With the UK automotive aftermarket, encompassing upsell products and services, contributing around £12.4 billion to the UK economy, the value to OEMs and retailers is becoming increasingly important.
However, the way these value add products are presented is critical, as is understanding what customers want. According to the latest figures from order to delivery communication platform, AutoBuzz, accessories including boot liners, roof rails and mud flaps have just outperformed the Service Plan in terms of post-sale enquiry.
AutoBuzz delivers a personalised microsite, called a WelcomeHub, to both new and used car customers from the moment they confirm the order and remains in touch with the car-buyer until they take delivery.
One of the clear benefits of the platform is that it offers a scalable solution to presenting add-on products that are possibly not given the care and attention they deserve during the car-ordering process. Customers get the chance to review the likes of paint protection, lifestyle accessories and service plans while they wait for their car to arrive – and get the chance to decide whether it’s something that will benefit their driving experience.
There are, of course, multiple benefits to designing and executing an effective add-on strategy and as much as it’s about delivering improvements in short-term revenue and profit there are also long-term benefits around ensuring customers remain within the retail group’s ecosystem.
Mark Busby, commercial director at Hendy Group explained the importance of designing the right mix of add-on products and services to support customer retention, when he was speaking at the AM Live 2024 session, Perfect your value-added product strategy.
“We had to make sure that our product suite was able to fill the void [left behind when Gap insurance was excluded] but importantly make sure they were products that would aid retention. We need to keep that customer with us throughout the ownership of that car and actually we need to keep that car connected to us for probably six to eight years for us to be able to deliver the return on sales that we absolutely need to.”
Across the brands and retailers up and down the UK and in Australia, using the AutoBuzz platform to communicate with customers in the order to delivery phase of the car-buying journey, it was accessories that accounted for most (27%) upsell enquires. These direct enquires from new and used car buyers were delivered straight to the retailer managing the sale for follow up and conversion.
Businesses using the AutoBuzz platform have reported more than 30% increase in accessory sales since integrating with the Keyloop partner, AutoBuzz.
The sheer value and benefit of a Service Plan pushes this product into second place this year with just under a quarter (23.5%) of all enquiries being for a Service Plan. It comes as little surprise that the ability to manage the cost of servicing for a period of time would be of significant value to today’s car-buyer.
"The significant volume of enquiries we see come in from customers post-sale just shows how much of an under-serviced space this is for upsell and improved business performance"
The third most enquired product, according to the data from AutoBuzz, is the Dashcam. For some this would traditionally sit under the ‘accessory’ title but with such significant interest in this technology the team at AutoBuzz felt it justified sitting in its own category. Just over a fifth (20.8%) of car-buyers enquired about a Dashcam after they had confirmed the order of their vehicle.
Nick Golding, co-founder at AutoComms Solutions, explains: “The significant volume of enquiries we see come in from customers post-sale just shows how much of an under-serviced space this is for upsell and improved business performance. Maximising sales of items like accessories, protection products and Service Plans won’t just deliver stronger results in the month or quarter ahead, but they’ll create stronger ties between retailer, brand and car buyer.
“Clearly there is a propensity to self-serve and make decisions to buy away from the showroom. Retailers should embrace this and adopt scalable solutions that ensure all customers get the chance to decide for themselves whether a boot-liner, Service Plan or Dashcam is right for them.”
If bolstering upsell performance is a priority for your retail group going into 2025, get in touch for a free demo of AutoBuzz.
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