With smartphone ownership at 58% nationwide and with close to 200 million tablets sold in 2013, the way dealers do business and advertise is drastically changing.
The way consumers shop for their next vehicle has once again made a huge shift. They now have all the information needed, right in their pocket, in their hand, available at anytime and anywhere they want or need to access it.
A recent study performed by Cars.com and Placed, Inc. shows that 25% of car shoppers will conduct research using only a smartphone, prior to visiting a dealership.
Another important find from the Cars.com and Placed, Inc. revealed that 63% of auto shoppers researched and shopped online while at a dealership and 33% of shoppers were lured to a competing dealership based on a mobile advertisement found while on a dealer lot.
Click here to download the complete study.
Let’s review that stat once more – “33% of shoppers were lured to a competing dealership based on a mobile advertisement found while on a dealer lot.”
At first, 33% may seem like a steep number. But think about how often you use your own smartphone to shop and cross-shop different product as you’re about to make a purchase. All of a sudden, that 33% becomes more believable.
Then as you stand back and look across the crowed showroom floor on a busy mid-morning Saturday, you take notice to almost every potential customer working with one of your fellow sales representatives, has a smartphone in their hands.
Maybe they’re checking their email. Maybe they’re texting a friend. Maybe they’re taking a photo of a vehicle and posting to facebook - asking for their friends feedback…
OR maybe they’re on the mobile website of your competition, looking for either a better deal, or a like vehicle of a different color and included options. While searching inventory on your competitors mobile website, the customer not only finds another vehicle they may be interested in but they're also presented with a $25.00 gift card for visiting the dealership (while leaving yours) today for a test drive.
The customer considers the other vehicle and the $25.00 incentive; figures what the heck, lets slide down to ABC Toyota and test-drive this vehicle before deciding.
Before you know it, the once crowded showroom floor is no longer.
What happened?
Answer: You’re competition has that 33% figured out. They've put together a strong and effortless mobile shopping experience while leveraging Mobile2Show on their dealerships' mobile website - for this exact conquest opportunity.
What’s your mobile strategy to help capture this 33%?
