Adding to the list of companies offering digital services to enhance customer engagement and interest, Mahindra & Mahindra today launched two new digital platforms, one aimed at the buying experience and the other at enhancing the ownership experience. The platforms offer some new and innovative features, along with regular services.

Towards the buying experience, Mahindra has announced www.mahindrasyouv.com, where a prospective customer can explore the company’s vehicles, accessorise them and ultimately make a booking. One of the highlights of the platform is ‘Collaborative Exploration’, under which one can try out different paints, alloys, and other accessories on a Mahindra vehicle. The novel aspect here is that it can be done collaboratively with friends online and the user can seek instant opinions during the process. Once done, images and details of the completed vehicle can be shared to various social media platforms like Facebook.

Another service, ‘Talk to expert’ is where prospects can video chat with a Mahindra expert to clear any doubts and seek information. The service is not available round the clock, but Mahindra will be scaling this up based on user demand. There are other areas like ‘3D Discovery’ where users can virtually explore a 3D model of the car and see key features and details and news, and blog update areas.

The second platform, www.withyouhamesha.com caters to the post-sales area. Using this platform, Mahindra's existing customers can store all their car details online and book services. Here too Mahindra has a unique feature where customers can reserve a specific bay and time slot at a dealership of their choice. The car can also be picked up and delivered to the owner's home, while the payment and other paperwork like the job card, invoice, etc. can all be done online.

Speaking to Autocar India, Mahindra officials stated that this is just the beginning of the digital push and the company plans to expand these services to also include features like smart vehicle prognosis, where the vehicle itself will diagnose and predict service requirements. Online tracking for new vehicle delivery will also be included. This will allow customers to see the exact position of their vehicles, from the factory to the showroom floor, much like the tracking offered by today's ecommerce sites for product shipments.