5 things your DMS should be doing for you

Following the Coronavirus Pandemic, consumer buying habits have changed. Dealers need to adapt accordingly. This guide gives an insight into 5 things that you need your DMS to do for you to help you adapt, increase profitability and customer satisfaction.

Background

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Those willing to buy a car online significantly up in 2020

In June 2019, the number of people willing to buy a car online was 27% (source Peter Vardy survey ) with 39% of people who prefer online shopping.

These numbers are markedly higher in the younger age groups with 46% of 18-24 years olds happy to make high value items online.

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The Pandemic has increased the desire and acceptance of online purchasing

Since then, through the Coronavirus Pandemic, this statistic has certainly increased, with people not only willing to buy online, but actively doing so. At the same time, there has been a significant increase in online only car retailers.

The statistic 2 years later (according to an Autotrader survey) is that 41% of the car buying public are happy to buy their cars online

Looking beyond the Automotive sector, Amazon sales in the UK increased by a massive 51% in 2020.

Whilst this was the result of the pandemic, it is clear that consumers have embraced the online marketplace during this period.

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Consumers now expect “Amazon” quality of service

Consumers are used to and now expect an “Amazon” level of service in everything they do.

From online enquiries, to buying and paying for goods online, right through to instant updates of progress of a purchase.

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Dealers Need to meet this Expectation

For car dealers, they need to deliver on this expectation and become ever more agile and responsive – the risk being that if they do not then their competitors – both new entrants and existing players – will do so.

From an IT perspective, the centre of every car dealer is their Dealer System (DMS).

Whilst this is often supplemented by other systems, websites and processes, this is the core of the dealer processing.

Here's 5 things that your Dealer Management System can do for you.

It is essential that dealers make the very best use of their DMS system to assist delivering to their customer and staff top levels of service

I’ve focused on 5 areas where good use of a Dealer Management System can add considerable value and profit - all which should be achievable by any dealer.