E-commerce drives CV sales

If the construction truck segments have shown traction lately on the back of the announcement of mega infrastructure projects by the government, in the post lockdown environment, it were the e-commerce segment trucks that drove sales at CV makers. At Tata Motors, as much as seven to 10 per cent of M&HCV and I&LCV cargo sales during the current fiscal are claimed to have come from the e-commerce sector as compared to the previous year. Ashok Leyland too has seen a surge in e-commerce application CV sales in the current fiscal. There’s been a sigificant rub-off effect on CV sales as purchasing patterns and trends in the Covid environment saw a spike in e-commerce transactions, claim sources. They mention that as much as 25 per cent of sales in ICV and haulage segments of Ashok Leyland came from the e-commerce sector. Drawing attention to electric three-wheeler and mini-four wheeler startups as well as retrofittment specialists profiting from the e-commerce sector transportation requirements, sources inform that the respective sector has emerged as one of the big sectors for the transportation industry.

In terms of the logistics requirements of the e-commerce sector, nearly half is met by road transport while the rest is met by rail and air against the background of the commitment to deliver goods in less than 24 hours, they add. While Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, NCR and Chennai have emerged as major hubs for e-commerce activities, it is the Pune-Bangalore, Mumbai-Delhi, BangaloreDelhi, Chennai-Mumbai, and Nagpur-Kolkata routes that have emerged as the busiest. Termed as a byproduct of the guidelines laid down by the government to keep Covid virus from spreading, e-commerce activities have seen a steady rise since the second quarter of the current fiscal. With the news of a second wave and the risk of new stains, e-commerce transactions are only expected to rise further. This would in-turn create a strong and steady demand for commercial vehicles at the first mile, line-haul and last-mile levels. The most demand as of current claimed to be for ICVs, emerging developments show that as the flow of goods increases, demand for M&HCVs will also increase. With the e-commerce sector in India poised to grow from an estimated USD 40 billion in the current fiscal to an estimated USD 100 billion by 2023, the demand for CVs in e-commerce sector is only expected to keep growing albeit with changing requirements for addressing the customer needs as they look at reaching out to more and more pin codes.

The number of mobile internet users is expected to swell to 1 billion in the next three years from 600 million now, the demand for CVs by the e-commerce sector is also poised to get stronger as new hybrid models supported by a chain of brick and mortar showrooms emerge over time, mentioned an industry observer. As pickup points of convenience emerge; as e-commerce sector expands its reach to newer areas of food, furniture, pharma, textile, auto among others, the demand for CVs is only expected to rise, albeit with purpose-built assets designed to serve the exacting application needs overtime, explained an analyst. The day is not far when your favourite car could be delivered at your doorstep by a car carrier as part of an e-commerce transaction much like a television set or a fridge would be delivered, he added. The buyer would not even need to go to the showroom, he quipped.