What Is Omnichannel?
How Is Omnichannel Changing The Car Industry?
Pros
Drawbacks
Future Of Omnichannel And Automotive Industry
All across the world, car dealerships have had to adapt in 2020 with a lot of them migrating online.
One such company embracing the change is Carzaty, an online car retail platform. This technology-driven omnichannel automotive retailer has been making waves in the Middle East.
Start-ups in this area of the world have seen a huge uptake in funding earlier in the year. Omani-based Carzaty, for example, has raised $4million since its conception.
The implications for the car industry are immense; let’s break down why.
Table of Contents
What Is Omnichannel Marketing?
Omnichannel is a cross-channel approach to sales. It seeks to improve user experience across all touchpoints.
Omnichannel accounts for channel overlaps, like physical and digital. It aims to create a unified whole; an experience with your user in the driver’s seat (pardon the pun!).
How Is Omnichannel Changing The Car Industry?
It’s important to note that omnichannel marketing is not only changing the industry. The industry itself is also changing to keep up with evolving consumers demands.
In the UAE alone, Carzaty’s owners have kept up with an exponential rise in buyer’s looking for used cars.
Studies have shown that 80% of consumers in the UAE now opt to buy used cars rather than new ones.
With this migration to eCommerce, it seems that there’s a lot to say for omnichannel in catering to these needs.
Pros
Some of the ways in which omnichannel marketing has catered for the times are:
- Offering a blend of online and physical showrooms.
- No longer limiting showrooms/customers to what can fit in showrooms.
- A quicker sale process.
- User-led product filtering (rather than explaining to a sales assistant what they need).
- Streamlining the process to combat the UAE’s surprisingly high website bounce rates.
There are positives for the user (quicker checkouts) and business owner (reduced overheads). Plus, omnichannel has offered a positive disruption to the affordable car industry.
Companies like Carzaty have leveraged physical channels by offering test drives and home delivery.
Drawbacks
But there may be some who mourn the loss of physical showrooms. For users that aren’t versed in using eCommerce sites, it could prove a barrier.
On top of this, cars may be higher priced. This cost, it’s said, will be offset by greater value-for-money. To this end, used cars are checked, fixed, and serviced.
For businesses themselves, online channels could lead to stronger competition and weaker margins. Although, it’d be impossible not to pursue online sales in light of the world that we’re living in.
Future Of Omnichannel And Automotive Industry
What would you say to high resolution, detailed pictures of a whole showroom? What about if you could easily see the specifications and features of every car you view?
How about throwing in home delivery or the opportunity to test drive? If you’ve ticked all those boxes, then you’ll understand the positives of omnichannel car marketing.
With the rise of eCommerce in the industry, companies need to adapt now.
Consider recent studies that show that 50% of customers begin looking for cars online. These studies also state that customers want to switch between channels when shopping!
It’s no secret that we’re moving toward the ‘Tesla model’ of one-car showrooms. So dealerships need to keep up with buyers’ demands.
As for one business doing just that (Carzaty), we expect to see a move into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia’s markets.
About the author: Harry Patté-Dobbs is a content writing and PR expert at SerpWizz! He’s written for blogs, news, and media outlets and loves films, food, and wellness. You can usually find him either reading or writing.