Nothing will be the same again in the car market!

Following the wave of Sales digitalization that accelerated during the pandemic, new opportunities will emerge for car market operators. More than ever, Customers will be conquered, influenced and served at a distance, impacting the "mindset", processes and structure of automotive retail. The brands and dealers that dominate this aspect of the business will be the winners. 

Discover in this article a straightforward Customer perspective...

The Customer wants to touch, feel, smell... is it really so?

We (the industry) wanted the Customer to require more than in reality, she or he does. The concept that the emotional appeal of a car is only achieved by physical sensations is obsolete. Of course, people remain sensitive to the seductive reflections of a perfectly applied cover paint or to the quality of the best interior upholsteries. That has not changed. What is different is what people see and hear until they reach the point of enjoying these sensations personally. The journey towards the purchase of the car or its use is made increasingly at a distance and what sets up the purchase decision is happening well before to the showroom buying experience.

The concept that the emotional appeal of a car is only achieved by physical sensations is obsolete.

A test-drive is crucial...

We (industry) would like it to be.

"The Customer has to sit behind the wheel because only then will he realize the excellence of comfort and the dynamic behavior" - Really?

If the comfort and dynamic behavior of "our model" are indeed excellent, we have already said so in our communication, journalists, bloggers and other users have confirmed this and it is very likely that a potential Customer who searches online for "our model "has already been impacted by this information. 

But it is one thing to "hear about it" and another thing to try it for yourself... Yes, the test drive is important, if it is really easy and convenient to do, otherwise you rely on others... Are you sure? Do you decide your second most important "purchase" based on the opinion of others? Yes, if that assessment comes at the right time and in the right way.

However, if we are talking about a test drive provided at home or in another convenient location for the Customer and if that constitutes a referential experience of personal interaction and product demonstration, the scenario changes: then we are talking about a fundamental tool for a sale!

Do you decide your second most important "purchase" based on the opinion of others? Yes, if that assessment comes at the right time and in the right way.

The Customer will have to come to the showroom, at the very least to set the final value of the trade-in.

No. And if we believe that, we can lose the deal to anyone who offers a more convenient solution, for an equivalent amount. The trade-in evaluation or the return of a vehicle in the end of a lease contract, determines the price of the new car and, therefore, is a fundamental part of the sale. It is generally a bad experience for the Customer who has the feeling that the evaluator's objective is solely to devalue his vehicle, emphasizing the importance of any damage. Even if the evaluation is professional, it is very difficult to change the perspective of the Client. Of course, any solution that is less convenient or more time-consuming for the Customer will only exacerbate its negativity at this crucial stage of the sales process.

Today, several brands are already offering online an initial trade-in evaluation, but that is not enough to win the sale in the new post-pandemic scenario: it is necessary to deliver convenience until the final and definitive trade-in value, in all personal and remote interactions.

Even if the (trade-in) evaluation is professional, it is very difficult to change the perspective of the Client. Of course, any solution that is less convenient or more time-consuming for the Customer will only exacerbate its negativity at this crucial stage of the sales process.

Automotive retail is not "e-commerce". 

Automotive retail has gone from an eminently physical model to an increasingly digital reality. "E-commerce" had a much more simplistic origin: it was born from a blank sheet, with the Customer at its center. It started by assessing Customer needs and expectations and then looking at technology to find the right digital solutions to fulfill them. The technological solutions reached automotive retail with the blank sheet far from blank and the Customer's needs and expectations were just one of several "fires" that had to be put out.

"E-commerce" had a much more simplistic origin: it was born from a blank sheet, with the Customer at its center.

The genesis of e-commerce greatly facilitates the vision of what is beyond technology, of what transcends the digitalization of retail. Serving the Client remotely, providing maximum convenience, time, efficient communication channels, total information at all stages, transparency and consistency of processes, these are natural results of businesses that were born with the Client at its center and with technology as an intrinsic tool.

Automotive Retail did not follow this path and needs to ensure that serving the Customer in the new post-pandemic scenario is not limited to the "digitalization of sales". The Customer is the same as in other sectors, where she/he is already proficient in online shopping and is used to seeing her/his expectations met by those that have the Customer at the center of their business.

Automotive Retail did not follow this path and needs to ensure that serving the Customer in the new post-pandemic scenario is not limited to the "digitalization of sales".

The digitization of the car sales process will not, by itself, put the Customer at the "center of the business", generating more sales. It will undoubtedly facilitate this task, but this will only be achieved when the entire Customer experience, across all channels, is consistently convenient and effective.

World Shopper used more than 25 years of experience in analyzing the customer's perspective in automotive and the in-depth investigation of the world's best practices in digitizing automotive retail, to develop Remote Shopper?. This unique analysis tool was designed to test the complete sales process initiated in the digital, to quickly correct the errors and to encourage the implementation of best practices in the market.

Ricardo Oliveira

World Shopper founder

For over a quarter of a century, we have been studying the car buying experience, through thousands of Mystery Shopping actions carried out by the auditors of Jotoliveira, Lda and for all the other opportunities we have had to look at the automotive sector from the Customer's perspective.

This sector is clearly at the turning point that we have been anticipating over a decade of the World Shopper Conference. It is very important that the industry now does not just focus on energy transition and digitalization, wasting a unique opportunity to reorganize around the Customer.

We created the Remote Shopper? as a tool to increase sales efficiency and customer satisfaction, in a context of increasing digitalization in the automotive sector.