“I think one of the factors is that there is more time between order take and delivery, which gives customers the option to shop around. They (online car-buyers) are probably better at marketing than we are, though I think the service and price they deliver on ultimately isn’t a great deal different. They do score on their presence,” explained Nathan Tomlinson, owner at Devonshire Motors when asked about the threat of online car buying websites to part-exchange vehicles.
Tomlinson was speaking on the Business Booster webinar with Auto Retail Network, because managing the leakage of part-exchange vehicles was identified as one crucial way that automotive retailers can boost performance and profitability.
The webinar was held to offer practical advice and support dealer groups as “it's clear the market is now back to a reality that involves push, lower consumer demand, increased costs and tighter margins”.
Clearly losing profitable part exchange stock is a real challenge for retailers. Customers heads are effectively being turned by online disruptors supported by significant marketing budgets enabling them to come between the retailer and the customer to divert the profitable and sought-after part exchange vehicle.
Hatfields’ Sales Director, Craig Petty, also on the panel, took a similar approach to Tomlinson and recognised the threat to business performance and profitability levels.
He said: “When it comes to battling the car buying sites [for part exchanges] our customers are time poor and we are a one-stop shop. We need to professionally devalue the car buying site proposition and that’s exactly what we do.
“If you go and sell your car with X, Y or Z it will 48 hours before you get your funds, you’ll pay more to get them sooner and you might get the vehicle devalued further because of stone chips for instance. We need to talk about how we can see your car now and have access to all the same buyers.”
Marginal gains will continue to set businesses apart, and the opportunities that exist within the aftersales department and also in the add-ons that are available when new and used vehicles are sold, were explored.
John Hogan, Founder and CEO at Real World Analytics, unpacked the retailer agenda at the moment and while he admitted that the environment is tough was clear that there is a real appetite for data across all stages of the car-buying journey and aftersales.
“Definitely more (automotive retailers) are closely looking at upsells. We lost GAP which was 25 – 35% pen rate across new and used but we have seen businesses do more work with bodywork and alloy work which makes up maybe 25% pen, and also looking at paint protection which can be more like 25- 35% pen rate across new and used vehicles,” he said.
The key, Hogan added, is to be “consistently good with everything” and having the data that reveals where the crucial opportunities to drive up performance lie, will be critical to those that navigate themselves through this period.
Devonshire Motors’ owner, Tomlinson, also cited the cost of resource being a challenge in the current environment and actually with a strategic plan to automate some of the more mundane processes they can be more efficient.
“The headlines for me are cost of resource, that’s continuing to increase, and that’s difficult to control at the moment. That’s why we look to automate processes that would have previously been done by a person,” he explained.
Interestingly, the order to delivery phase of the car-buying journey is so often overlooked but it represents a significant opportunity to manage the top priorities discussed on the Auto Retail Network panel. For instance, an integration with AutoBuzz automates communication with a personalised website to all new and used vehicle customers from the moment the confirm the order, up until the delivery point.
The technology is able to do 3 things that address the challenges that were outlined in the webinar:
Reduce part exchange leakage: AutoBuzz can detect when customers are behaving in a way that makes them likely to defect to an online car buyer while in the order to delivery phase. Imagine having the ability to approach a customer with a competitive offer before they commit to a Motorway.co.uk or Webuyanycar.com deal?
Improve penetration on upsells: AutoBuzz presents 100% of products and services to 100% of customers, without fail. Each customer gets their own WelcomeHub that presents paint protection, accessories, tyre and alloy, etc to the customer while they are excited about their vehicle’s arrival. Whether it’s three days or three months this gap in the car-buying journey cannot be left to the sale team to capitalise on
Drive up sales team efficiency: By automating the order to delivery communication you can take the administration away from the sales team and leave them to focus on new enquiries and opportunities. With more capacity to handle enquiries the automated element of AutoBuzz will take financial pressure off recruitment.
AutoComms Solutions is now a certified partner of Keyloop which means integrating with the platform and accessing all of the benefits explored above is simple and straightforward.
To explore how AutoBuzz will enhance your customer's buyer experience, get in touch HERE >>
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