A five point plan to help dealers maximise the effectiveness of their online presence has been issued by iVendi.
This comes as the used car market finally starts to lose growth momentum.
Darren Sinclair, CCO, said that while the sector remained quite buoyant, the market peak had now probably been passed, caused by factors such as the cost of living crisis and more competition for spending as the pandemic hopefully came to an end.
He said: “We’re hearing a chorus of voices – ranging from industry experts to anecdotal evidence from dealers – stating that values and prices are falling after several years of growth. This had to happen sometime and it seems that time is now.
“So far, it doesn’t look like a dramatic correction, more a relatively gentle realignment of supply and demand caused by a combination of issues ranging from pressure on personal finances through to slightly increased stock availability.”
iVendi has advised:
- “Do more with each sale”. Dealers should use technology to maximise the revenue from every unit.
- Re-examine your proposition
- Does your online proposition still match consumer needs in a changing market? Car buyers will now be more concerned about the potential reliability of their prospective purchase and the protection provided if things go wrong. This places the emphasis on elements of the proposition such as the service history and the warranty
- Emphasise monthly affordability
- Runnings costs are back on the agenda
- Make buying easy. It is likely that customers may be deciding between buying a car or taking a holiday. Part of the solution to this is to make your digital car buying journey as easy as possible, something at which the new digital disruptors are very good – but which can be matched by any car retailer.
Sinclair added: “One of the lessons of the car market at the start of the pandemic was that those dealers who recognised the changing conditions and responded by changing their digital approach accordingly were those who thrived.
“Our view is that the same is now happening again. We can already see that those dealers in our customer base who are adapting their use of technology are those who are maintaining a higher level of success.”