Marketing

Six technologies that will facilitate change within the automotive retail industry

By Eric Miltsch

Automotive consumers have been asking for change for a long time. Changes that improve how they shop, how they buy and, most importantly, their overall experience and satisfaction. Instead of selling through their customer base year after year, smart dealerships have been listening to their guests.

Whrrl automotive search resultsIn doing so, car dealers understand the changes in their customer’s behavior and truly recognize the opportunities being created. For the truly progressive, it doesn’t stop there. Showroom shopping experiences, online browsing and customer relationship management abilities are becoming more congruent.

Several pieces of technology — particularly the six covered here — are well positioned to speed up the historic change currently happening within the automotive retail industry.

Car buyers are a powerful segment, with a strong voice. Dealers are wise to consider adopting these ideas sooner, rather than later. If not, their customers will have moved on — and be happier with their decision.

  1. Real-time search
    Google and Bing are squaring off in the first round of real-time search by providing results from the likes of Twitter and Facebook. While we don’t see these results in the same format as regular search results now, this will move from being a silo to being a primary search result visual. Search Engines such as Topsy will help the competition ramp up improved methods of displaying real-time results from relevant and influential sources; other players in this space: Collecta and OneRiot.

    Customer benefit: Having access to real-time content can help shoppers confirm a smart decision much faster. It can either speed up the decision making progress — or even keep a shopper away from a store due to the immediacy of this content.

  2. Geolocation services
    It will become increasingly easy to engage with prospects and customers with the advent of GPS-style functions within mobile phones, social channels and smart phone apps that harness geolocation capabilities. Geolocation API’s will increase the ability to communicate with consumers; your own creativity is the limitation. For example, Whrrl’s Merchant Program is a simple way to extend your online footprint and offer an incentive for consumers to visit and engage them with new discount/promotional ideas.

    Customer benefit: Customers will have an opportunity to create better relationships with dealerships with these tools — while also actually having fun.

  3. Mobile video
    Video has become a standard for the automotive segment within websites — mobile video will be a new frontier. Smartphone video usage will continue to explode as it becomes easier to stream from your phone — and to users’ phones. Network expansion from 3G to 4G and Google’s entry into the spectrum will open up new creative possibilities. The first step was gaining mobile acceptance and basic usage. Nine million users accessed their Facebook account via their mobile phone in 2008; that number exploded to 88 million in 2009. There is a huge opportunity for mobile video in 2010.

    Customer benefit: This is a pure convenience play for consumers. Shopping for what they want, when they want and where they want. The experience will become hyper-customizable.

  4. HTML5
    The newest version of HTML will host a suite of user features and benefits that improve online experiences. Rich applications, such as video and animation, will be easier to integrate as Flash and Silverlight won’t be as heavily relied upon. The goal is to create simple user experiences that function like a desktop application and also allow next-gen features such as offline data support and drag-and-drop capabilities. Hopefully, more automotive web developers will recognize the opportunity this presents to provide dealers and their visitors more memorable and effective experiences.

    Customer benefit: Online shopping will become more robust as new content delivery methods emerge. Access to vital information will become easier and simply more enjoyable.

  5. Social centralization
    This is my term for the direction of car dealer social networks and the value-added services they will provide automotive professionals. Dealer network sites will evolve into centralized destinations that provide more than blog posts and discussions. As user acceptance and awareness increases, greater value will be driven by segment-specific research, access to video libraries and vendor ratings. I see the culmination being the eventual cross-pollination of content and resources from major industry brands into their own specific communities. I also see users gaining greater access to this content, whether they act as contributors or readers, via simpler access points such as smartphone apps.

    Customer benefit: A rapid increase in the sharing of best practices is about to overcome the retail industry. Competition will increase as the bar is raised to proved a better, more impressive shopping experience.

  6. Social CRM
    The entire CRM segment will be shaken up in 2010. Old systems that dealers have been subjected to will be turned upside down with the advent of more web-based systems. The biggest changes could also come from the integration of the social channels to these systems to help improve and monitor customer communications. Major CRM solutions have already made this leap; I’m confident these solutions will make their way into the newest CRM tools being rolled out. I wouldn’t be shocked if an open source DMS-CRM solution sprouted up. Salesforce.com is adding a new data tool to its offering called Chatter. Other companies, such as Yammer, have rolled out creative solutions that mesh internal and external communication efforts.

    Customer benefit: Greater communication and information flow with regards to items such as vehicle service and car care will become more important as ownership continues to increase.

We’re experiencing another round of significant changes in the automotive markets. Improvements in the retail process, customer service and online user experience will continue to move at breakneck speeds in 2010 and aren’t limited to the above list; they’re certainly not limited to simply technological solutions — these are simply tools to help make the improvements easier to achieve.

I’m confident we’ll see an ongoing wave of improvements as manufacturers and retailers continue to alter the automotive markets. As long as the consumer is placed one step ahead of the OEM’s and retailers, shoppers will reap more benefits than ever experienced within the industry.

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A version of this article was originally published on Driving Sales. It has been rewritten in parts by the author to make it more relevant to the Headlightblog.com audience.

February 28, 2010 | 8 Comments 

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