ROYAL ENFIELD – From Wooing Hearts to Winning Minds

The middleweight classic roadster segment in India has always caught the fancy of many bike manufacturers; however Royal Enfield has remained an undisputed leader in this segment. Much of this can be attributed to its massive consumer base, a positioning and advertising strategy that aligns with the aspirations of target consumers, sizeable production capacity, and reliable supply chain management, coupled with a wide retail and service network.

Though the pandemic has impacted the output of the entire automotive industry due to disruptions in supply chain, shortage of critical parts and absenteeism on the shop floor; the players have taken multiple initiatives to keep the momentum going. Despite the disruptions, Royal Enfield is all set to introduce more models annually than ever before in order to further strengthen its grip on the middleweight motorcycle segment.

The company has a long legacy of manufacturing bikes that dates back to the early 19th century. After the acquisition of Enfield India by the Eicher Group in 1994, the company was renamed as Royal Enfield Motors Limited. BULLET remains their flagship brand, and is also an interesting read for its re-positioning. The other key brands are Meteor, Interceptor, Continental GT and Himalayan. Headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the brand has a Global presence and sells bikes in approx. 50 countries. It is premium priced with an entry-level model beginning at INR 1.31 L and prices going as high as INR 3.13 L (ex-showroom).

The Royal Enfield Classic 500 Pegasus, was launched at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford-UK in year 2018 as a homage to the WWII Royal Enfield Flying Flea. It was a limited edition restricted to 1000 bikes. The company made a record by selling 250 bikes allocated to India in less than 3 minutes.

MARKETING INITIATIVES

 The brand has been very active in terms of TVC, Community engagement, Social Media Engagements and many more; majorly promoting the concept of leisure biking. Some interesting campaigns have been:

Make It Yours – A unique campaign MiY provided its consumers an opportunity to personalize and accessorize their motorcycles right at the time of purchase via an app based 3-D configurator. The platform provided an opportunity to experiment with thousands of permutation combinations for personalization, while booking the motorcycle.

#MyBullet – Includes 3 films, each with a different storyline that celebrates the values represented by brand – resilience, enduring character and unwavering spirit.

Social Engagement – The Enfield owner community is supposed to be 6 million strong across social media (Source – Indian Express)

Motorable Events – Regular Ride events as One Ride, Himalayan Adventure – Everest Base Camp Ride, Konkan Chase, Astral Ride and many more

In year 2019, a team of 11 Indian Army and Royal Enfield riders summited the 5540 km long Karakoram Pass on Himalayans despite snow and freezing temperatures below -30

Daredevils in year 2001- the motorcycle display team of the Indian Army Corps of Signals, Jabalpur, formed a human pyramid of 201 men on ten 350cc Bullets. They set a new world record by riding a distance of more than 200 metres.

Experience building– In order to promote the driving experience, Royal Enfield opened first if of its kind exclusive gear store at Khan Market, New Delhi (2014). This was followed by a Royal Enfield Garage Café in year 2017 in Goa.

(Source: Official website, ET, Official FB page)

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