SERVICES

MARKETING
ASSIGNMENT
Topic:
Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

Name: ANKIT MONDAL

PRN:19020542019
Branch: Marketing &
Finance(DTM)
Batch: 2019-20
Under: Dr. Saikat Gochhait
[Email address]

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SERVICES MARKETING ASSIGNMENT
Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

Services marketing assignment

Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley
Davidson & Royal Enfield

ABSTRACT

During the COVID 19 crisis, the importance of intangible services increased even more
than ever. The products like are tangible by nature also require intangible services to retain
its customers and increase its Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). In this particular case
study, I have chosen the two motorcycle giants i.e. Harley Davidson and Royal Enfield.
As per the new reports, Harley Davidson is expected to leave the Indian Market due to lack
of sales and sentiment. Royal Enfield even though came after it, managed to get even a
stronger foothold. In this study, we will sentiment tools to analyze the two brands and their
social involvement during the last month. We will consider the positive, neutral (most
important) and negative reports across various social media platforms. We will also see
what went wrong with the lagged brand by comparing involvement in individual platforms
and their mentions. Lastly, we will draw our final thoughts of the report and how much it is
resonating with the news.

REASON OF SELECTING THE BRANDS

The reason for selecting the two brands is the rivalry both posed throughout past years but
still in Covid 19 crisis Harley planning to opt out of Indian Market. Harley-Davidson, the
American motorcycle manufacturer is allegedly looking forward to exit the Indian markets in
the coming time, due to lack of sales and demand. Speaking of Indian market, a higher
population have shifted towards performance sport bikes and adventure bikes, over premium
bikes. Unfortunately, Harley-Davidson makes neither of the two aforementioned models.
(Gurung, ‘Harley-Davidson Plans To Exit India As Only 100 Bikes Sold In 3 Month’, 2020).
Harley Davidson has a long history producing cruisers and this has generated a loyal
community of fans from across the world. Competition between this two biking brands is close

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to a David-Goliath battle. Not to be underestimated, Royal Enfield has been making great
inroads into the motorcycle segment hence gaining lots of new followers. Harleys have largely
dominated the vintage segment. They produce high quality cruisers that are primarily
marketed in the US. It is this market that Royal Enfield has been trying to cannibalize through
affordable quality cruisers that are manufactured in India. When it comes to quality it is hard
to beat a Harley. In fact, on a closer look at the pricing we notice that the cheapest Harley
will not come close enough to the Enfield most expensive model. However, for those seeking
a moderately priced vintage bike the Enfield becomes a better option. Royal Enfield is an
Indian motorcycle company that is best known for its Enfield bullet motorcycle as well as
other single and twin cylinder motorcycles. The company traces its roots to the first production
model the “bullet” manufactured in 1901. This makes the motorcycle maker one of the oldest
in the world. (Reilly, ‘Harley Davidson vs. Royal Enfield – who defines the vintage class’,
2020).

OBJECTIVE OF THE CASE STUDY

The objective of the case study is to conduct a sentiment analysis between the two giants
of two-wheeler industry. We take two brands one which has a sound global presence and
other is of Indian origin. In this case study, we are considering Harley Davidson
(International) and Royal Enfield (National) for our study. Via sentiment analysis we will try
to determine how these brands has established or pitched their social presence. By use of
various tools like Social Searcher, Brand 24 and some news articles we will find how
digitally they pitched their impressions on the consumer mindset. So, the goals of the case
study are the following:

1. Study of current market condition of the selected brands.

2. Using Sentiment tool (Social Searcher) determining the sentiment data of past 30 days.
3. Using Tools (Brand 24) to develop an infographic snapshot of the companies of past 30
days.
4. Conducting a comparative analysis.
5. Drawing relevant conclusions

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

SENTIMENT TOOLS USED AND WHY

For the following case study, I have used two tools they are namely, Social Searcher and
Brand 24.
Social Searcher is a free Social Media Search Engine. It allows to search for content in
social networks in real-time and provides deep analytics data. Users can search without
logging in for publicly posted information on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, YouTube,
Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, Flickr, Dailymotion and Vimeo. Free users can also save their
searches and set up email alerts. With the use of this tool we can track the sentimental
reasons for the decline of Harley Davidson in Indian Market. Also by noting the feedbacks
throughout the social media we can come to a conclusion about which brand is creating
better impact on consumers both in India and around the globe. (‘About Social
Searcher’,2020)
Brand24 is also another powerful social media analytics platform. The tool tracks keywords
across different social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok,
YouTube, and Twitch. Based on the mentions, Brand24 calculates social media reach, the
share of voice, and monitors hashtag performance. Moreover, the AI-driven sentiment
analysis will help one to protect one’s brand reputation, finding marketing insights, and
improving one’s customer service. Getting started with Brand24 is handy enough where one
creates a “Project”. It’s a pretty flexible setup, allowing us to search for things by either just
typing in a list of keywords or by doing it in a more advanced way, specifying keywords to
include and exclude to make sure you’re not pulling in mentions that we weren’t looking for.
We will use Brand 24 to generate snapshot reports of the respective companies to show us
info graphic reports regarding the sentiment condition in consumer’s mind. (‘Brand 24’,2020))

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

INFOGRAPHIC SNAPSHOT (Brand 24):

 Harley Davidson:

 Royal Enfield:

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ANALYSIS REPORT:

1. Comparing the sentiments numbers across social media:

 Harley Davidson:

Sentiment

17%

Positive
13% Negative
Neutral
70%

From the report of Social Searcher, we observe that Harley Davidson has 108 positive, 81
negative and major chunks of 434 neutral sentiments. The positives can be assumed
as loyal followers but the point of concern is the ‘434 neutral’ who can easily switch
between brands. As an analyst of the sentiment it should be our target to reduce that
neutral zone.
 Royal Enfield:

Sentiment

22%

Positive
1%
Negative
Neutral

77%

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

From the report of Social Searcher, we observe that Royal Enfield has 137 positive, 9
negative and major chunks of 480 neutral sentiments. The positives can be assumed as
loyal followers but the point of concern is the ‘480 neutral’ who can easily switch between
brands. As an analyst of the sentiment it should be our target to reduce that neutral zone. But
on a positive note we can also observe that the negative posts about Royal Enfield being
national brand is lesser than H-D.

2. Comparing deep into social media platforms:

 Harley Davidson:

The Following data has been taken from Social Searcher, it shows the ratio of positive
sentiment(green) and negative sentiment(red). We can see that Harley Davidson has the
best engagement over Facebook platform with a high positive sentiment (55.6%) while
Twitter with the worst sentiment having highest negative sentiment (58%). For other
platforms like web, vimeo, Instagram the engagement is decent.

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

 Royal Enfield:

The Following data has been taken from Social Searcher, it shows the ratio of positive
sentiment(green) and negative sentiment(red). We can see that Royal Enfield has the best
engagement over Facebook platform with a high positive sentiment (40%) and its
negative sentiment is quite less compared to its competitor H-D. For other platforms
like web, vimeo, Instagram the engagement is decent. It shows that even in a global
platform Royal Enfield poses a good competition to Harley Davidson in terms of sentiments.

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

3. Most Trending Hashtags over Social Media:

 Harley Davidson:

The above hashtags are the top 20 trending ones found from Brand 24 website. Among
them we can see that the most tagged are the ones with model number but it’s worth noting
that it catches attention also in the “bullet” tags which comes under Royal Enfield. This will
help the brand to gain search optimization in search engine alongside Royal Enfield.

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

 Royal Enfield:

The above hashtags are the top 20 trending ones found from Brand 24 website. Among
them we can see that the most tagged are the ones with its brand name and it’s worth
noting that the generic terms like “#whatsapp”, “#video” are also getting tags. This will
help them over creating a visibility to wider audience.
4. Merged Comparisons:
a) Worm Graph of Mentions till Sep 2020:

From the comparison graph (Brand 24) we can see that Harley Davidson has led the
mentions more from Royal Enfield in the last month.

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

b) Comparison of mentioned sources:

From the comparison pie charts (Brand 24) we can see that Harley Davidson (4486) has
more mentions from Royal Enfield (2131) in the last month. But the positive and
negative ratio of Royal Enfield is better than Harley Davidson.

PREDICTING THE CLTV

Customer Lifetime Value: Customer lifetime value (CLTV) is one of the most important
metrics to measure at any growing company. By measuring CLTV in relation to cost of
customer acquisition (CAC), companies can measure how long it takes to recoup the
investment required to earn a new customer -- such as the cost of sales and marketing.

 It can be calculated by:

Customer Lifetime Value = Lifetime Value × Profit Margin

Where,

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

Lifetime Value = Average Value of Sale × Number of Transactions × Retention Time

Period
Profit Margin= Can be determined from online reports

Online Reports reveal,

Harley Davidson (Q2 Revenue) = 865 millions $

Royal Enfield (Q2 Revenue) = 9154 Cr INR

 COVID 19 had affected both the companies and with lockdown hampering sales both
tried to make a strong digital firm. (‘HARLEY-DAVIDSON OVERHAULS BUSINESS,
REWIRES COMPANY FOR SUCCESS; SECOND QUARTER 2020 RESULTS
REFLECT COVID-19 IMPACT AND RESPONSE’, 2020). Royal Enfield's total revenue
from operations was down by 7% to ₹9,154 crores, compared with ₹9,797 crore
recorded for the year ended March 2019. (‘Royal Enfield's parent company Eicher
reports 45% dip in PAT for March quarter’, 2020).Thus, the intangible aspect of
digital presence plays a good role in customer retention hence boosting the CLTV. An
open line of communication between the company and customer strengthens the
relationship and makes the company feel more human. In today’s environment, it’s
more important than ever to respond to feedback, especially negative comments, and
poor ratings. Customers appreciate when their voices are heard. The simple
acknowledgement that a company is receptive to feedback and their problems will be
addressed can be a catalyst for repeat business. Increasing the effectiveness of
customer communication also applies to sales and marketing copy. From the analysis,
we can see Harley Davidson managed to get higher mentions (4486) than Royal
Enfield (2131) which enhances its chances of better CLTV.

CONCLUSION

Already facing declining interest among young customers in markets around the world, the
pandemic has only expedited the need for a restructuring. To stay afloat, Harley Davidson
is planning to trim its product portfolio by a third and shrink its global footprint to 50-odd
profitable markets (Banerji, ‘Five reasons why Harley Davidson failed in India’, 2020). The
reasons with respect to the Analysis can be the following:
 On paper, India is one of the biggest two-wheeler markets in the world. More than 17
million two-wheelers were sold in the market last fiscal, more than anywhere else in the
world. Yet, it is a market not for big burly and noisy leisure bikes in which Harley excels,
but for puny commuter machines meant for intercity runabouts that cost less, are easy to

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Comparative Sentiment Analysis of Harley Davidson & Royal Enfield

maintain and dirt cheap to run. Even we note in our analysis that generic keywords are
affiliated with Enfield more than Harley.
 The smallest and most affordable Harley motorcycle in India is the 750cc Street 750 that
costs Rs 4.7 lakh. This kind of pricing even with attractive finance options, puts a Harley
out of the reach of most Indians. That is why we often find use of hashtags like
#modifiedbullet350 in Harley section where they tend to fulfil Harley luxury with bullet.
 In India, Harley Davidson found a fierce challenger in the Royal Enfield and by all means
it came up short against the local rival. In fact, the growth of Enfield in the last 10 years
suggests that entry of Harley only helped it. As its owner Siddhartha Lal says the noise
and curiosity around Harley Davidson when it first entered India gave cruiser biking a
new impetus in the country. Customers checked out a Harley and drooled over them but
ended up buying the more affordable, lighter and easy to maintain Enfield. The overall
positive is to negative ratio signifies the brighter sentiment towards Enfield.

 Harley found a partner in Qianjiang of China, a subsidiary of Geely Motors, to make

smaller bikes. The only glitch-it is being developed with the Chinese market in mind and
may never come to India. Had it been with an Indian company say a Hero, it would have
been a different story. Even in analysis we find that there are hardly any mentions
from India or APAC.

 Another big reason why Harley could not sell in India in numbers it thought it should was
many customers felt its suspension and chassis had not been tuned enough for India's
pothole ridden roads. Faulty brakes and burnt clutch plates are the most obvious problems
and repairing or replacing them are no mean tasks either. Social media sites are replete
with customers narrating their horrid experiences-parts not available with dealers
for weeks on end, high cost of service or recurring malfunctions.

Thus, we can conclude by saying that Harley Davidson can improve their connection in India
by handling Social Sentiments. Royal Enfield on other hand, can learn to distribute
themselves to even wider platforms if they plan international reach.

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REFERENCE

‘About- Social Searcher’ Retrieved from: https://www.social-searcher.com/about/

‘Brand 24’, Retrieved from: https://influencermarketinghub.com/brand24/

‘HARLEY-DAVIDSON OVERHAULS BUSINESS, REWIRES COMPANY FOR SUCCESS;

SECOND QUARTER 2020 RESULTS REFLECT COVID-19 IMPACT AND RESPONSE’,
Retrieved from: https://investor.harley-davidson.com/news-releases/news-release-
details/harley-davidson-overhauls-business-rewires-company-success

Banerji, S., (2020), ‘Five reasons why Harley Davidson failed in India’, Retrieved
from: https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/auto/five-reasons-why-harley-davidson-failed-in-
india/story/413573.html

Gurung, M., (2020), ‘Harley-Davidson Plans to Exit India As Only 100 Bikes Sold In 3
Month’, Retrieved from: https://trak.in/tags/business/2020/08/21/harley-davidson-plans-to-
exit-india-as-only-100-bikes-sold-in-3-month/

Hindustan Times, (2020), ‘Royal Enfield's parent company Eicher reports 45% dip in PAT
for March quarter’, Retrieved from: https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/news/royal-enfield-
s-parent-company-eicher-reports-45-dip-in-pat-for-march-quarter-41592137983391.html

Reilly, S., (2020), ‘Harley Davidson vs. Royal Enfield – who defines the vintage class’,
Retrieved from: https://motorbeast.org/harley-davidson-vs-royal-enfield/

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