Cars24. Not Cars......24. Here’s how data crosses that distance

Selling or buying a car is different from selling or buying a burger. But can it be made that easy, and that fun? By changing the wheels of speed, transparency, immersive experience and ecosystem-trust? Abhishek Gupta, AVP - BI & Strategy at Cars24 shows us some of those spins and helps us steal a peek at what's inside the trunkand it’s not just AI-video-tours or a swipe-that-app experience but also the data pistons and analytics engine oil busy at work inside.

- Pratima H

What was it like to drive in with technology on a road that has largely been unorganised, and for years?

Yes, that was a bit tough to begin with. The used-car ecosystem is quite unorganised. Ironically, a used-car transaction is a high-value transaction, but this Rs. four-to-five lakh shopping needs the same experience as a Rs. 400 t-shirt shopping. That's the speed and UI part. But there is also the big factor of transparency in the case of cars. A car is an emotional deal. A car becomes a family member in some ways. It is crucial to gain that trust on our platform. A few things have helped us alot in getting it all right.

And one of them is realising and executing the truth that ‘trust is king here’. That applies to both users and dealers. We have made efforts to inject transparency and detailed information to customers and vendors with comparative analysis, real-time information and well-provided information at any stage.

Has data or technology helped there?

A lot. We invest a lot in our data capabilities. Algorithms and analytics, with a strong data infrastructure, go a long way in executing our tenets of insights and transparency.

ABHISHEK GUPTA AVP BI & Strategy, Cars24

How differently significant or challenging is it in terms of the data ecosystem your business model operates in? Like first-party data to second and third-party data markets? Especially as a lot of your business also covers adjacent areas like insurance, scrapping, maintenance, drivers, taxation etc.