Customers are Doing More of the Car Buying Process Online, and Dealers are Following Suit

January 10 22:33 2022
By Mike Goicoechea.

Online vehicle purchasing was already growing at a steady pace back when no one had ever heard of COVID-19, but since then, the shift to internet car sales has surged. Combine that with the ensuing vehicle shortage, and shoppers have come up with all kinds of new approaches to sourcing vehicles. The biggest one: buying a car on their phone.

First, the basics: online vehicle shopping continues to grow. More people are shopping online when they need a car, and more are actually completing the deal, or greater portions of their deal, remotely. In the first quarter of this year, 86% of customers completed at least part of the car buying process online.

Dealers are responding by getting more digitally savvy in a couple ways: shifting their sales department online, and shifting ad dollars away from traditional third party sites to focus on driving traffic to their social media accounts and websites, and through SEO, SEM and other search-related tactics like MotorCloud.com.

My team talks to hundreds of dealers all over the country, everyday. To say they have a finger on the pulse of the automotive market is an understatement. One clear picture has emerged: dealers with a stronger online presence are getting more customers, and those that can do a car deal totally online are doing more and more of their business that way.

A recent Motus report said, “Consumer confidence in online vehicle shopping continues to grow as sellers become more sophisticated and better equipped to meet shoppers’ expectations.” At Dealerslink, we’ve seen this play out, and we’ve shifted our feature development to meet the expectations of consumers today.

Whether it’s providing a user-friendly app to intake the customer’s trade info, providing public-facing market data so shoppers know how to value their car, providing the strongest virtual showroom products that allows customers to really connect with the car without being there in person, or an unparalleled source of on-demand inventory dealers can use to source practically any car for a customer’ needs, we’re here for the new car-buying landscape.

As we enter 2022, the world is in a new place. The pandemic surges and retreats in various countries, and economies react. National and local markets ride the waves. And businesses and individuals within that context are facing new challenges. The name of the game here is, embrace change and innovate.

Media Contact
Company Name: DealersLink, Inc.
Contact Person: Ryan Smith
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website: http://www.dealerslink.com

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