Entering the new year, the UK-based Automotive Transformation Group (ATG) has issued a summary of the current state-of-affairs and made some well-founded predictions.
They conclude that e-commerce is an essential survival factor for auto retail, but also that it takes more than that to succeed.
ENHANCED CHATS AND AUTOMATED VIDEOS
One critical aspect, according to ATG, is to offer car buyers a smooth omnichannel purchasing journey, end-to-end. Customers should be offered alternative payment methods and automated AI videos, along with enhanced live chat interaction to guide and support buyers at critical touchpoints.
Car buyers are attracted to video for varying reasons. Some live and work far away from the car dealer’s showroom. Others have demanding work situations, and simply have better things to do than running around town for information. Since last year, Automotive Transformation Group has been working with technology partner Phyron, to offer automated AI videos to increase inquiries and the quality of stock videos. “The commercial savings in both time and money are substantial, as is the ability to free up sales teams to focus on more value-adding exercises to drive profitability instead.”
SEAMLESS, HASSLE-FREE BUYING JOURNEY
A seamless and hassle-free buying journey may start with reserving a car and organizing home delivery online, but more and more buyers will be interested in completing the better part of or, indeed, the entire buying journey including financing online. This trend grew strong during the pandemic and, according to ATG experts, seems to permanent itself as the next major trend.
Says Paul Stokes, Automotive Transformation Group’s Director of Digital Retailing: “For too long, our industry has lagged other consumer industries in offering a truly convenient and transparent retail experience with trust at its heart. Now … many retailers have realized that … having a fully optimized, immersive and responsive commerce platform is a must-have.”
FROM HARD SELL TO GUIDANCE
One interesting effect of the increasingly well-informed car buyers, according to ATG, is that there is less of a need to “sell” and more to “guide”. To this end, some retailers are offering their customers digital hosts, and product experts. It’s something which we expect to grow significantly throughout the rest of this year.