Hit by dwindling sales and overall muted auto market, bike maker Royal Enfield launched 250 Studio Stores across India on a single day, on Friday, targeting tier-2 and tier-3 city customers. The company has plans to launch 250 more such Studio Stores during the next quarter.
These compact-format stores will house the entire range of motorcycles, alongside service and spares as well as accessories and apparels, the company said in a statement. The move is aimed at lowering investment costs while helping improve margins. As compared to a normal dealership area size of 3,000 to 3,500 sq-ft, these Studio Stores are spread over a 500-600 sq-ft area, and are identical, visually and operationally, to existing dealerships.
The company also announced the launch of six new colours of the iconic Royal Enfield Bullet. The Bullet will now be available starting at Rs 1.12 lakh (ex-showroom).
Sales of company motorcycles have been hit of late, due to liquidity crisis and overall economic slowdown. For the April-July 2019 period, domestic sales declined by 22% to 2,23,612 units (as compared to 2,86,726 units sold in the same period last fiscal). Also, as against its target to sell 9.5 lakh units in FY19, the company could sell only 8.26 lakh units during the previous fiscal.
Vinod K Dasari, CEO, Royal Enfield, said, “It has been our constant endeavour to build greater accessibility for discerning customers and widen our footprint in India. Smaller towns and cities show tremendous potential for growth, and motorcycling aspirants in these places are catching on the trend of leisure motorcycling. The Studio Stores will significantly expand our reach and build a robust network into these towns and cities.”