• Stop being a LURKER - join our dealer community and get involved. Sign up and start a conversation.

Online Shopping to Online Buying

View attachment 2965
...Now, everybody knows that an average customer will visit 8 different websites in order to find the best deal possible online and then send an e-mail or make a phone call to the dealership...
The data doesn't back up that statement, Jorge. Everything I've seen says the average customer will utilize many more resources than 8, but the average customer will neither email or phone -- they just show up.

I'd love to be educated if there is new data.
 
  • Like
Reactions: craigh
View attachment 2965

Hi guys!

I really believe this topic is a very interesting one. First of all I want to show my admiration and respect for all these people that have being working in the car business for years. I would like to just bring another perspective to this conversation. I have been working in sales my whole life. My father was an entrepreneur. My first job was in a retail store when I was 16 years old, then I decided to move my career into acting (Where I learned a lot about personal branding and networking since in acting you depend on so many people in order to work; producers, agents, casting directors, directors, actors, etc) and currently I'm working as an Internet Sales Manager at the same dealership I started working as a salesperson.

The perspective I want to bring is a generational one! Millennials! Since I'm also a millennial and our generation was the one that grew up using the internet I thought it was necessary to talk about it. We saw the progress from messenger to snapchat and now we are the present and future generation of online sales. Something that in my experience I discovered is that millennials are adopting the fears of past generations for the car business and they don't necessarily enjoy any negotiation process. They tend to love the idea of "no hassle", with exception of few people that still feel they need to negotiate the price even if they don't understand the market.

I believe one of the reasons why True Car is so famous in my generation is because it brings them the perception that nobody will take advantage of them, even though they don't necessarily read or understand how True Car actually works and I mention read because my generation tends to be more visual and in general they don't tend to read as much as past generations.

Now, everybody knows that an average customer will visit 8 different websites in order to find the best deal possible online and then send an e-mail or make a phone call to the dealership. With this in mind two main factors come to my mind in order to increase your sales online; the dealership's website needs to be EXTREMELY user friendly and the person responding to this customer at the dealership needs to have AMAZING people skills! If you can master the art of reading people's body language, tone of voice and emotions, even if the communication is via e-mail, over the phone or maybe social media, you will have the advantage in online sales.

The platform might be different but human behaviors are the same! The only big difference is that Millennials are more tech savy and more educated than past generations, however, most of them were so attached to their computers, phones and tablets when they were younger that they tend not to know how to react in stressful or uncomfortable social situations like... negotiations. We need to learn to sale our company, dealership and ourselves not only via e-mail or text but via facebook, linkedin, twitter or even snapchat. Now is not enough with delivering a great "sharky" sales pitch but to have the social skills and emotional intelligence to create a win-win situation for both parties.

Welcome Jorge. Your perspective is one that I am very interested in.

One of the first things that I learned in here is that it can be very difficult to find an individual perspective such as the one that you and I have. This group has a lot of vendors and industry consultants in it. They have a very broad view of the industry, and I have a very narrow view...because I am one guy and one store.

The next thing that I learned is the Snowflake comparison and that no two stores are alike.

I have observed what you are saying about negotiating with my young customers. If my price is fair, and we treat these customers with "kid gloves", and then back up everything we say to build trust...they just pay that price.

Thank you for joining the group.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stefan
The data doesn't back up that statement, Jorge. Everything I've seen says the average customer will utilize many more resources than 8, but the average customer will neither email or phone -- they just show up.

I'd love to be educated if there is new data.

Hi Mr Brooks,

Thank you so much for replying to my post. Is really an honor to have the attention of professionals like yourself that have many years in the business. I totally agree with you on the fact that customers utilize more resources than 8 sites. I mentioned that number because there's an infographic from autotrader in 2015 that gives an average of 8 sites between 2013 to 2015. Here is the link: http://agameautotrader.com/files/insights/pdf/ABIS3-in-1Infographic.pdf

I also understand I might be wrong and if that's the case I would like to learn more about this topic. About the e-mails and phone calls, I was talking about those millennials that do e-mail or call the dealership before going to the dealership. Maybe I was not very clear on what I was trying to communicate.

Once again, thank you so much for replying to my post. I'm looking forward to develop a professional relationship that can benefit both of us.

Thanks!
 
Welcome Jorge. Your perspective is one that I am very interested in.

One of the first things that I learned in here is that it can be very difficult to find an individual perspective such as the one that you and I have. This group has a lot of vendors and industry consultants in it. They have a very broad view of the industry, and I have a very narrow view...because I am one guy and one store.

The next thing that I learned is the Snowflake comparison and that no two stores are alike.

I have observed what you are saying about negotiating with my young customers. If my price is fair, and we treat these customers with "kid gloves", and then back up everything we say to build trust...they just pay that price.

Thank you for joining the group.


Hi Tallcool1,

Thank you so much for replying to my post. Yes!!! Our perspectives are not very common but is definitely necessary to talk about this situations.

Thank you!!!
 
Hi Mr Brooks,

Thank you so much for replying to my post. Is really an honor to have the attention of professionals like yourself that have many years in the business. I totally agree with you on the fact that customers utilize more resources than 8 sites. I mentioned that number because there's an infographic from autotrader in 2015 that gives an average of 8 sites between 2013 to 2015. Here is the link: http://agameautotrader.com/files/insights/pdf/ABIS3-in-1Infographic.pdf

I also understand I might be wrong and if that's the case I would like to learn more about this topic. About the e-mails and phone calls, I was talking about those millennials that do e-mail or call the dealership before going to the dealership. Maybe I was not very clear on what I was trying to communicate.

Once again, thank you so much for replying to my post. I'm looking forward to develop a professional relationship that can benefit both of us.

Thanks!
Now I feel old :unclejoe:

@Jorge De Los Rios , please, call me Ed. There is an abundance of data regarding shopper habits - much of it is widely differing. I was thinking of my go-to number from Google which was originally 18 and then moved to 24.
google-automotive-think-insights-digital-drives-car-researches-and-auto-purchases-nov-2013-7-1024.jpg

The data seems to be in agreement regarding Millennials - Autotrader, Edmunds, etc. say that generation prefers to do business face-to-face at the dealership and to actually negotiate the deal.

Yep - I was stunned.

The theory is that Millennials don't trust the 'one-price' price and are leery of being screwed; so they negotiate. But they are also very leery of anything they see as the "usual sales games" and walk if they feel the need.

So I agree with you, Millennials "don't necessarily enjoy any negotiation process", but they will do it. And they do visit more dealerships in person than older generations (according to Autotrader).
ATC%20Millennial%20Dealerships%20Visited.png


Jorge -- Welcome to DealerRefresh! Your insights are really valuable, now get off my lawn. Kidding... (about getting off my lawn, your insights ARE really valuable)

Additional sources:
Mobile-Loving Millennials Still Want to Test Drive Cars, Talk to Dealers
Study shows women, Millennials will respond well to a good dealership experience to learn about car but don't like spending hours on paperwork
Digital Drives Auto Shopping
5 Things to Know About The Next Generation Car Buyer
 
I remember watching that a while back. While what he says may be true, the industry in general has become much more customer friendly and understands more than ever if they want to be truly successful the experience has to be a priority because a 1-star Google rating ain't gonna cut it. Wait till they start making these videos on F&I products!
 
Webrooming is alive and growing like a weed! Best Buy is back from the dead, they just reported earnings and they surprised wall street. I'll make 2 observations.
  1. Creative new car franchise owner/operators should walk the floor of Best Buy and see how they've embraced webrooming. BBY has made a complete transformation to welcome internet shoppers into their stores and shoppers love it.
  2. Webrooming is Carvana's greatest threat (Carvana and their ecommerce only peers). We'll see if Carvana morph's it's "hidden inventory" model to bring in Webroom'ers.
Webrooming is the best internet shopping experience. period.


Craig,

This may sound really really weird, but your lagging the new trend on internet. The hot new internet shopping experience is bringing the net into the store. Best Buy is the poster child of webrooming

showrooming-vs-reverse-showrooming-cover.png



Before you call me out, consider this data science presentation
The Four Horsemen: Amazon/Apple/Facebook & Google--Who Wins/Loses

Very insightful.

(for those that are attention challenged, fast fwd to 1:50 ;-)
 
Best Buy is back from the dead, they just reported earnings and they surprised wall street. I'll make 2 observations.
  1. Creative new car franchise owner/operators should walk the floor of Best Buy and see how they've embraced webrooming. BBY has made a complete transformation to welcome internet shoppers into their stores and shoppers love it.
You know that they reported earnings were up due to shutting down retail stores that underperformed and due to an increase in online shopping on wearables and 4K TVs right? Suggesting they are succeeding because they embrace webrooming is a bit fallacious when their public claims are the exact opposite.
 
Last edited: