I keep viewing posts, blogs, webinars, seminars, speaking engagements, OEM bullitens, etc. that all seem to focus in on one strategy and suggests it will work for all dealerships everywhere. There's not a one size fits all strategy that will work in all markets for all types of stores. I'd love it if I can find a store or group to work at that could get away with the one-price method of selling everything at invoice like the earlier example (especially with an OEM like Hyundai that has a good amount of holdback). Wouldn't ya know it though, the competition in the Chicagoland area is too aggressive for that. If I started advertisning our Hyundais for invoice we might as well turn off the lights but I'm sure it can work in some markets like Ontario.
Now a couple people have brought up GM's SCD which I used for a few years at another group. In 2 years experience with it, I can count on one hand the amount of people that actually went through the whole SCD process the way it's designed (shop, click, drive). Most people that completed the online process still wanted to experience the vehicle before committing to it let alone accepting whatever price was listed. Recently I had an opportunity to use Dealertrack's Digital Retailing with similar results.
Regardless of my personal experience, if people wanted it and it worked, why isn't SCD heralded as a huge success for GM?
In this November article, GM brags that since SCD "Rolled out nationally in November 2013, Shop-Click-Drive has resulted in about 29,000 new-vehicle sales and generated another 200,000 new- and used-vehicle sales leads, GM says." That's a 14.5% lead-to-sold conversion rate. Our website leads generated from a traditional call to action closed at nearly 20% last month. That same article claims there are 4300 dealerships using SCD. 29,000 sales/4300 dealerships = 6.7 cars per dealership in over 2 years time. If people want it and are ready for it, why aren't they using it?
Shopping carts are as old as the internet. If shoppers wanted an automotive shopping cart solution, we'd had them a loooong time ago.
Every now and then I'll talk to someone, a friend or new acquaintance, that will brag about buying their car recently "online" and how awesome the experience was. I'll smile and continue the conversation eventually learning that they didn't really buy it online. Rather, they contacted the dealership and the salesperson/BDC was smart enough to provide them all the information they needed (price, financing, availability, etc) to feel comfortable visiting the dealership where they negotiated and finalized the deal. So really what happened is they started their journey online and had received great communication with the dealership which lead to a sale.
