Motor manufacturers have embraced online retailing and some such as Mercedes-Benz are now creating an ecosystem which allows customers to have as much or as little human interaction with the dealership as they like.
Last month Britta Seeger, the head of marketing and sales for Mercedes-Benz AG, held a digital round table meeting with journalists to give an update on the brand’s latest strategy called Best Customer Experience 4.0.
Seeger says the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the brands digitalisation process.
“Customers will be moving continuously between physical and digital touchpoints.For this reason, we will continue to invest in the digital transformation inspite of all of the current challenges,” Seeger says.
The brand says the ethos of Best Customer Experience 4.0 is that it offers customers a seamless and convenient luxury experience whenever they want to get in touch with Mercedes-Benz – online to offline, and back again.
Mercedes-Benz was the first car manufacturer in Germany to launch an online store for vehicles in 2016.
Since then more than 14 global markets now have a Mercedes-Benz online store for new and used vehicles.
It says more than 90% of buyers come into a Mercedes-Benz dealership already well informed from their online research.
Where previously buyers visited a dealership on an average of eight times before making a vehicle purchase, now the average is once to twice before the purchase is made says Mercedes-Benz.
By 2025 Mercedes-Benz expects that more than 25% of its global passenger car sales will be conducted through online channels together with its trading partners.
It cites China as a pioneer in digitalization. Mercedes-Benz says it gradually expanded digital offerings and channels in China to offer customers a digital luxury experience.
In June 2020 more than 85% of Mercedes-Benz buyers in China signed online electronic financial contracts.
Mercedes-Benz says the digitalisation of sales also includes the dealership service and after sales functions.
It expects that 80% of service appointments will be booked online by 2025.
Customers will receive offers and appointment suggestions that they can accept with one click.
Mercedes-Benz says moving to a direct sales model will also better support its digitalisation strategy.
Under a new agency model, it will retain ownership of vehicle stock and pay the dealership a set fee for each vehicle sold.
Under such a system the brand can set non-negotiable national pricing for its vehicles, which it says will maintain consistency of price regardless of whether the purchaser buys online or in person at the dealership.
South Africa become the first Mercedes-Benz market to offer this model in December 2017, followed by Sweden in April 2019, and Austria will move to this model in 2021.
Controversially, the company also wants to introduce the full agency model to Mercedes-Benz dealerships in Australia in 2022, after trialling it with the all-electric EQC SUV.
A prescient move by Volkswagen Group Australia?
Volkswagen Group Australia’s (VGA) April introduction of online sales on its new website was almost a prescient move which has paid dividends for the brand and its dealer partners.
Following a trial run of online sales for the T-Roc SUV since January 2020, VGA made all of its passenger and commercial vehicles available for purchase on the website in April, just as the COVID-19 pandemic created challenging trading conditions.
Once buyers had configured their vehicle and deposited $500, a designated dealer will contact them within 48 hours to complete the transaction and arrange delivery.
The website allowed buyers to research, specify, order, and track the delivery of their new Volkswagen.
Subject to dealer inspection, the buyers can also enter the registration of their vehicle to receive an online trading valuation.
VGA customer experience and marketing director Jason Bradshaw says the system enables buyers to purchase anytime while continuing to support the dealer network which remains the brand’s frontline.
In May VGA participated for the first time in a Click Frenzy event which saw more than 100,000 people visit Volkswagen’s array of online-only offers.
Bradshaw says the brands participation in Click Frenzy, which ran for 190,800 seconds, reinforced that customers enjoy the ease of configuring and ordering their new car online.
He says customers were able to order not only vehicles listed on Volkswagen’s newly released Stock-Locator tool, but also in-stock vehicles not yet allocated to dealers.
“In the first week of Click Frenzy more than 1300 customers used the attached trade-in valuation tool – more than half of them currently owners of rival brand vehicles,” Bradshaw says.
“It’s reasonable to assume that the majority of these have not owned a Volkswagen.
These are fresh leads for dealers.
“The Click Frenzy-driven initiative has re-written the record books.On one day alone more 52,000 people viewed Volkswagen’s online offers.By the end of the promotion that climbed to more than 100,000,” he says.
In June customers snapped up all 30 limited edition variants of the California Beach camper van, which went on sale exclusively online at 10am on June 24; selling out in just nine hours.
“Being able to offer customers new levels of flexibility feels like a natural step for the People’s Car Brand.Our online ordering and trade-in valuation is largely an Australian innovation, and it’s great to see it being utilised by our customers,” Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Australia director Ryan Davies says.
BMW starts online reservations with 5-series plug-in hybrid
BMW Australia is the latest manufacturer to launch an online shop for customers to reserve a car.
The BMW Shop is accessed via shop.bmw.com.au and offer a four-step process to order a vehicle.
The first vehicle to be offered online is the 530e plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV).
Buyers can select the model they want, as well as choose their preferred colour, trim and dealership. A deposit is paid at the end of the process.
If the vehicle selected via the online tool matches models in stock and does not need to be ordered from the factory, it can be fast-tracked for delivery within days.
The BMW Shop also minimises person-to-person contact and respecting national social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
BMW Group Australia CEO Vikram Pawah says the BMW Shop provides a solution for customers seeking safe and seamless methods of shopping.
“This is another example of BMW setting new benchmarks in the digital world while also offering a tool that exhibits our core focus of customer centricity,” Pawah says.
“Our provision of the 530e as the first vehicle available via BMW Shop is also fitting; it underlines our power of choice strategy whereby we offer customers a range of powertrain options in addition to showcasing leading BMW drive system technology.”
The BMW Shop service will expand further in the future with availability of other models and new features to enhance convenience for customers.
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