Stores selling cars in shopping malls appear to be a big success, with new demographics buying new cars.
The boss of Hyundai UK Tony Whitehorn told CarDealer Magazine the two stores, operated in conjunction with Rockar, have had an ‘unbelievable’ impact not he brand.
Rocker was formed by former dealer Simon Dixon with Hyundai to challenge the traditional car buying model.
The stores don’t have traditional sales people, instead being staffed by ‘angels’ carrying tablets. Test drive vehicles are held at ‘experience centres’ nearby, where service is also carried out.
Whitehorn told CarDealer the outlets brought a different buyer to the brand, with an average age of 39 versus 52 for the rest of the UK trade, with a54% split of buyers being female.
“So we’ve got a new type of customer, they’re younger, and more likely to be female. It’s unbelievable,” Whitehorn said.
Whitehorn says they believe the mall buyers are not substitutions for sales at traditional dealerships, but new-new car buyers, and an incremental gain.
In its first year 170,000 people entered the store at one of the outlets, with 700 vehicle sold.
“That’s a huge number of people who didn’t buy – but they still had a Hyundai experience. And that’s great.’
The company is not alone in having store-style outlet, Tesla being one of the most famous for only selling in that way.
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