Your new or used car just a click away

The time of the pandemic has caused an accelerated growth in e-commerce sales in a myriad of categories, from consumer goods to electronics and home conditioning and improvement. Consumers have broken paradigms about the trust and convenience of exploring and buying products on the Internet, significantly increasing their purchases during the last 18 months. On the other hand, the uses and habits of millennials suggest the need to re-imagine that previously unthinkable categories are now candidates to strengthen their digital presence and even make an incursion into e-commerce sales.

For consumers, the purchase of a new or used car from a dealership has always been a complicated topic. Sometimes we can spend entire days visiting different car dealerships to explore and compare options. Likewise, the closing of the purchase involves paperwork, credit approvals, driving tests, physical inspection of the car, etc., which represents an investment of time and dedication that is sometimes uncomfortable for such an important purchase. On the other hand, dealerships cannot always have every model, version, and color physically on the sales floor for potential buyers to take a close look and decide on their purchase.

The question is, would we be willing to buy a new or used car through e-commerce today? Years ago, it would have sounded crazy but today it is possible. Different experiences such as Nissan in Brazil and KAVAK in Mexico show that consumers can gain the confidence to buy a car on e-commerce, or at least make their experience more convenient and friendly.

Specifically, we see 5 benefits that automakers can exploit through their website or e-commerce:

1. 1. To know it is to love it. The consumer can have a faster and more efficient comparison of brands, models, and attributes of the cars through solid websites where they can navigate through the different options without the need to visit an agency. On the other hand, dealerships will also benefit from not having to rely on physical inventory of cars on the sales floor to provide initial information.
   2. Credit application. Is it really necessary to visit an agency to evaluate the financing options to buy a car?
   3. The reality is that it would be very feasible to be able to review alternatives, requirements, formats, and application remotely and digitally to simplify the operation in the agency and minimize the time required by the consumer in these activities.
   4. The first date. The possibility of scheduling a driving test online would be very feasible and that it could even be carried out directly at one’s home. Convenience is the name of the game and agencies that manage to “bring the car closer” to consumers to have a first date will surely benefit.
   5. The closing. Once the purchase of the car is defined, it would be interesting to make alliances with secure payment platforms linked to the same automakers to be able to close the operation and even pay remotely. Nowadays, a lot of time is lost in the process and physical paperwork at the point of sale, considering the importance of the operation for the consumer. Agencies are unfriendly in this process and could significantly improve customer service by diversifying processes between physical and digital.
   6. Delivery. Although there are dealerships that make car delivery an experience, it is possible that this could be amplified by having the possibility of scheduling through the same website special home deliveries that would be a differentiated experience for the consumer: first car, birthdays, special dates, cars for special executives, etc.

Day by day, unprecedented events such as the pandemic and the acceleration of digital sales that have occurred with it, drive us to think further in terms of the potential of e-commerce and digital tools to market categories such as automobiles and others more than we would have ever imagined feasible for these media. The digital race is just beginning and those who break paradigms and dare to innovate in this market will be the winners.

Jorge Saldívar is Managing Partner of BC&B Transformación de Negocios, (BC&B Business Transformation) a firm specializing in strategic and commercial advice for SMEs focused on Retai/. He is also Director of The Retail Community. the first business community in Mexico aimed at innovation in Retail.