By Simon Verona

The subject title here is intriguing.

"Omnichannel" - what is that supposed to mean?

Before we start to improve it, I guess it makes sense to define what we are actually talking about.

"Omnichannel" is the buzzword to define the modern way of retailing higher ticket items.

The dictionary claims Omnichannel to mean "denoting or relating to commerce that integrates the different methods of interaction available to customers (e.g. online, via a mobile device, in a physical shop, etc.)."

So, basically - it's retail - we've always had this style of retailing,

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Historically, customers might interact with us via a newspaper advert (eg to find a car), and then maybe a telephone call (is it still available?) and then in person (test drive, order etc)

There days, we have the addition of web site, social media, email.

So, if we've done this sort of thing for years, why is there suddenly a flashy word for it, and a problem ?

The problem is that historically all interaction with a customer was either untraceable (we couldn't tell who saw our newspaper advert) or in person with a sales executive via phone or in person.

Then came the digital experience.

The problem has been that most dealers have treated the "digital sale" as being seperated from a physical one.  

Over the pandemic years, where all transactions essentially had to be done remotely, dealers invested in the "online sale" - with improvements in their web sites and the way they could transaction digitally.

But, these were implemented in parallel to the old physical processes, and dealers needed to manually build the handover between the two.

So, for example, when a customer reserves a car online and pays a fee online to do so, the dealer often has to manually transfer this sale into the Dealer Management System, enter all the customer details, mark the vehicle as sold and post the receipt into the system.  This is a lot of work re-keying information that the customer has already helpfully key'd once!

But it gets worse.

The problem is that less than 2% of sales in 2022 were completed end-to-end digitally with no physical interaction.

In reality customers flip back and forth between the digital and physical journey

So, a customer may view a car on  your web site.

But then come in and test drive it.    

And then maybe email in later with some questions.

and then maybe telephone to place an order.   This needs generating and sending for him to sign.  Then the signed order saved manually by the dealer.

payment may be taken over the phone by credit card

and handover may well be in person too.

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There are many many variations on the theme, but today, apart from a physical test drive, every part of the sale process can equally be carried out either remotely or in person and it can't be assumed that because the customer was happy to do one step either online or physically that he may want to repeat in the next.

Ideally, we need to be able to have a smooth process which allows us easily to move from digital to physical and back

A customer deserves the right to be able to make an enquiry on a car online, and then turn up unannounced and ask to see the car he discussed online.  As a dealer, we should be able to link his online engagement with us with his physical one.

You need to have systems where an online interaction automatically is transferred into all the relevant dealer systems.  

This may be recording an online sales enquiry and keeping track of the two way email conversation through to automatically reserving the car when the customer does this online, posting the reservation fee against the deal without dealer interaction.

But why?  What are the benefits ?

Firstly, and most importantly, the customer can feel the difference.  They can see that at every point, whether online or in person, that their history is known and up to date.  

Secondly, the dealer is running much more efficiently.  No rekeying reduces the delays on processing, saves time, money and increases profitability.

Plus, there are major hidden benefits.

Your web site has stock available for sale - this stock should be updated from yor DMS system so that it's accurate and up to date.  But, if online reservations are keyed into the DMS system later, it's entirely possible that a vehicle on the web site may have been sold the day before and still show for sale - causing disappointment and annoyance for the customer.

These are the challenges to improve the experience.

Over the next few years, the best dealers will join up the online and physical experiences, and have them running efficiently and at low admin cost.  

Those that do, will be at a competitive advantage to those that don't.

Here, at Navigator, we aim to help our dealer customers to reach the position of utopia.

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