Scooty Pep Plus & Pleasure Lead Customer Satisfaction Ratings

Female Riders more Satisfied than their Male Counterparts

TNS 2006 Scooter Total Customer Satisfaction Study

Contrary to the popular belief, women are not as tough a customer as they are made out to be in a male-dominated world. They are the ones who are easier to satisfy compared to their male counterparts. According to Scooter Total Customer Satisfaction Survey carried out by TNS Automotive, women have consistently given higher satisfaction scores to the scooter models they use barring a few exceptions here or there, which are not significant.

Representing the responses of new-scooter buyers towards the performance of 18 models in the key areas of sales satisfaction, product quality, scooter performance and design, after-sales service, brand image, and cost-of-ownership, the 2006 Scooter Total Customer Satisfaction (STCS) study conducted by TNS Automotive, is the largest syndicated scooter study ever done in India. It comes close on the heels of the 2006 Motorcycle Total Customer Satisfaction (MTCS) study released by TNS Automotive a few days ago. ''TNS has been conducting MTCS for last five years in India which covers only male customers. For the first time, a syndicated study has been conducted to measure and highlight the expectations and satisfaction of women riders vis-a-vis men for the scooter category," says Pradeep Saxena, Senior Vice President, TNS Automotive. The TCS index score provides a measure of satisfaction and loyalty that a given model or brand enjoys among its customers.

"Though scooters are touted as a declining segment of the two-wheeler industry in comparison to a far more active motorcycle segment, it is clearly delivering higher satisfaction to its buyers. This is true even for the men who buy scooters. Is this an omen for the future?" asks Chris Bonsi, Regional Director, TNS Automotive.

Comparing the companies, which make motorcycles as well as scooters, ironically Bajaj Auto, the erstwhile scooter king, is the only company whose scooter customers are less satisfied than its motorcycle customers. In contrast Hero Honda, which has entered the scooter market recently is able to delight those who bought its maiden offering Pleasure. As a company, it leads the satisfaction scores among motorcycle owners as well as scooter owners. Even Kinetic, whose motorcycles are much lower than competition models, have higher satisfaction than Bajaj when it comes to scooters. The trend is very similar for TVS and Honda Motorcycle and Scooters (HMSI).

 
But, all is not lost for Bajaj. When it comes to geared scooters, even Honda finds it difficult to beat 'Hamara Bajaj'. In this segment, Chetak 4S shares the top honours with Honda Eterno. Though Eterno scores far higher on Quality, Chetak 4S makes up with a much higher score on sales satisfaction. Clearly, Bajaj scooter customers are being treated far better than in the earlier days but the product required a change.

Among the ungeared scooters Hero Honda Pleasure tops the rankings followed by Honda Activa.

"Interestingly though both products share the same broad platform, Pleasure scores higher on 'Performance & Design' as well as 'Quality', In addition, it rides on the strong brand image of Hero Honda," explains Pradeep Saxena. However, Pleasure is not 'Just4her', its male buyers are a tad more satisfied than its female owners.

In the scooterette segment, TVS Scooty Pep Plus is the king or may be we should call it the queen. This indigenously developed product takes on the high mighty and is the top scoring model in the entire scooter industry. It says a lot about the capability of its designers in understanding the needs of their customers as it is the only model achieving a three digit score on Performance & Design in 2006 among all two-wheelers.

However, Chris Bonsi adds a word of caution here for the scooterette manufacturers. "As per the study, the satisfaction with scooterettes drops much faster with their age (ownership period) compared to scooters, geared or ungeared. Manufacturers must pay attention to this as this steep fall happens in the case of 'Quality' and 'Cost of Ownership' - an area very close to the heart of Indian consumers."

The study also shatters a popular myth that north India is enamoured with geared scooters. In fact, it is the South India that provides the highest satisfaction scores to this category. On the converse, North Indians are more satisfied with ungeared scooters. However, true to form they would just not go in for that little scooterette.