As most of us say ‘good riddance’ to 2008, it seems everyone has a heightened sense of awareness going into 2009. In regards to strategy, Dealers are making more careful choices and wiser decisions. Ambiguity has been replaced with accountability, trust is synonymous with proof, and vendors are being audited. But above all, the dealers who will survive in 2009 and beyond will be those who fundamentally shift their beliefs about the Internet.
During the housing boom, money was flowing. It seemed one out of two vehicles on the road had paper plates. Meanwhile most dealers were still trying to figure out the Internet with many refusing to believe it was a lucrative means of reaching existing and potential customers because..well, they were selling cars.
Also remember, the tech bubble had burst shortly before the housing bubble began…so the theory of the Internet taking over our daily lives was in question. But what emerged from the tech implosion was a leaner, more viable Internet. The fat fell off and the Internet was exposed for its most essential offerings – email and search. And with more data showing Internet usage increasing and car shoppers looking online to start their research, dealers started moving their Internet efforts higher on the priority list. Yet although dealers were starting to embrace the Internet, they were still unwilling to relinquish their old habits. According to NADA – in 2005 dealers on average spent $177,992 on newspapers, $72,821on radio, $58,631 on TV, $30,132 on direct mail, and $25,844 on the Internet. As the old saying goes, “I know my advertising budget is working…I just don’t know which part”.
So now that 2008 has proven that over 90% of people planning to purchase a vehicle start their buying cycle online, what do you plan to do with that information, and are you thinking of reallocating your budgets according to proven user behavior?
At ecarlist, we see it all….from small independents to large corporate dealer groups. We’ve seen independents and franchises shut their doors, but we’ve also seen the complete opposite. We can spot a successful dealer by the way they treat their Internet program and their online presence.
If you are one of four Nissan stores in your market, and you have a website template built in 1999 with bolt-on inventory modules and no Search Engine Marketing to drive people to your website, odds are you are losing to your competitor who has an updated website with easy inventory navigation, useful media tools, SEO and a successful Internet process on the backend to match. The forward-thinking dealer is building immediate credibility by giving his website visitors (a.k.a. existing and potential customers) a pleasant and informative “virtual visit”. He isn’t afraid of getting shopped and he realizes that if he isn’t there to make an impression that his competition will be.
So hopefully we all can take many lessons from 2008 and what led up to it. We can then apply those lessons to 2009 – rethink, readjust, fire, hire, buy, sell…but keep in mind your online strategy and how you are going to emerge an improved, forward-thinking dealer for 2010 and beyond.
