Aprilia recently launched its most affordable motorcycle in the Indian market, the RS 457. It is being very well received and is priced very attractively as well. Because of this, there is a lot of buzz around the new Aprilia RS 457. However, people have always been a bit sceptical before buying a premium sports bike because of the lack of proper after-sales support. This is where Aprilia is trying to make a change. 

We spoke to Mr. Ajay Raghuvanshi, Executive Vice President - 2 Wheeler Domestic Business at Piaggio India who shared his thoughts about how Aprilia plans to tackle ownership experience as a whole which will include dealership as well as after-sales support. 

New Motoplex dealerships coming up

Aprilia has opened new Motoplex dealerships through which their flagship motorcycles will be sold. The brand was to deliver an experience through the new dealerships. 

Aprilia aims to establish around 10 Motoplex showrooms in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in India by the end of CY 2024, such as Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Chandigarh, Surat, Jaipur, and Mumbai, to provide exceptional customer service. Most of these showrooms are already operational, with the rest set to open soon. Additionally, Piaggio management has selected 20 more showrooms from a pool of over 200 outlets to retail the RS457 in cities like Shillong, Aizawl, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Mapusa, Tirupati, Puducherry, Coimbatore, Kolhapur, Indore, Dehradun, and Chennai.

Mr. Raghuvanshi said, “We are investing in hiring specialized talent and skilling people at the dealerships to give our discerning customers the same experience as they would expect at any Aprilia showroom in the world. The whole customer journey has been strategically designed at all touch points both physical and digital to ensure delight, satisfaction, and unparalleled quality. The customers can expect a very personalized approach to their sales and after-sales experience through various interventions we are deploying across mediums like emails, social media, communication through the dealership, call center support, etc. They will also be proactively updated on the progress of their vehicle from the time it is manufactured on the factory floor to the vehicle delivery and well into their ongoing service schedules. "

Have to focus on customer centricity mindset

Aprilia is focusing on providing an experience to anyone who visits a dealership or gets to the workshop to get their motorcycle serviced. “The most important two people, one is a sales guy who will deliver and second is who will welcome you throughout the time, your journey. What I was giving example, to match the global standards, it's very important that we improve to the level, the one we are envisaging which is premium bike. Otherwise, I can't treat this same RS-457 customer to a commuter segment bike of 1 lakh rupees. That's the reason we had to think to upgrade our dealers mentality from traders mindset to the customer centricity mindset. Accordingly, convince them investing money in more manpower to give right kind of training, those who can treat the customers correctly. Similarly in sales, similarly in after sales and then put all the tools including warranty, after sales into a basket to the customer satisfaction." said Ajay Raghuvanshi. 

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