Recent statistics show that in the year 2000 a potential buyer went to visit an average of five dealers before concluding a deal, while now he or she only interacts with 1.6 dealers when making a new car purchase. Digital communications systems are therefore the future of the vehicle retailing environment.
According to Warren Olsen, the CEO of the Sewells Group in sub-Saharan Africa, automotive businesses in South Africa must embrace change and adapt the way their companies are run to ensure sustainability – and the accelerating move to the digital world is one of the changes that must be taken very seriously.
This opinion is backed by statistics. Speaking at the recent Sewells NADA Performance road show, Wesbank’s Simphiwe Nghona pointed out that there is huge potential for local digital communication, with 24.9-million active internet users in South Africa of which 11.8-million are already using various social media platforms. There are also 79.1-million mobile connections in the country, of which 10.6-million are using mobile smartphones on social media sites.
Jeff Osborne, who heads up the automotive division of Gumtree, says that the vehicle purchasing process is being driven increasingly by the digital consumer, with 85% of those buying a new car making use of the internet as a research tool before going to a dealership.
“This means only dealers that are nimble and can adapt quickly to changing consumer requirements will survive. This need not mean the death of the salesperson, but rather that these sales executives must be prepared to change the way they operate to make a success in the future,” Osborne adds.
Sewells’ Mike Paxton gave delegates at the road show insight into the way digital communication methods are being used successfully in the retail automotive business in the United States, following his trip to the NADA conference in Las Vegas earlier this year.
“Strong CRM programmes are a vital link with consumers, but they must be personalised and communication must be meaningful. Dealer and product information must be available 24/7 and it must be up to date. This means it is essential that home pages are refreshed regularly and given regular overhauls to ensure they work at optimal efficiency,” Paxton said.
“It is interesting to note that several dealers in the US focus on aspects of their service offering on their home page, instead of the emphasis on new products one generally finds with South African websites.”
According to Paxton, SMS’s are the most effective way of reaching a consumer as research shows that virtually all SMS’s received are read within three minutes. “However, it is vital to be sparing with this communication channel as overuse will irritate the customer. US dealers always strive to have a live voice at the end of a telephone line, even if it means contracting with an outsourced call centre. People wanting to buy or service a car like to speak to another person, not an answering machine,” he added.