by 40 per cent in the last four months. The growth is based on various market penetration equities, newer segments that we have opened up, with the newer range of Pro Series that we have introduced in the market. Since 2014 onwards, we kept on introducing the Pro Series range in different segments, which has given us a good fillip and upside. We’ve been growing our market share and growing our different segments’ presence in India as well as abroad. 

What was the objective behind the #EicherNayiSoch campaign?

What we believe is that while the market is growing, it is also evolving in a different way. There are rising demands to run the vehicles faster; the logistics in India is one of the highest in the world, especially seeing the potential that exists. Along with that, there are a lot of challenges coming up that are of a different nature. In order to overcome those challenges, Eicher believes that it can be overcome by innovative thinking. In the past, Eicher has grown because of extremely innovative products. We have been the first to introduce a 12 Tier heavy duty truck and we were the first to introduce trucks in the lightweight segment. Creating newer and different solutions even in the up sales is something we have believed in. 

Of course, there are challenges, but we believe that with different or new thinking those challenges can be overcome in more cost effective ways. If India has to grow and progress, we have to take on a new thinking, so that’s what we have called as #NayiSoch. With this, we are trying to reach out to the masses outside, especially the transport industry, to come forward and share their stories. 

When they share their stories, we ourselves get inspired and build further on the ‘Nayi Soch’ concept. The basic notion of the campaign is to try to use the collective wisdom of lots of people to change the way logistics operates in India and hence, modernise the way the CV industry exists in India. It’s a pan-India campaign. 

How are you weaving this ‘Nayi Soch’ into your marketing strategy?
There are various ways to connect with the consumers. We are definitely trying to connect with them by understanding their philosophies and their thoughts on this #NayiSoch. Although this is a B2B campaign, we are connecting with the masses digitally or via one to one interactions and we are overwhelmed to know that hundreds of stories have come up in the last four weeks, where people are coming up and sharing that yes, this is what we believe in and this is our story. If you visit to the #EicherNayiSoch website, you will find some inspiring stories which are motivating in their own way. 

We are a full range product. We are present in multiple segments. Incidentally, the e-commerce platforms have been a growth segment for the last three years regardless of whether the overall industry went up or down. We have come up with specific solutions for e-commerce and we have been able to make good headway and have seen growth in market share in that segment. 

We have already considered print media to begin with and we are running a big campaign on digital, where it has got 4 million views in just four weeks. Along with this, we are also having one on one meetings and discussions happening, where people come to us for workshop. We have over 25,000 retailers across India. So, we are reaching out through the masses. We are using multiple media and you will see more of it in the future.