by pratishtha nangianew delhi stressing on the need for oems and dealers to leverage digital opportunities maruti suzuki senior executive director rs kalsi on tuesday said the next big success mantra in the automotive business will be through digital mediumsin his inaugural keynote address at the etauto retail forum 2018 kalsi said in india which is the fourth largest automobile market 80 per cent of the research happens online before purchasing a car etauto retail forum etarf kicked off its third edition with might and insights on automobile retailing business having focus on increasing digital trends leveraging opportunities in auto parts services and preowned automobile business today 80 per cent of research happens online before purchasing a vehicle and social media has become one of the top influences thereby compressing the entire purchase process kalsi said in his keynote address stating that for dealers to remain relevant in the market it is pertinent to stay ahead of the trends and understand the next big aspirations of the customers he said decoding customers need is the biggest challenge for the oems and the dealers today advt he further said the dealers and companies need to give more focus on active rural presence to tap the growing opportunities that lies in the customers aspirations in small townswe have 400 million internet users and the number will go up to 730 million users by 2030 out of which 200 million will the rural consumers he addedother requirements in the auto retailing business he said is to manage online and offline integration besides empowering employees to take decisions in line with companys policieslaying stress on continuous interaction with the customers he said change in technology is influencing the consumers behavior and the era of one sided communication or marketing is getting over its with the involvement of customers and manufacturers that products are being cocreated he addedin the day long event etarf will focus on instilling financial prudence and inventory management apart from deliberating on bringing cultural and gender balance in the automobile retail businessetarf 2018 will also roll out indias first ranking of the top 100 power dealers for which applications are being invited from the industry people to grab a copy of top 100 power dealers click here etauto published on sep 4 2018 at 1111 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app etauto retail forum car dealership dealers maruti suzuki rs kalsi homenewsindustryetauto retail forum rs kalsi emphasizes on digital adoption