Digital Retailing: Just a New Objection?

[Chris Bouchard]

Interesting article Christine! You raise a lot of good points. I completely agree that dealers and consumers should be on the same page, leveraging the same tools. This would certainly lead to a more seamless shopping experience.

Offering intuitive research tools on the dealer's website, as well as at the physical dealership (via kiosks, tablets, etc.) is a great way to build a bridge between online and offline shopping activities. Not only will these tools help shoppers identify which vehicle(s) will best meet their needs, but would also arm the sales team with valuable information to better serve these shoppers.

 

[Mike Rod]

I never understood how anyone can even buy an everyday car online without test driving it. Have you ever had someone simply walk in and be like "I will take it" without testing it? I never have. Everyone sits in the car, they look around, they place their hands on the steering wheel and twist their hands on the steering wheel to get a sense of "what will this car feel like when driving it" and so fourth. I think I have come across a few sites that ask if you would like to enter your information to have it ready for when you arrive which makes sense, but to flat out buy it before test driving it? I feel buying a car is a very personal purchase like buying clothing. People like to make sure they fit in the car

 

[Marc Lavoie]

Made easy through PEOPLE, buying a new car has little to no comparable. It's truly fun when made right.

For me, I buy sight unseen, but I still think I'm an exception. I read about cars every day for fun.

If you want to make money, don't focus on exceptions... I have yet to see a dealership landing more than 50% of their deals 100% online.

We have to be very careful because it's not because it can be done, that it should be done.

 

[Rick Buffkin]

That in fact, it’s often the archaic tools in place at the dealership that create the confusion and logjams that result in those negative scores about the process. And there you have it: the reason that most dealers reject digital retailing tools and that digital retailing solutions have poor market share in the industry is that the tools were designed to bypass a process, instead of streamline a process.

You gotta remember. The F&I process is the last process on the sales side that hasn't been affected by digital and the internet the way everything else has. Alot of dealers look at it as DR is aiming at disrupting the last profit center on the sales side. We all know that front end margins are shrinking across the boards on both new and used. The one place that they're not really shrinking that much is F&I. And, thats the department and process what DR is directly going after. Dealers will prob continue to be and stay hesitant on DR until someone can show them a profit increase. Or at least show them that F&I profits won't be stripped away the same way front-end profit margins have been.

Also - The only people that really care about the scores are the OEM's. Most dealers prob want those surveys to simply disappear.

 

[Chris Cachor]

In my opinion you can't really implement DR into the existing sales flow and that's one of the reasons it's failed. If you really want to embrace DR you've got to go back the drawing board and overhaul the whole sales and delivery experience from online to in-store. Then you've got to get dealers to buy into it. And I think the latter is the hardest to change.