@joe.pistell
I'm not down playing any aspect of a dealership especially the large OEM ones. There's tons going on and each department has a job to do.
I do make fun of the dealers who brag about their $50 million dollar new service and repair center and then say they can't throw in some floor mats to seal the deal.
My previous job, my department had 60 developers (20 mobile, 40 web) and this doesn't include the product owners, the product managers, the QA team and the rest of the 1000+ employees who every dealership (not bhph) and many more institutions depended on us.
It is different, but I get it.
I'm also not a noob to ecommerce. One sort of famous shopping cart's name is inspired by me. As you probably notice, I tend to stick out for a lot of reasons.
Dealer sites are still ecommerce just without shopping carts ... that's changing too. There's a lot more going on that I'm learning but the base application that the shopper sees is still a shopping catalog. Sears Roebucks and Montgomery Wards comes to mind. Sears Roebucks used to have shops that you could place your catalog order at and the counter person would try to help answer your questions.
I also believe that covid really changed the landscape. It forced people to go online. People learned how to "shop" from their phones. We even got used to QR code menus at restaurants. Industries changed at a speed I didn't expect.
Dealers took a huge hit too and had to learn to move from print to digital marketing and the early adopters depended on developers who like you have pointed out didn't have any floor experience. This is good and bad. But it's still ecommerce. Dropped carts are your leads who don't materialize.
I agree that the "website highest mission is to help the car shopper visualize that this dealer will help them finalize the search and complete their mission." I just see it more as that the buyer found a vehicle that caught their eye at the price point that they are looking for and is willing to deal with dealer to close the transaction.
I am wondering how much more can a website help "the store in 'task completion'" ? The site is the equivalent to the older Sears Roebucks catalogues. They got the lead to shop and visit to inspect the product. How much more can it do to close the deal?
"
This all adds up to this:
This site is targeting: silicon valley techy young folks
"
I was hoping that would spark some debate as to why I think this.
That site is like I said is beautiful but the font is too small, the features are too hard to figure out if you are really savy on using ane commerce site that deviates away from the amazon model. I think it's older people who have disposable income and are looking to do something after retiring that are in the market for campers over your typical 30 year old. So, I was hard on the design and functionality. I catch younger developers doing this all the time becasue they are thinking what they like over what the end user likes.
I didn't even start looking at accessibility issues which is luckly that this industry hasn't been targeted by ambulance chansing lawyers. I warned my previous company about this when the new design was being setup. A year later, we got a letter from a lawyer looking to bank a few milliion dollars. How many dealer sites consider color blind people? How many worry about those images carosels not having the proper start stop buttons?
This car business is in my system so I'm here for the long haul. I'm banking on it too.
So, I obviously apprecitate all you veterans in this market becasue of all the expereince you have!
And no, I'm not trying to come in here and say you are all wrong. The furthest thing from it. I'm just trying to bring up points that maybe someone has over looked. Or maybe, rock the boat a little to help dealers to move on to 2.0.
Dude, you gotta get into a store, and watch the 'dance' of commerce happen before your eyes.
