Online Shopping to Online Buying

[ryan.gerardi]

Incredible to see this much debate around the subject? Why is THIS so provocative? Why is the idea of the vehicle purchase transaction occurring online so polarizing?

In one corner dealers hear the message, "go digital, master online, shift your ad dollars," yada yada yada.

In another corner we have dealers frustrated with the lack of impact digital has on their business.

In another corner have Tesla.

In another corner we have push back on the idea of an online vehicle transaction, that the in-store process can never be replaced.

@Ed Brooks you seem intent on whether or not this "buy online" tactic (or strategy) sells MORE cars. IMO, that's not the point. It's not the argument. Selling more cars comes down to growing market share, not conversion tactics. So I think you're barking up the wrong tree asking how this sells more cars.

@Michia Rohrssen 's data suggests that people will engage with the idea of transacting online and that people will complete the process. It also suggests that not only do consumers not find this idea revolutionary, they're coming to expect it. If he can prove that and have a shot at transforming the business, then why not. There's really nothing revolutionary about his data. It seems like practical tangible data to me, which like all data, must be validated.

To @Alexander Lau 's point, just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean it won't get better in time. I remember selling websites to dealers in the early 2000's. Half of them refused to do it because it didn't sell more cars. Can you imagine a dealership today without a website?

I'm trying to read between the lines here. What I hear is a camp defending the idea that the dealer and the car salesman will never go away, feeling threatened by the idea.

Personally, I can't imagine buying a car without touching it and driving it, but once I know what I'm buying, I wouldn't hesitate conducting the transaction online if I could, so long as I trust the process.

@Jeff Kershner don't punch me in the face for saying this, but I find Michia's data speaking more about the customer experience, not about selling more cars.

 

[ed.brooks]

Incredible to see this much debate around the subject? Why is THIS so provocative? Why is the idea of the vehicle purchase transaction occurring online so polarizing?

In one corner dealers hear the message, "go digital, master online, shift your ad dollars," yada yada yada.

In another corner we have dealers frustrated with the lack of impact digital has on their business.

In another corner have Tesla.

In another corner we have push back on the idea of an online vehicle transaction, that the in-store process can never be replaced.

@Ed Brooks you seem intent on whether or not this "buy online" tactic (or strategy) sells MORE cars. IMO, that's not the point. It's not the argument. Selling more cars comes down to growing market share, not conversion tactics. So I think you're barking up the wrong tree asking how this sells more cars.

@Michia Rohrssen 's data suggests that people will engage with the idea of transacting online and that people will complete the process. It also suggests that not only do consumers not find this idea revolutionary, they're coming to expect it. If he can prove that and have a shot at transforming the business, then why not. There's really nothing revolutionary about his data. It seems like practical tangible data to me, which like all data, must be validated.

To @Alexander Lau 's point, just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean it won't get better in time. I remember selling websites to dealers in the early 2000's. Half of them refused to do it because it didn't sell more cars. Can you imagine a dealership today without a website?

I'm trying to read between the lines here. What I hear is a camp defending the idea that the dealer and the car salesman will never go away, feeling threatened by the idea.

Personally, I can't imagine buying a car without touching it and driving it, but once I know what I'm buying, I wouldn't hesitate conducting the transaction online if I could, so long as I trust the process.

@Jeff Kershner don't punch me in the face for saying this, but I find Michia's data speaking more about the customer experience, not about selling more cars.

You got it right, this is about conversion tactics. What you got partially wrong (probably because I wasn't clear enough) is I'm not thinking about selling more cars - only. It could be the same volume, at a higher gross, or same volume and gross at lower cost, or same volume, gross, and cost and substantially happier customers. @Michia Rohrssen didn't claim any of those things, he claimed a higher conversion rate.

The problem is the eCommerce contingent rarely acknowledges the fact that the vast majority of customers never submits a lead. And I've seen over and over again lead gen schemes that get a higher conversion rate while simultaneously turning off customers that never submit a lead, but may have not eliminated the store from the "short list" except for the lead gen tactics. That is why it is a mistake to not look at the complete operation holistically, rather than imagining that the website exists in a vacuum with it's sole job being the generation of leads. And that is why I go back to "Does It Sell Cars". Because a dealer can't put his conversion rate in the bank.

Looking at sales is the ultimate measure of a dealership operation.

PS. I don't think this is about customer experience either. Is it a surprise to anyone that folks that are ready to buy are more willing to press a button that says "Buy Online"? The customer experience test comes AFTER the click. But there is no mention of this at all -

 

[jscole86]

From a dealer's perspective, here are my 2 cents, and I think it's pretty simple really.

The whole thing starts with a great shopping experience, and that's simply finding the right car and the right dealership. That's your inventory strategy, your vehicle merchandising, and marketing your dealership's online image (conveying the trust factor). You have to have these things dialed in before anything else happens. But then what?

Car sales will never be 100% online, or 100% offline. It will be a mix that will be determined by the shopper. I know you can't compare shopping at Apple, Best Buy, Walmart or Sams Club to a vehicle purchase. It's not a small purchase and isn't in the same genre. But think of large retail chains that have a large online footprint. They all have a "100% online purchase where they ship it to you" option, a "reserve online - pick up in-store" option, and a "here's what we have, come on in and it's still available in-this-store" option. (for lack of technical terms). They have this because they realize that every customer is different in how they want to transact. And that's the approach we need to take at a dealer level.

What I want as a dealer from a tech company in the auto sector, is software that is able to facilitate all 3 of these, in a seamless experience for both OUR team AND OUR customers. So when my customers want to buy 100% online, they can (truly from start to finish). And when they want to reserve a car and pick it up in-store, they can (and our team can pick up where they left off.) And when they want to just see that it's available, and they come in to see the car, our team can start from the beginning with them. But the whole time, using the same process that the customer would have used online. That is a seamless experience and process for our team and for our customers.

Does having that that sell more cars? No, not quite.

But if you have your inventory, merchandising and dealership trust factor dialed in, and layer the rest on top, then yeah, you'll definitely sell more cars.

sorry if that was long.

 

[jeffwallen]

Went and looked at a Carvana VDP for the first time and it looks like their going down the road of Carmax - laid out to build confidence. I'm not ready to buy a car online, I like the process of signing the agreement after the decision, but those VDP's would make it an easier decision to investigate that path, I see the industry having to go that direction. Most dealers will adapt.

 

[BillPlayford]

I think Ed has heard "WOLF!" cried too many times. It's easy to see why anyone would be skeptical. We've all been burned by empty promises in this space.

Let's remind ourselves that, for all intents and purposes, buying a car online is still illegal in some states. Even if customers were completely bought into this process, it may not be an option (something very will publicized with Tesla). There's a long way to go, even if the legislation were a priority.

Also, I don't think anyone on the ecomm side is stating that all cars will be purchased this way. Different brands and market compositions are going to impact stores in a variety of ways. The point is that people should have the option to purchase this way. Just because your store has a process, doesn't mean the customer cares about it. And, you know what? You don’t have to accommodate them. But, someone else will.

This button is all about incremental business. Phone-ups will still be calling. Walk-ins will still be walking in. Click-to-buys will be buying. Why not attract business you are not already getting?

 

[JamieS]

but those VDP's would make it an easier decision

And here it is. This is the key (and by no means the first time it's been preached here). VDPs (and entire sites for that matter) that make it easy. Extreme simplification and condensing of CTAs. The more choices somebody has on the VDP, the more they have to pause, even if for only a millisecond, and pausing is bad. Unfortunately I think a lot of dealer sites get shoehorned into a design language by a vendor that still has the feel of Web 1.0 with several banners/buttons/forms strewn all over the place. As if the dealer's site is that section of highway you know of where there's 10 billboards within an 1/8th of a mile. The customer is already at your site, just give them what they want, not what you want to give them.

This is a big piece of what Carvana, Vroom, Beepi are doing. I can say with near 100% certainty that you will never ready anything such as "$500 off any car!" or "Tow it, Drag it, PULL IT IN WITH YOUR F***KING TEETH! We''l give you $8000 for your Trade!!!" or "Spring Sales EVENT GOING ON NOOOOOWWWW!" or even "We're Number 1!" And absolutely they won't have some social media banner on the bottom of the page. You think they came to you because they want to follow you on Twitter?

I love seeing and hearing this with other dealers in our Market, it makes me smile.

 

[ed.brooks]

I think Ed has heard "WOLF!" cried too many times. It's easy to see why anyone would be skeptical. We've all been burned by empty promises in this space...

...This button is all about incremental business. Phone-ups will still be calling. Walk-ins will still be walking in. Click-to-buys will be buying. Why not attract business you are not already getting?

I'd love it if this button was about incremental business - I see no indication of this.

There is a major flaw in the analysis when the author states "Shoppers that click a Buy Online button are 3-4x more likely to purchase a car than traditional leads"

He's implying CAUSATION when, in reality, only a CORRELATION exists. Did the button CAUSE the consumer to buy a car? NO?
The button was only an indicator that the consumer was closer to a purchase decision.

 

[skutchhenks]

Wow this thread just blew up, lots of excitement around this. Buying 100% online is not even close IMO. Some OEM's already are going with a hybrid online purchase/convenience system (digital retailing) very soon. It's the start of giving more choices to shoppers, like @jscole86 covered, and I think that's the way to go too. Cover all the options for all the different types of shoppers and build your trust checklist.

Most dealers aren't buying in yet. I've had lot's of conversations about this. They're struggling with giving too much information online about payment & financing options to shoppers, believing the shopper might not agree with the numbers and then never visit the dealership. So to them it's not a NEED, they do fine without it, and why put themselves in that position to lose a customer?

The rebuttal, well shoppers are using these tools on other websites, why not give it to them on your website for better engagement?

Their answer, No, let them use the OTHER websites then, so it's not me telling them No on payments, and if they like my car I'll get a visit anyway.

So we're not quite there yet on advanced shopping tools and processes that speed up the delivery. I can't agree or disagree either really, I haven't seen any hard data and have no definitive proof yet. My gut tells me it's a good thing, providing shoppers with tools to help them take next steps to make a visit on your own website makes the dealer look progressive and trusting. I think most shoppers are using tools like that somewhere online anyway to get an idea of what they can afford.

But let's not forget, this business isn't so rigid and exact, there are many ways to run a dealership that works just fine. You know Ling sells cars online... Click the big green order now button: lingscars.com

 

[Alexander Lau]

From a dealer's perspective, here are my 2 cents, and I think it's pretty simple really.

The whole thing starts with a great shopping experience, and that's simply finding the right car and the right dealership. That's your inventory strategy, your vehicle merchandising, and marketing your dealership's online image (conveying the trust factor). You have to have these things dialed in before anything else happens. But then what?

Car sales will never be 100% online, or 100% offline. It will be a mix that will be determined by the shopper. I know you can't compare shopping at Apple, Best Buy, Walmart or Sams Club to a vehicle purchase. It's not a small purchase and isn't in the same genre. But think of large retail chains that have a large online footprint. They all have a "100% online purchase where they ship it to you" option, a "reserve online - pick up in-store" option, and a "here's what we have, come on in and it's still available in-this-store" option. (for lack of technical terms). They have this because they realize that every customer is different in how they want to transact. And that's the approach we need to take at a dealer level.

What I want as a dealer from a tech company in the auto sector, is software that is able to facilitate all 3 of these, in a seamless experience for both OUR team AND OUR customers. So when my customers want to buy 100% online, they can (truly from start to finish). And when they want to reserve a car and pick it up in-store, they can (and our team can pick up where they left off.) And when they want to just see that it's available, and they come in to see the car, our team can start from the beginning with them. But the whole time, using the same process that the customer would have used online. That is a seamless experience and process for our team and for our customers.

Does having that that sell more cars? No, not quite.

But if you have your inventory, merchandising and dealership trust factor dialed in, and layer the rest on top, then yeah, you'll definitely sell more cars.

sorry if that was long.

BAM! Exactly brother and that comes a dealer, not a vendor (if I'm not mistaken).

 

[joe.pistell]

I haven't seen this level of emotional intensity since the social zealots thought FaceBook was going to change the world and sell everyone a million cars.

Do we have a new "Rainbows and Unicorns" club forming? Don't be a unicorn, read Josh Cole's post over and over and over. It's the future.