BharathAutomobiles January 15, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Automobiles , trackbackAllright, here is the second startup site from AmTek Systems Inc. BharathAutomobiles is an auto portal for consumers in India to buy/sell second hand cars, motor cycles, scooters… even trucks and buses (!).
First, the positive review:
- It has a clean design.
- Posting ads is offered free to consumers. Good move.
- It claims to have some intelligent features: private messaging, online help, buyer/seller feedback and auto email notifications.
- Content was surprisingly rich - when I checked it out, they had over 8000 listings (incuding ‘wanted’ ads). Most listings were from south India, although you could see a delhi/pune here and there.
Now the negative:
- The site is neat, but I liked BharathRentals look-and-feel better. No big issue though.
- Business Model: They currently offer an ebay-ish premium listing, which is how I think they expect to make money. My issue is that I doubt it’ll be enough to sustain them in the long run. For a high-cost transaction business like automobiles, it makes more sense to get a cut of the final deal price. Maybe they dismissed that model because of the expected friction from the traditional auto buy/sell workflow in India (everyone will make underhand moves to take Bharathautomobiles out of the financial deal, once it’s finalized).
- There are no images in most of the ads. Another clue to the lazy way traditonal market works in India.
Overall, I think these guys are attempting to enter a complex market burdened with rigid traditional workflow and high-risk, high-cost transactions. But I’m in awe of thier attempt - it’s heartening to know that there are people who would push India to the digitized business model. Keep it up guys.
Footnotes:
- I wrote about AmTek’s other ventures: BharatRentals here and BrahminsMatrimony here.
- What’s up with the “bharath” spelling? That tells me that the founders are probably from southern India. Guys, it’ll be prudent to buy the ‘bharat..’ versions of domain names, and point them to the main site. Some of us north Indians dont spell names the way you do
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