Ola Electric to open “experience centres” to increase sales of scooters
- ByStartupStory | September 19, 2022
Ola Electric is opening “experience centers” all over the country since sales of its most popular electric scooter, the Ola S1 Pro, are slipping downwards.
The company has confirmed to ET that these are not stores, but rather a place where customers can go to get any information about its cars, including test rides, help with the purchase, and help after the sale. It said that buyers can go ahead and order the scooter through the app.
ET was told by sources that the company that makes electric cars will own and run these centres. Someone reported that Ola would need at least one of these stores in every city.
The company had previously stated that it was at the forefront of shaking up traditional ways of selling cars by selling to customers online through the Ola app. But after one of its electric scooters caught fire in March, demand for its scooters started to drop in June. After-sales of the S1 Professional, which costs about Rs 1,40,000, dropped, ET reported on July 29 that the company tried to boost sales by giving different areas to key executives throughout the company.
The company then released an S1 model on August 15 that cost less than Rs 1 lakh. Ola said on September 1 that it could sell 10,000 of the cheaper model in a single day.
Ola Electric to open “experience centres”
Ola has let go of about 1,000 employees, sources told ET, as the company went through another round of reorganization. It could cut prices even more, which could lead to a smaller engineering team for its ride-hailing business, sources said.
The company is reprioritizing its business at the same time that it is restructuring. ET reported on June 25 that the company was closing its food and fast-commerce businesses so it could focus on its electric vehicle and ride-hailing businesses.
In the electric vehicle (EV) business, Ola wants to make its own battery cells that can power its cars, from its scooters to the new car that will come out in 2024. The company said on July 18 that it would spend $500 million to build an R&D centre in Bengaluru called the Battery Innovation Centre. The batteries will be made at a building in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, that is next to the company’s plant for making scooters and will also house the new plant for making cars.
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