Redefining the CARS24 Hub Experience

Imagine being served premium-quality honey in a shabby tumbler. Would you still perceive it as high quality?

Probably not.

That’s exactly what our research revealed when it came to our physical experience at CARS24. While our product offering—certified cars, hassle-free buying, financing, and delivery—was solid, the perceived quality of the brand was being diluted by the in-hub 

experience.

Because a hub is the place where all the promises of trust are tested for reality. It's also our first real touch point with our customers.

So, we dug deeper and identified a core insight: our typical customer is a millennial buying their first car. This isn’t just a transaction for them. It's an emotional milestone. That understanding led us to break down the redesign journey into three phases: conceptualisation, design, and execution.

Conceptualisation: People First, Always

Spark Love happens to be one of our core values. And at the heart of this transformation is a people-first philosophy: for our customers, our partners, and our on-ground teams. We focused on three fundamental pillars:

• Customer emotions and senses
• Structural modularity
• Cohesive brand experience

We didn’t stop at assumption. We got down to work and studied 14 different customer personas and designed a solution that covers the Pareto of real-world buying behaviour. The goal? Make the journey intuitive and seamless, not just for customers, but for employees too.

Design: Where emotion meets functionality

1. Emotion-Driven Spaces

Every corner of the hub is designed to evoke six key emotions: trust, comfort, confidence, reassurance, empowerment, and celebration. These are triggered through thoughtful sensory cues: be it sight, sound, and even smell. We paid attention to the little things too, like dedicated storage for helmets and bags to make visits frictionless and are already in process of smell design too. 

2. Modularity & Cost Efficiency

Our hubs are built to scale—up or down—without compromising on brand integrity. A modular and consistent framework enables faster store openings, longer asset life, and better adaptability to business needs.

3. CARS24 Brand Reinforced

We’ve reimagined spatial branding, from bold colours and intuitive signage to real-time digital screens. The redesigned floor plan offers a natural flow from entry to delivery, enhancing both the customer experience and staff operations.

4. Tech-First Touchpoints

Technology elevates every step, tabs for discovery and feedback, screen-sharing for interactions with our car advisors, and seamless digital transactions. The goal: make it easy, premium, and intuitive.

Execution: Agility built in

With modularity as our backbone, execution needed to be fast and foolproof. We developed detailed element-wise tagging and standardised RCs, which made setup easier, faster, and more cost-effective. Procurement is streamlined, PO placement is quicker, and consistency across locations is now a reality—not just a goal.

What’s Next? Observe, listen, improve

As we roll out these new hubs, we’re entering the most crucial phase: listening and learning.

We’re closely observing how customers and teams interact with the space, what’s working, and what needs tweaking. This continuous feedback loop will fuel smarter, faster, and better decisions for upcoming hubs.

And this isn’t just an internal effort. We welcome your thoughts too. If you've visited one of our revamped hubs, especially the Faridabad location, where our expansion team is currently stationed, we’d love to hear from you. Your insights help us build better. Feel free to write to us at rajat.sharma3@cars24.com

Final Thought: Building spaces that deliver

This transformation is more than a facelift. It's about building spaces that are smart, scalable, and deeply aligned with what our customers feel and need.

Because at the end of the day, we’re not just selling cars. We are delivering trust, confidence, and joy.

Let’s keep driving forward. Together.