DESIGN MIAMI 2011
TOKYO DESIGN WEEK 2011
DUTCH DESIGN WEEK 2011
VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2011
Posted by Steve Portigal | 2 Feb 2006
|
Comments (6)
Hero Honda, which is obviously tied somehow to Honda, but is definitely seen as its own Indian brand, is setting up Just4Her showrooms across India - for women only, as they launch a female-targeted scooter, Pleasure.
The company has plans to open 22 such showrooms, exclusively for women customers across the country.
...
Elaborating on the features of the scooter, Pleasure, Mokashi said it was available in five exciting colours with 100 cc self-start variomatic transmission, multi-reflector headlight and body-coloured mirrors.
...
According to Mokashi, the exclusive outlets will offer special facilities to women customers. Added to this, the showrooms would also have female service supervisors and sales executives for attending to the ladies.
Comments
Steve, it's a JV and yes, you're right, an Indian brand in it's own right. Ref: Pleasure the 'women' only scooter, Neelankantan has an excellent take on it in his blogpost here
http://ecophilo.blogspot.com/2006/02/hero-honda-and-pleasure.html
Yeah! I had seen that here:
http://thescooterscoop.blogspot.com/2006/01/hindu-business-scooter-outlet-for.html
and like the guys says:
"Is it ME, or is the Indian consumer market WAAAAAAY different than the American consumer? I think I know some American scooter girls who'd kick someone's ass for that kind of patronization."
no, hanz, this indian moped army member would also do the same.
Do you think they are making a mistake with this move? I'm saying in India, will this generally be viewed with acceptance? Or will Indian women scoff at the idea?
I find it interesting that although Hero Honda is intending on appealing specifically to the female buyer, the site navigation seems to be arranged much like a site targeting typical male buyer. While they utilized colors and imagery that is fun and non-threatening, (apparently that's all it takes) why is the specifications link with all the technical data placed before colour, services and the 360 view? Although not unimportant to female buyers, this information is typically a male valued area of interest. I wonder if any thought was put into it or if this is just a "pink ribbon" placed on a typical car salesman and calling it "just 4 her"
This is not intended as a reflection of my view on ethnographic norms, just whether or not it was considered.
Taking Max Beach's question and Hanz.S's together -
Max, My guess would be that the website was probably done without the application of the insights that you refer to, hence the replication of the pages of their other models.
Hanz., a woman buying a scooter or moped in india looks for things like a 'sari guard' - an accessory that prevents cloth from jamming the wheels, space for carrying groceries and shopping, reliability in bad weather and bad roads, weight and manuevreability. My guess is that this in particular is a product launch that has not been as well thought out as it could be and is focusing on the college age market i.e. 'cool young urban female' - haven't seen the advertising but that would be my guess. I've worked on bike design for The Hero Group before and they've been more reactive to the market than thoughtful in context of a cohesive strategy to develop something for a real need.