Diary of a DMS Guy

Is it Time to Disrupt the Disruptors ?

The Motor Trade is a funny old world.

I've spent all of my 51 years in and around the trade.  My father was Dealer Principal of a Datsun dealership, and I've worked in and around the trade my whole working life.

All the time, there are stories of the motor trade dying, of disruption of some sort, recession killing dealers.  The ever changing relationship between the OEM and the dealer changing.  The growth of the Supermarkets.

This past couple of years, the key stories are about the "Disruptors", the development of Electric Vehicles and the move from a Franchise to an Agency model.    This week, the big story has been one of the key disruptors admitting that perhaps their business model isn't as they expected and the Motor Trade isn't as easy to disrupt as they thought.

Perhaps a sigh of relief for many independents and even Franchised dealers - who may need to turn to Used vehicles model in a new Agency environment in future.

Time to grab thhe opportunity

For me, it's the opposite.   It's a major call to action.    The Disruptors model is based on the fact that a high percentage of consumers will want to buy a car online, in much the same way as they order their groceries from the Supermarket.

However, note that whilst online Grocery shopping is big business, if you go to a supermarket - it's hardly empty.    They demonstrate the "hybrid" retailing model very well.   Consumers like to choose how and when they buy their groceries - they may do some online, yet go to the shops for other things.  Some though, may never step into a supermarket ever, doing it all online, and equally, others may never go online to buy..

So, it's the same in the Motor Trade, there is a variation in the way consumers want to buy cars.  

There are some, who are happy to follow the "Disruption" model, browse, enquire, buy and deliver - all online.  

However, equally so, there are some that simply buy in the "old fashioned way" - walking into a dealership and completing the whole transaction in person.

Hybrid is where it's at

More likely, as the Disruptors are discovering, most consumers prefer to dip in and out of online and physical through the sales process.  Maybe browsing and enquiring online, then coming in to view the car, before later placing the order online and maybe picking the car up physically.  There are lots of routes that the hybrid process can take.

This is where the traditional dealership can win.  It has the physical sorted.   Over the past couple of years, most have developed their online services.

The key now, is to integrate the two, in order to deliver that hybrid customer journey.

Want to browse online.  No problem.   Browse in person, that's good too.

Order online.  yep... Order in person, no hassle.

Deliver the car to you, or pick up .. both are good.

Make it work for you

This requires an investment in good solutions - great digital presence, both on your web site, but ever more importantly in social media.   Great Sales Tools - Lead Management, CRM both fully integrated with order processing.   The movement of a customer across these should be automated, with no human interaction.  

More importantly, it shouldn't matter how the customer journey goes - online, physical or flipping back and forth between the two.

This is my life.   I have multiple discussions with Customers, Prospective customers and supplier partners all about how this can work for them and how Navigator can help.