Speaking about the initiative, Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus, said that the Primo programme seeks to address some of the difficulties faced by small businesses in this segment with the help of access to technological practices, data insights and other solutions.In a move to help small businesses improve revenue, brand recall and consumer loyalty, bus ticketing platform redBus announced the launch of Primo for small and medium-sized businesses in the transport sector. Primo seeks to address the challenges of MSME businesses — lack of recognition, low brand awareness and not being able to use technology effectively to improve the business.
The Primo tag is only given to the top 10% of the service providers on the redBus platform; it guarantees basic standards in safety and reliability of bus services for customers. Key features include a consumer loyalty programme offering discounts and rewards to Primo passengers, customer support initiatives, premium physical branding of assets, staff training, quick refunds, analytics-based insights and operator-first digital marketing initiatives. Based on previous loyalty programmes run by redBus, this initiative is expected to support awareness and recognition for these small and medium businesses, which may boost occupancy by 5-7% and could result in a double digit increase in bookings. Primo operators are typically able to charge a premium.
Speaking about the initiative, Prakash Sangam, CEO, redBus, said that the Primo programme seeks to address some of the difficulties faced by small businesses in this segment with the help of access to technological practices, data insights and other solutions. “redBus starts and operates programmes like customer loyalty for them, which they might not have the bandwidth or know-how to operate. Besides this, getting high quality staff is a serious issue — the Primo programme supports small businesses targeting this weak spot. redBus is giving these businesses a professionally developed brand collateral which they can use to promote themselves and generate awareness about their brand,” he says.
Founded in 2006 in India, redBus’ intercity bus network connects close to 10,000 cities, towns and villages across 4.2 lakh routes. The company works with over 4,500 private bus operators and multiple government establishments, including 26 major state road transport corporations, to offer convenient and reliable travel bookings on its platforms.
Alluding to the other challenges faced by small businesses in the transport sector, Sangam said that these range from regulatory compliance, financing issues to difficulty keeping up with technological advancements and skill shortage.
To create awareness about individual businesses operators, redBus will use AI to generate personalised videos for 300+ operators, which will be showcased on redBus' YouTube channel. The MSMEs operators can promote these videos across their own social media platforms, allowing them to engage with a broader audience and showcase their commitment to quality service.
The future looks promising as well. Sangam said that they will continue to scale up the fleet size of Primo buses to ensure that Primo buses are available to users across the country. “This will involve both supply- and demand-side interventions such as enabling the use of cutting-edge technology to optimise fleet management, efficient pricing algorithms, IOT devices and AI-based solutions to improve customer experience and a lot more. Our endeavour will be to ensure that all Primo operators get exposed to global best practices and are able to deliver best in class service to their customers,” he added.
