Armed by big data and social media apps, ExxonMobil’s auto care chain in China, Mobil No.1 Select, is going full length to woo a young generation of vehicle owners.
The American company’s strategy was discussed recently at an industry event by Li Ziwei, general manager at Fu Mao He, a Xi’an, Shaanxi province-based company that is associated with Fu Chuang, a Shanghai-based JV established in early 2020 among ExxonMoil, Chinese internet giant Tencent and online-to-offline aftercare service provider Tuhu Car to enter the fray of China’s vast aftermarket.
“Our data showed that young people under 35 is the fastest growing car owner group in the aftermarket. We want to develop the services catering to this group,” Li said at a recent lube event held in Xi’an by the local consulting firm Muchengyou.
For example, customers can easily make service reservations and choose customized services through the Shop mini program on Wechat app. They can also find new services and products like new Mobil engine oils by following the shop account on Douyin , the Chinese version of TikTok.
“Young people value convenience and like to get timely information about new products,” said Li. “They also prefer more personalized services and our data center can help us with that.” The Shop, which now has over 1,000 chain shops across China, is developing a national database with client habit profiles, including car maintenance intervals and car maintenance preferences.
“We are able to constantly optimize our services thanks to the growing database with new clients,” Li said. “To some extent, the Shop is a big data driven business.”
Standardization is key to quality for any chain services and is also applied to the Shop. Li said every shop provides standardized service quality and offer the same products that procured by the JV Fu Chuang.
“We want our customers to enjoy the same customer experience at the same cost in any of our shops,” Li said.
Car care chain shops are common in the West, but not in China, where the aftermarket is highly fragmented with individually owned small shops. Fu Chuang has been actively recruiting shop franchisers in different areas, especially in densely populated areas like Sichuan province, according to the company.
The Shop not only serves conventional vehicles, but also electric vehicles. “The fast EV adoption in China has prompted us to develop new services targeting EV owners, ” Li said.
For example, the Shop offers battery inspection/change service to address a major concern of EV owners as news about EV battery fire was increasingly spotted on social media recently as China is bathed in a hot summer.
“Right now the services are limited, but more will come. There are many opportunities in the EV maintenance business,” Li said.