MPIT Project – Ather Y1

Dinesh – BD20025 | Rohit – BD20028 | Job – BD20031 | Suresh – BD20064

Introduction:
While on one side, COVID-19 has impacted the world economy, rendering many jobless and
homeless, it has also shown how clean the environment can be with the vehicles off the roads.
India is the world's third-largest carbon-emitting region, accounting for about 6 per cent of
global CO2 emissions arising out of fuel combustion. India is the world's third-largest carbon-
emitting region, accounting for about 6% of global CO2 emissions arising out of fuel
combustion. In 2019, 21 of the world's 30 most polluted cities were in India, according to a
study released by IQAir. Two-wheelers are India's most extensive vehicle segment, accounting
for 70% of the existing 200 million on-road vehicles and 80% of annual new vehicle sales. Two-
wheelers are India's most extensive vehicle segment, accounting for 70% of the current 200
million on-road vehicles and 80% of recent yearly vehicle sales. They account for 20 % of total
CO2 emissions and about 30 % of urban emissions of particulate matter (PM). To regulate the
pollution caused by CO2 emissions, India's government (GoI) has come up with several
initiatives like Tax rebates, Income tax exemptions, and incentives to the Electric Vehicles
(EV) owners.
In this paper, we will be doing the market analysis for launching a two-wheeler electric bike
manufactured under the brand name of Ather. Ather is an electric vehicle company in India
that produces the electric scooter Ather 450 Plus and the Ather 450X. It has also developed
electric vehicle charging infrastructure Ather Grid. Ather has launched its product in 27 cities
spanning across India and is planning to launch the Ather 450X by the first quarter of 2021.
The company is backed up by Hero MotoCorp and has recently raised $35 million in series D
funding led by an investment of $23 million from Sachin Bansal. It is setting up the Ather Grid
in all the cities planning to launch the Ather 450X. It is setting up a new manufacturing facility
in Hosur, Tamil Nadu to meet the production demand in the coming years. We want to expand
the current product line of Ather by introducing electric bikes. Let us look at the current market
environment for the two-wheeler electric bikes in India.

Indian two-wheeler EV market:

Over the past few years, the Indian two-wheeler electric market has seen tremendous growth.
Around 152 thousand electric scooters and motorcycles were sold in 2019, a 20.6 % increase
from 2014 on an annual basis. The annual retail sales volume is expected to hit 1,080.5
thousand units by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 57.9 % between 2020 and 2025. With
COVID-19 coming into the picture, the shared commute will see a drop in the number of people
availing the services, which will give a further push to personal vehicles and in particular the
two-wheeler segment considering the traffic scenario in India.

Macroenvironmental Analysis of Ather in India

1. Political
a. The GoI is the world's largest democracy and is stable
b. The next general election is in 2024, and the government is unlikely to change
c. India ranks 80th in corruption among the 180 countries surveyed by WEF in
2020
d. India has a progressive tax system and 25% corporate tax for domestic
companies with an annual turnover of fewer than ₹250 crores, subject to
change during the 2021 Budget
e. The GoI has increased the customs duty on the import of EV from 5% to 15%
to encourage domestic production
f. India is ranked 63rd in Ease of doing business 2020
g. The GoI is supportive of start-ups which have enabled the emergence of many
unicorns
h. The Make-In-India initiative has encouraged domestic production of goods
and services
i. GoI earmarked ₹10,000 crores as subsidy under the Faster Adoption and
Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid vehicle (FAME) scheme in 2019 to
promote sales of electric vehicles and setting up of related infrastructure like
charging stations
j. GoI announced the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme worth ₹18,000
crores to encourage lithium-ion cell manufacturing in India
2. Economic
a. COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the economy causing GDP rate to fall to -89%
in 2020
b. The economy is expected to bounce back and touch 81% in 2021
c. The inflation rate was a shade under 5% in 2020 and is expected to stay under
4% for the coming years
d. The Indian rupee has been appreciating against the dollar over the last year
and is currently 72.94 INR = 1 USD (28/01/2021)
e. India has a relatively moderate unemployment rate with about 65% as of
28/01/2021 with a higher unemployment rate in the urban landscape (79%)
f. India has relatively low labour costs
g. Following the collapse of the stock market at the wake of the COVID-19 crisis
in India, the country has since been on a record bull run
h. Lack of affordable finance options make EVs challenging to obtain on credit
and puts it out of reach for potential consumers
i. GST on charging/swapping infrastructure services & EV batteries currently set
at 18%
j. The current GST applicable to electric vehicles is 5%
3. Socio-cultural
a. The literacy rate in India is now around 77.7%, 87.7% for urban areas and
73.5% for rural areas
 b. A rising anti-Chinese sentiment has been slowly increasing across the country
as both the government and citizens are increasingly growing weary of
Chinese products and services
c. Consumers have moved from looking for price to value and quality of service
d. India's population currently stands at 138 billion
e. Urban India's total fertility rate (TFR) is presently 17, below the recommended
21
f. India has a young population with a median age of 26.8 years old
g. Currently, 87% of the population lies between the age group 20-24, while the
25-44 age group accounts for 276% of the population
h. Urban families are increasingly becoming nuclear in structure with a small
uptick in the Dinks and Minks
4. Technology-
a. GoI plans to set up EV kiosks in nearly 70,000 petrol stations across the
country
b. Lack of robust resale market for EVs
c. Indian consumers are increasingly favouring electric vehicles
d. Immature battery technology and the unavailability of charging points are
severe points of contention
e. More than half of R&D investment was spent on either emission compliance
or electrification trends across the board
f. GoI decided to fund up to 60% of the research and development (R&D) cost
for developing indigenous low-cost electric technology that will help power
two-, three-wheelers and commercial vehicles operating in public spaces from
the corpus of 14,000 crores set aside under the National Electric Mobility
Mission Plan (NEMMP)
g. 24% of Indian households have internet access
h. 4% of rural households possess a computer when compared to 23% of urban
households
i. 5G testing has started and is expected to launch commercially in metros by the
end of 2021
j. There are 115 billion mobile subscribers in India, out of which 506 million
(44%) are 4G users
k. There are only 300 charging stations in India
5. Legal
a. The Indian government looked at becoming a 100% EV adoptive country by
2030 in the pre-lockdown phase.
b. The finance minister lowered the GST on EVs from 12% to 5%, which is a
win, but the GST on raw materials is still a massive concern for the electric
vehicle industry.
c. Lithium-Ion batteries form 40 per cent of the total cost of an electric vehicle;
most of the Lithium ore is still imported in the country with heavy cess.
d. The government proposed that two-wheelers below the engine capacity of
150cc sold in the country after 2025, and three-wheelers sold after 2023,
should be EVs.
e. EVs that can run a maximum speed of 25kmph need no license.
 6. Environmental
a. EVs are known to be more efficient than the conventional IC engines, thus
saving energy.
b. EVs have an advantage over IC engine vehicles with no direct emissions,
especially NOx and CO2. They consume zero to very little oil, which is a non-
renewable resource and hard to dispose of.
c. Even though Particulate Matter emissions from tailpipe are less, EVs are prone
to release more PM than their counterparts via tyre wear due to its heaviness.
Regenerative braking, if successful, can change the dynamics.
d. Even though EVs do not emit harmful gases directly, they can be a reason for
indirect emissions in the form of electricity if it is sourced from coal-based
power plants. As the world is moving towards renewable energy, this concern
is going to be short-lived.
e. Even though EVs are less polluting during use, their manufacturing
compensates for that. Extraction of Rare Earth Metals like neodymium,
lanthanum, terbium, dysprosium, and other critical metals such as lithium and
cobalt compensate for the lack of emissions afterwards.
f. Despite the initial emissions of the EV making, they are found to be less
polluting than that of the conventional IC engine vehicles.

TOWS
 Porter's Five Forces Analysis of Ather EV Bike
1) Currently
Currently two-wheeler EV
two-wheeler The bargaining
1) The bargaining power
power of
market
EV market in India by
in India is dominated is supplier is high as most
supplier is high as most of the
of
EV’s scooter segment
dominated by EV’s scooter parts areparts
the not manufactured
are in
not
India.
manufactured in India.
segment.
2) Revolt is the only brand in
2) Revolt
India is has
which the its
only brand in
presence in 2) Although
2) Although there
there are are
multiple
India
the EVwhich has its presence
bike segment multiple suppliersIndia,
suppliers outside outside
the
in the EV bike segment. cheapesttheof cheapest
India, them are ofthe them
ones
3) If Ather decides to enter the from the
China.
3) If Ather decides to enter are onesWith COVID-19
from China.
EV bike segment, it can have and trade tensions between
the EV bike
an upper segment,
hand owing itto can
its
With COVID-19 and trade
have an upper hand owing to India and China,
tensions between suppliers
India from
and
established Ather Grid network other countries have the leeway
its comparison
in establishedto the
Ather Grid
relatively China, suppliers from other
to increase the prices.
new brand “Revolt”.
network in comparison to countries have the leeway to
the relatively new brand increase the prices.
“Revolt”.

BARGAINING
COMPETITIVE BARGAINING
POWER OF
RIVALRY POWER OF
SUPPLIER
SUPPLIER

BARGAINING
BARGAINING
POWER OF
POWER
BUYEROF
BUYER

THREAT OF THREAT OF
NEW ENTRY SUBSTITUTION

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in the EV market.
Conclusion:
The EV market is on track to be the next big thing in the automobile industry, saying so does
not mean that journey will be a smooth one. While the factors like rising fuel prices, changes
in customer behaviour, and government laws favour the growth of the EV in India, factors like
unavailability of raw materials, introduction of alternative fuels, and high bargaining power for
the buyers pose a threat the EV industry. When we look at the overall picture, the push from
the Indian government to manufacture goods locally and the continually improving
infrastructure facilities in the country will keep the EV market in good stead in the coming
years.

Product Portfolio:
1. Market Penetration
Ather's current products, Ather 450 Plus and Ather 450X, are their only products
available in the market. Ather has significant knowledge and expertise in the electric
scooter market roping in talent and investors to push into this new Indian market.
Among its many features are its 7" LCD that hosts an impressive processing power
coupled with an Android OS, Bluetooth and 4G. It boasts being the fastest electric
scooter in the market and can cover an impressive range in a single charge. Ather allows
for charging at either the customers' house or the myriad of charging spots available at
any Ather Grid public charging points in a city. Ather also provides over-the-air
software updates that give the existing customers new features that supplement the app
that connects the scooter to the charger and the cloud to access information and
analytics remotely instantly. The EV is priced moderately while also offering a buyback
option at the end of three years. The scooter can be financed through a loan or a lease
that includes a warranty on both the scooter and the battery.

2. Product Development
To fill in the market gap for a full-fledged electric motorbike, Ather will be launching
the Ather Y1. This addition will be a product extension to its EV portfolio. While
already boasting of all the technical features present in the Ather 450 Plus and the Ather
450X, the Ather Y1 will provide customers with higher speeds, better acceleration,
greater range, and greater control due to its impressive gears, larger wheels, and larger
battery size.
Product Line

Rationale for The Introduction of Ather Y1

External Factors:
1. Value for money at resale: Ather X is priced in a similar range of KTM (Around 1.5L).
The resale value of KTM is not that significant after three years of its use (Around 30-
40k). But Ather offers a resale value of 70k after use of 3 years. A difference of 30-40k
is significant enough for the Indian value buyers (Middle-Class Families) to consider
buying Ather X over KTM, in this example. Even offering this resale value is profitable,
as Ather can reuse parts and components to manufacture new products with advanced
features.
2. Government Incentives: The incentives provided by several state governments and the
central Government in India like FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid
and Electric Vehicles) by the central government, and waiver of registration, road tax
is some of the myriad incentives. The central government's target to electrify all the
vehicles on the road by 2030 is expected to boost future incentives. But due to COVID-
19, we may not expect more incentives to be announced soon.
3. Lack of many competitors in > 25kmph EVs: There are hardly 3-4 electric bikes and
Sport EVs in the market bound to grow in the future (Volume CAGR: 57.5%), owing
to the rapid EV adoption and favourable policy changes.

Internal Factors:
1. Ather's portfolio diversification: Ather has a decent market share of 12.1% and is
deployed in 10 cities. It also has a good reputation in technology they deploy in their e-
scooters (Inbuilt Google Maps, Music Player, and Caller). It is time for Ather to enter
Electric Bikes (>25km segment) to step up their presence and cater to the youth's needs
 and desires that are not filled by existing e-scooters. This move will help in increasing
its sales and utilizing its infrastructure as well. This move will help Ather become one
of the first movers in E-Bikes and grab most of the growing market share if everything
is done right.

Market Potential Estimation:

Electric Bikes occupy a meagre 0.6% of the two-wheeler market (2.92 bn rupees) but is
expected to become a 17.43 bn rupees market by 2024. The winds are in favour of the Electric
Vehicles, in terms of policy and awareness among users. Around 20 million two-wheeler units
are sold every year (Around 40% rural demand), and a very insignificant amount of them are
electric bikes. As more and more features are introduced into the Electric Bike and priced
affordably, youth will shift to Electric Bikes from conventional two-wheelers. When awareness
campaigns add to the affordability and favourable policy, Electric Vehicles can grab 1% of the
total market share by 2024 (Charging infrastructure is present only in cities). By 2024, two-
wheeler sales are going to be 24.89 million units. If appropriately launched and desired sales
are achieved, the sales of Ather can be around 20,000 units at least, including the scooters and
electric bikes.

STP Analysis:
A. SEGMENTATION
Here is how the sports motorcycle market in India is segmented:
Segment A Segment B Segment C
Age: 18-24 years Age: 24-32 years Age: 32+ years
Middle-class income group Middle-class income group Stable income group
Urban and Semi-Urban regions Urban and Semi-Urban regions Urban and Semi-Urban regions
College-going youth Fresh, independent working group Need for a newer comfortable
Need for a strong social presence
Need to commute frequently commute
Seeks the latest features in the
Outlook-conscious Need to satisfy their will to ride
available pocket Limited pocket Need to feel or look young and
Family plays a role in buying Needs ease of navigation in traffic sporty
decision Seeker of a max value min price Most informed about two-
First-vehicle sentiment commute wheelers
CONSIDERATION SET
Safety and Reliability Reliability and Durability Trusted Brand
Operates on a limited budget After Sales Services Comfort (seat, back position)
Mileage Affordable Price Reliability and Safety
May look for an environmental Availability of financing options Visibility (Advertising)
impact Low Maintenance cost Robust engine
Stylish Appeal High Mileage After Sales Services
Latest features Elegant look
Financing options Financing options

B. TARGETING:
Although the electric motorcycle market does not have any player involved till now, the
product has been designed to give the look of a futuristic sports bike with the same robustness
as its petrol counterparts. Hence, we aim to target the same market as high-range petrol bikes
such as Bajaj Pulsar, KTM and Yamaha FZ-S.
The target market has been gauged based on the following factors:
Alignment of our product with the consideration set:
• Mileage:
The Ather Y1 is an all-electric drive, that can run at least 65km on a single charge in
the sports more and go up to 116km in the eco-mode. Charging from an Ather-installed
public station is free of cost. Moreover, its Regenerative braking technology can make
the battery last as much as 135% of its intended capacity in busy stress, quite the
opposite of the petrol-based commutes.
• Safety:
Equipped with the latest Antilock Braking System and wide tubeless tyres, riders have
more control and better grip. Moreover, the show me home lights stay on at least up to
10 seconds after the ride is turned off, thus showing the rider's path even after
unmounting.
• Price:
Priced at Rs.1,60,000, Ather Y1 is right amid the lower range of premium sports
motorbikes competing with KTM 125 Duke and Yamaha R15. What gives it the edge
in terms of pricing is the free charging services at Ather stations.
• Environmental Impact:
Being an all-electric drive, Ather promises to live up to zero-emissions on its consumer
side of the market. Moreover, all Ather stations are primarily charged with renewable
energy sources, as mentioned in the AtherGrid.
• Financing options:
With a provision to buy the vehicle online, offline along with EMIs spreading across a
span of 18 months, Ather Y1 is at par with other leading bikes in terms of payment
options. Moreover, it promises a buyback clause wherein, after three years of usage,
the customer can sell their Y1 back to Ather at a fixed price of Rs.70000.
• After-sales service:
Running its operations across two cities, Ather has a well-knit network of over 16
service centres per city that provide A-Z services. Moreover, for the vehicles sold in
cities other than Bengaluru and Chennai, prescribed service centres shall be rolled out
by partnering with existing, local EV service centres.
• Reliability:
Owing to its battery technology's massive success in the 450x, the same waterproof,
high-temperature resistant electric battery technology has been extended to the Ather
Y1.
• Latest features:
With the first-in-industry smart dashboard that can do everything from receive calls to
provide a ride report, apart from the additional connectivity to your phone, which can
give the consumer the battery status and ride location anywhere, anytime.
As per the above factors, the segments A (estimated 40% of all Ather Y1 sales) and B
(estimated 50% of all Ather Y1 sales) are our better-suited target segments.
 C. POSITIONING:
"For the Indian middle- and high-income group individuals, Ather Y1 will deliver a
product that is affordable and ahead of its time. Ather Y1 is the best-in-class. Our
electric motorbike promises to provide you with a futuristic X-perience."

Tagline: 'Ride into the future.'

D. BUYER PERSONAS
Segments Personas
Age: 18 – 25 Arun is a 20-year-old
Upper & middle class engineering student. He
maintains a large group of
friends and loves to show
off. He wants to buy his first
bike and is looking for a
premium brand to enhance
his image in front of his
peers
THE WORK PARTY Soham is a 24-year-old
Age: 23 – 30 working in the IT sector in
Middle class Bengaluru. He has to
commute through the dense
Bengaluru traffic on
working days, and on
weekends he either parties
or trips to nearby getaway
locations.
Target Groups
This is the market of college
going young adults. Ather
offers a healthier lifestyle
and higher social status
amongst their peers. The
marketing should thus focus
on Ather’s brand and the
Y1s aesthetics, thus
preaching its futuristic
design and smartness(in
terms of technology as well
as a greener future).
White collar tier 1 and tier 2
city workers. Practical and
with growing disposable
incomes which they use to
party and indulge
themselves. The Y1 must be
marketed to them as an
energetic brand with low
cost of operation which is
also reliable city commuter.

Marketing Mix
Factor Segment A Segment B
Target Metro/Tier-1/2 Middle- and high- Metro/Tier-1/2 Middle- and high-
segment income College Youth income Working Professional
Media Social and Digital Media & TV, Social and Digital Media & TV,
habits Newspapers, Hoardings Newspapers, Hoardings, Auto Shows
Company Premium Pricing, Short Term Profit, Selective
philosophy
Promotion Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Trial
objective
Promotion Medium
budget
Product Size – Large, Price – High, High level of involvement, Key focus areas –
nature Product features
Product offering
The new product offering we would like to introduce would be the electric range of bikes from
Ather. The age group we are targeting looks for bikes having a sporty look. The unavailability
of such a model in two-wheeler electric vehicle market paves the way for us to make inroads
in this segment. The two-wheeled electric vehicle market is dominated mainly by the scooters,
and we want to change this by introducing the EV bikes.

Branding decision
We want to brand Ather Y1 as a sporty bike that appeals to the masses and simultaneously
portrays it as a green bike. The bike will be priced so that it comes off as a premium bike at an
affordable price. It will be branded as the bike for the future and campaigns promote

Customer Journey Map

Pricing Strategy
The current EV bike manufacturer, Revolt, has its bike mileage and top speed like that of the
Ather 450+ and 450 X. It also uses a battery of more capacity than that of Ather. Ather scooters
weigh more than that of Revolt. By assuming that Ather Y1 weighs around the weight of Revolt
and less than that of 450X and the battery capacity is increased, the performance of Ather Y1
will be better than that of the Revolt.
We plan to bring Ather Y1 as a competitor to the regular sports bikes at the lowest-to medium
pricing in the premium segment. A basic version of KTM has priced around 1.5 lakh rupees.
We wanted to price it around the same price (Competitive Equivalence Pricing) to attract the
sports bike enthusiasts (Penetration Pricing in the Premium segment). The resale value can also
attract economic buyers. This price also helps pitch Ather Y1 as a premium model as it is higher
than that of Revolt. The additional features, like smartphone integration, justify the premium
price of Ather.
We wanted to know how much the customers are willing to pay over 1.5 lakh rupees when
positioned as a sports EV. We used the Van Westendorp method for the same, as it is a
relatively new market. (Revolt is not known to many and has significantly low after-sales
reach).
After applying the method on the data of 50 people, we got the Point of Marginal Cheapness
as 1.55L and Point of Marginal Expensiveness as 1.75L. The Optimum Price Point and
Indifference Price Points came around 1.65L. Therefore, we chose to go for 1.6 Lakh rupees
as its price (Short Term Profit), to have some leeway to increase price in case of a future hike
in raw materials prices.

Promotional campaign
The promotional campaign will consist of adverts on Social Media and Digital media and the
Newspapers. Those potential consumers who have opted to go through with a test-ride will be
followed up by salespeople who will focus on converting the trial into a sale through personal
selling. Dealers will be avail of sales promotion to help push trials.
Tie-ups with Television shows that are rampant among our TGs too would be beneficial.
Example: MTV Roadies, Arre's The Real High, etc. Such shows are somehow based around
travel, fitness, a social cause, and intelligence- all of which are desired by our TG.
Since we will not publish any advertisements on TV, we will not be developing a storyboard.

Media plan
Type Dates Name of Goal Key Results
Platform

Newspaper February 1 – The Hindu

February 5 (Bengaluru and
Chennai)

Newspaper February 1 – Times of India

February 5
Reach the top of
Increase brand
Social Media February 1 – Facebook awareness
mind by the end
February 15 of the month
(Alternate days)

Social Media February 5 Instagram

PR February 7 Business
Insider
 Digital Media February 10 – Email Increase
March 15 Marketing signups by 50%

Digital Media February 15 – Google Search Increase

March 15 website visits
by 50%

Personal February 15 – Salespeople

Selling March 31
Convert Trials Increase in rate
to Sales of conversion
Sales February 15 – Dealers
Promotion March 31

Go-To-Market strategy:
Since the current distribution network of Ather is limited to 2 cities, i.e., Bengaluru and
Chennai, and since it also has only two products before the Y1, we plan to keep the number of
owned retail outlets the same yet expand our operations across a broader zone.
• The Ather Y1 is even more energy efficient in city traffic, thanks to the regenerative
braking system.
• Due to the lack of retail outlets across the country, orders for cities other than
Bengaluru and Chennai will be taken through the Ather website. Hence, the cities
should have a significant chunk of the expected TG to have access to the internet and
be friendly with e-commerce.
• For lead generation and giving a section of the interested customers a first-hand
experience of the vehicle, we plan exhibitions across all the cities to expand our
operations. This exhibition would be a part of the promotional campaign that would
involve 5 Ather bikes, making a trip across the country and assembling in cities where
Ather plans to expand its operations. This way, pre-orders and pre-launch traction
shall also be determined. [Inspired by Solar Impulse aeroplane gig]
• Before the launch, all the cities that Ather would be made available in, would be
required to partner with local electric vehicle service centres and establish a code of
services and Ather free charging stations at these service centres.
As per the above pointers, the Ather Y1 would be made available in 3 more Tier-1 cities (Delhi,
Mumbai, and Kolkata), and five more Tier-2 cities (Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Pune, and
Chandigarh).
Strategic fit
Organizational structure

Tarun
Co-Founder & CEO

Pawan
CLO

Swapnil Ravneet Deepak Sunitha Ramesh

Co-Founder & CTO CBO CFO CHRO COO & Sr. VP

XYZ ABC
PM-Electric Scooter PM-Electric Bike

The organizational structure must be amended to create new roles for the launch of Ather Y1.
There will be 2 product managers working under the office of the CTO. One PM will handle
the electric scooter segment while the other will take the now launching Electric bike segment.

Distribution fit

The current distribution structure of Ather relies on a two-prong approach where Ather
handles the distribution in Bengaluru and Chennai. At the same time, they partner up with
dealers for the other ten cities, where they have a presence. The introduction of Ather Y1 to
the distribution network will follow the already set pattern. Ather is currently looking for
more retail partners to distribute their products.
Alternative strategy in case of failure
If the product fails, we should first analyze why it failed, so that proper action can be taken
according to the type of failure.
Potential causes for failure are:
1. Wrong positioning of the product (Premium Electric Sports Bike around the base
price of a KTM)
2. Flawed Go-To-Market strategy
3. Technical issues including performance not meeting the expectations of the
customers
4. EV adoption is not as significant as forecasted
These issues can be broadly classified into two types: Marketing failures and Product Failures.
If marketing is flawed, we can revive the product by correcting previous mistakes. If the
product is at fault, it can be modified according to the consumer preferences and market it
effectively. If the product is fundamentally flawed or the market is not accommodative for the
product, it should be liquidated to avoid further losses.
Possible Alternate Strategies are:
1. Rebranding: This is helpful if the STP of the product went wrong, and now we want
to target a new set of customers with fresh perception. Rebranding can also be useful
when the product had some significant flaws, and they are corrected at later stages.
Changing the current name or giving a new name altogether (say Ather Z series) can be
used in rebranding.
2. Modify Go-To-Market strategy: If there is an issue with the choice of distribution
channels or target customers or any other GTM aspect, it shall be corrected to achieve
desired results.
3. Reach the potential customers via new media: This is needed if the media currently
used to communicate the product are inadequate or inefficient in their work. This can
help in giving that last push needed to convert potential customers into customers.
4. Change the product's messaging: Most of the time, a marketing campaign tries to
relate the product with an emotion or status symbol more than its utility. If the message
or story seems inadequate to bring traction, it can be modified to achieve the desired
results.
5. Relaunching: If there is a lot of goodwill and buzz around the product, we can go for
a relaunch by correcting the issues despite its failure. This can help in decreasing the
expenditure on marketing.
6. Pitching in relevant events: The product can be communicated effectively if the
product sponsors the events attended by the target customers and the product is pitched
to them.
7. Change the target segments or pricing: If the target segments are incorrectly
identified initially, we should correct that and change the subsequent messaging to
make the product successful. Pricing can be altered to match the pockets and
expectations of the customers. Both the changes or either of the changes can be applied
as per the product condition in the market.
8. Tap into other markets: If the current target market did not change as expected, we
could tap other markets around the world that promise our product. This will be an
expansion strategy if the product succeeds in the targeted market.
9. Liquidation: If the product cannot be successful by any marketing amount, it should
be liquidated to avoid further losses. This happens when the product is too futuristic or
too outdated to use at present, or too defective to modify for use. If people fail to adopt
to Electric Bikes, there is no other option than liquidation. External forces are mostly
responsible for a company to opt for liquidation.