Car Sales Industry White Paper : The Showroom Redemption

About this white paper

This car sales industry white paper aims to help dealerships/used car showrooms to be more efficient and serve their customers better. It has been compiled using data collected by a market research agency and is based on the feedback from 2000 full and part-time adult workers from across the UK.

It is an in-depth guide to understanding what customers like and dislike about the dealership/showroom car shopping experience, the subtle differences between different types of customers’ perceptions, and gives guidance on how to personalise the experience to make it more positive and profitable.

Download this free white paper

Key takeaways

In this white paper you will learn:

• A quarter of people think that going to a car dealership or showroom is the most ‘boring’ type of shopping they’ve experienced
• Only around one in ten say that the salespeople make them feel welcome
• Most people think dealerships/showrooms all look/act alike and are indifferent about which they go to
• There are wide variations in customers’ perceptions about the car shopping experience, especially those in different age groups and of different genders
• How to use digital signage to deliver a better customer experience and make your dealership more profitable using digital displays

The Showroom Redemption – Overview

From a customer’s perspective, the process of buying a car at a dealership or used car showroom hasn’t drastically changed in the last 50 years. If we consider this in the context of other areas of retail, where digital technology is constantly being adopted to improve the customer’s experience and increase profitability, car buying can feel somewhat outdated and unhelpful.

New research commissioned by Saturn Visual Solutions, which is detailed in this white paper, has highlighted a number of negative perceptions about the car shopping experience.

• Significant numbers of people said that they find it ‘boring’, overwhelming, and/or uncomfortable.
• The majority of people have no loyalty to any one dealership or used car supermarket brand.

The research also found that there are large differences in perceptions between the different demographic groups.

• Younger people are the most like to be enthusiastic about learning about cars, but also the most likely to feel overwhelmed by information, and to feel ignored by salespeople. They are the most likely to want information on-demand, delivered via digital displays.
• Older people (65+ yrs) are statistically the most likely to enjoy car shopping and engaging with salespeople.
• Middle-aged people (35-64 yrs) are the most likely to think car shopping is ‘boring’.

Our research findings

 What people like about car shopping

Among the research’s sample group of full or part-time workers who’ve experienced car shopping, the things people enjoyed about the experience were :

• Looking at different cars: On average, 27% of people like looking at/checking out different types of cars – 24% of females and 32% of males.
• Learning about car features: 13% enjoy learning about and playing with different features in different types of car.
• Learning about car technology: 12% like learning about different types of car technology.
• Learning using interactive displays: 10% like using interactive displays to learn more about different technologies/vehicles (20% males, 7% females).

What people dislike about car shopping

• Lukewarm welcomes: Only 11% say the salespeople make them feel welcome when they go to a dealership/showroom. This suggests that nearly nine out of ten people don’t feel they’re put at ease or made to feel comfortable shopping and therefore are likely to want to spend the minimum amount of time possible there.
• The hard sell: Of those who’d visited a car showroom or used car dealership (1500 out of the total 2000 in the sample group) 48% said they’d experienced pushy salespeople.
• Boring: Of the total sample group, 25% voted car dealerships as the most boring type of shopping experience they’d experienced. However, 20% of the total sample group said they had never been to a car dealership/showroom, and six per cent said they didn’t remember having ever been to one. We could therefore assume that as many as a third (33%) of people that have been to a car dealership/showroom perceived it as being the most boring type of shopping experience (41% of females, 21% of males).
• Jargon: A fifth feel self-conscious about not understanding technical terms salespeople use (19%).
• Information overload: 11% say they’re given too much information at once in car showrooms/showrooms. This information overload means they struggle to absorb, process, and make sense of it — hampering their ability to make decisions.
• Lack of information/help: 8% say they find it hard to find their way around large car showrooms. 7% say they’re not given enough info to make informed decisions about the vehicles they’re interested in. 6% say the salespeople in car showrooms and used car supermarkets tend to ignore them and don’t give them any help.

Solutions

At present, car buyers feel the forecourt experience is pretty standard across dealers and that there is little to differentiate them. As such, there is so little brand loyalty across all dealerships/used car showrooms in the UK that any brand that is able to iron out the negatives and dial up the positives and make those changes synonymous with their brand, could have a massive competitive advantage.

However, dealerships and showrooms are often having to do more with less. Sales staff numbers are often reduced to the minimum to maximise profitability. This can result in staff being put under greater pressure, and customers (especially ‘walk-ins’) feeling ignored.
Interactive digital signage can be used to create a win-win situation that improves the customer experience, and makes it easier for salespeople to deliver a better, personalised service.

The PDF of of our car sales industry white paper gives a snapshot of just some of the ways digital signage technology can be used to improve the customer experience, and is free to download now.

If you have a project you want to discuss or you want to learn more about using digital signage to enhance your dealership or showroom experience, call our team now on 0161 222 0706 or email us at info@saturnvisual.com.