Auto Trader launches new remote selling features to aid automotive recovery and help retailers get retail ready, responsibly.
By Karolina Edwards-Smajda, Commercial Products Director, Auto Trader.
Next week we’ll bring forward the launch of some important new features to help retailers get retail ready, responsibly. We announced these features a few weeks ago and were targeting to launch them when showrooms could reopen; but with government advice changing and guidance published by the NFDA and SMMT, we’ve decided to launch these new features quickly to help support retailers and the industry back to business. They are ready to enable in Portal now, see the bottom of this post for more details.
What’s changed in the guidance?
On Sunday 10th May, the PM addressed the nation with the outline of their plan. Through Monday and Tuesday more detail emerged and the government announced their plan to rebuild the UK through the COVID-19 recovery strategy. It was initially understood that whilst automotive retailers were encouraged to go back to work, as a non-essential retailer environment, showrooms would need to remain closed to the public with a possible reopening from 1st June. However, when updating their guidance on which businesses must remain closed, it seemed to suggest that click and collect is allowed for any type of retail is allowed to continue.
On Wednesday the NFDA and SMMT launched a joint response with their Industry guidance and best practice for automotive retail which guides the industry towards adopting a “click and collect” model to enable transactions until showrooms can reopen to the general public. They also set out safety guidance on practicalities of social distancing to help retailers prepare for when they can reopen showrooms.
What does this mean for retailers?
This change in policy along with our previous research with UK consumers points to a very clear shift in the way retailers will need to operate. The online showroom or forecourt will become your only real shop window; walk-ins are likely to be a thing of the past so retailers will need to adapt their operation to expect 100% of enquires to come from their digital presence and handled online.
As a result of this we’ve decided to fast-track our new remote selling features to launch early indicating to buyers what contactless or remote selling services you offer.
We’re also increasing our marketing to consumers to let them know that retailers are open for business and offering solutions such as home delivery, live video viewing and safety measures such as contactless collection, appointment only and social distancing measures. More on this to come soon.
New Auto Trader advert features
We believe that these new features will be key to helping retailers to be retail ready and gain confidence with consumers in the current environment. These new features will go live on your adverts on Wednesday 20th May and all are available now in Portal to configure. Here’s a reminder of the new features:
Covid-19 Safety measures
Your adverts will have a dedicated space for you to outline the steps you’re taking to increase customer safety during the showroom visit, such as social distancing measures, anti-bacterial cleaning, and the application of personal protective equipment (PPE) among staff.
How does it work?
Simply populate this in Portal explaining your safety measures and this will appear on your adverts when we launch the feature. There are three pre-defined checkboxes for “appointment only”, “social distancing measures in place” and “contactless collection”. We’ve also left a free text field for you to explain more as everyone’s approach will be different.
Book a live video viewing
Potential customers will have the option to request a Live Video Viewing directly from your Auto Trader advert, in order to explore any specific details or features they couldn’t find in the advert view and replace the showroom visit with a virtual one.
How does it work?
Enable this feature if you’re able to offer the customer a live video viewing. The request will come through as an email lead with the contact details of the customer to arrange the viewing with. You can arrange a suitable time and use whichever video service is most convenient for you and your customer.
Home delivery
If you provide a home delivery service, you will be able to highlight this to customers covered by your delivery area and provide more details about how the service works and any associated costs.
How does it work?
We’ll ask you a series of questions such as the postcode areas you can deliver to, whether the service is free or chargeable and the specifics of your home delivery offering. You’ll be able to configure this in Portal from next week and we’ll be in touch when it’s available in your account section.
Enable these new features now
You can head to Portal now and enable all features, just look under the “Home services” and “Covid-19 Safety Measures” sections in the “Business account” drop down of your account area.