I don't think it will be easy - for MOST dealers. At least not today.
Will the transition to Digital Retailing be difficult?
- Thread starter ed.brooks
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- Feb 11, 2015
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- Alex
I would agree with you, there's just too many loose variables in the equation. It's like anything in tech, there will be leaders of the pack and there will be followers. I believe Penske and Asbury are two groups leading the charge. Valuing a trade-in, arranging financing and complying with regulations (especially state / commonwealth) might be road blocks (at this point).
Keep an eye on Sonic as well - they seem committed
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- Oct 29, 2009
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- Rick
Digital Retailing is kinda having a hard time making a hit with the dealers right now...
Digital Retailing is kinda having a hard time making a hit with the dealers right now...
@Rick Buffkin -
Why do you think that is? Is it simply that change is hard?
- Oct 29, 2009
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- Rick
@Ed Brooks, Yes! It will be challenging on both sides of the fence. On the dealers side... Changes will need to be done to pay plans, processes from A - Z, training. Basically the entire process. Your asking the dealers to take a gamble that will affect their already skinny Gross margins. There's still alot of old school car people in dealerships. Not to mention the integration issues. You would almost need real time inventory. I'm sure all of us have had people in the showroom working deals on the same vehicle at the same time. How do you over come it online???? Do you yank the car offline before the people take delivery?? Mark it as pending sold?? If it's marked pending, how many customers are gonna move on because that particular used car which was exactly what they were looking for is now possibly sold?? It's not delivered yet. We have a contract on it. but it's not delivered yet and the customer hasn't taken ownership. What do you do?? I'm not sure how this works in other states but here, the customer has to take physical delivery of the vehicle for it to be a binding contract (AKA: the car has to cross the curb). Keep in mind, the bulk of customers aren't screaming for this. They are looking for something to streamline the in store process because the disconnect is the size of the freaking Grand Canyon from online to the showroom. If we could focus on shrinking the disconnect, that would be a major mile stone. Streamlining the data flow between the diff systems!! Training the sales reps, managers and everyone in between about a customers experience online and moving that over to the showroom and being able to break this down at a individual customer level. Buying a car is still about the experience.
Sounds familiar, I wrote this almost 3 years ago;
"My sense is the winners and losers in the business, five years from now, will be predicated by how well they assist buyers slipping from the online experience into the physical experience – and perhaps back again. For instance, one buyer may have a question about his credit; traditionally a dealership will do everything in their power to get him in to the store and start them down the “Road to the Sale”. The winning stores five years from now (or sooner), will be able to step in to not just answer the question, but to also the update the customer’s deal information online, allowing the customer more control over their individual process."
And you thought Internet shopping was disruptive...
And you thought Internet shopping was disruptive...
- Mar 17, 2011
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- Ryan
Enjoyed the video Ed. The background colors were nice and I appreciated the laid back style and tone. The world has enough loud and boisterous talking heads. Love the subject matter too and looking forward to talking about it with you and @Chris Leslie on Refresh Friday July 28.
Sometimes I wish I could be more loud and boisterous, but with my (fairly mild) aphasia (Google that shit), that is no longer part of my skill-set.
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- Mar 20, 2017
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Agree with @Rick Buffkin that it's more important right now to streamline online and in-store experiences because most customers aren't ready to buy online but do want a better experience. Making the online experience as personalized as the in-store and the in-store as convenient as the online- and having every person customers talk to along the way be able to access any previous data submissions or interactions so there's never any repetition- that's probably where the most need is. If that's in place, if/when we get to more buying online, it will be a smoother transition as well.
