“The retail format people love to hate bounces back” <— https://www-bloomberg-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-06-12/buying-a-car-online-is-easier-after-coronavirus-triggered-changes
“It’s complicated” would be the best way to describe car buyers feelings towards most automotive retailers.
Humans are social creatures and right now auto retailers are not providing that “wow” experience via a full online buying process. CarVana is trying but still only sell a small fraction of the total vehicles sold in the United States per year.
All dealerships will adapt to what their customers wants & needs are, the article referenced above from Bloomberg says people still want to come into the showroom.
We think this is for several reasons but mainly because there is not currently a well known “wow” experience being delivered by dealers via online purchasing.
Whichever dealership figures out How to provide the perfect experience to online buyers will be 2 steps ahead of the competition.
Most dealers know how to provide this in-store, but are just happy to get the online buyer the right car to their driveway within 3 days. That isn’t goin to win long term in our opinion.
“Only half of franchised dealers plan to keepoffering digital sales once the pandemic ends, according to Cox Automotive. Auto retailers cited not enough interest from customers as one of the main reasons for planning to abandon the practice.”<— We believe the demand is not there because the experience is not there, which comes first is what we will have to wait & see.
Dealers across the country have already ramped up their merchandising with top notch photography, 3rd party inspection reports and technology like https://www.cardata.us/spin-360/
The next step is EXPERIENCE! What is your online buyers experience from A-Z when they purchase a car from you?