“We launched Dacia Buy Online in 2018 but we are now working on really supercharging that functionality, because for us it’s very manual. You have to manage all the orders manually, and it’s not fully optimised as it’s not all linked into all of our systems.
“But from a customer perspective, it means everything will be done live. It’s all integrated into our dealer systems – so imagine you start to configure a vehicle online, you get a finance quotation, you’re happy with the price, you go to a dealership and you don’t have to start from scratch.”
Does Dacia suit a digital model?
“We don’t have a million optional extras like you see with some other brands. A lot of customers face the paralysis of choice: you go into a Subway to order a sandwich and you’re there for half an hour trying to work out what bread you want, what cheese, do you want it toasted, do you want lettuce and tomatoes…? Whereas with us, it’s a really simple line-up with three versions and two optional extras (even that, we’re looking at) so it does lend itself quite well to online retailing.”
A lot of your customers are older, more rurally based and less tied into the internet. What’s the incentive to update your processes?
“I don’t think ‘incentive’ is the right word – it’s the way the market is going. My parents are in their 50s/60s and they buy stuff from Amazon like anyone else. Our customers are used to buying things online. I know that cars are a little bit different because of the cost and the regulations involved, but if we can crack that journey – and actually age, demographic, gender and all of that don’t really matter because it’s just how people buy things these days – that’s just the way the industry is moving.”
“For Dacia specifically, I do see that as a strength, Our range is super simple, we don’t have a million optional extras like you see with some other brands. A lot of customers face the paralysis of choice: you go into a Subway to order a sandwich and you’re there for half an hour trying to work out what bread you want, what cheese, do you want it toasted, do you want lettuce and tomatoes…? You think ‘bloody hell, I only came in here for a ham sandwich and now I don’t know what I want or how much I spent’, whereas with us it’s a really simple line-up with three versions, two optional extras (even that, we’re looking at) so it does lend itself quite well to online retailing.”