How to keep turning searches into sales
After a year of disruption, many will have been looking ahead to 2021 as a fresh start without trading restrictions. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case and we once again find ourselves in a situation where retailers are forced operate online only.
We explore what you can expect from the latest lockdown and what you can do to maximise your share of sales online.
What can we learn from previous lockdowns?
There’s no doubt that learnings from previous lockdowns put us in a much better position to navigate what we hope will be a final hurdle, with features now in place to enable digital retailing today and make it easier for tomorrow.
Lockdown 1 – Apr/May 2020
Retailers achieved approximately 20-25% of normal sales
Home services including click & collect and home delivery were introduced part way through the lockdown but weren’t embedded with consumers.
Demand was at record levels for 3 months after restrictions were eased and retailers recovered the loss in sales
Lockdown 2 – November 2020
As more retailers activated home services, consumers became familiar with the option to buy online
Retailers achieved around 70-75% of normal sales
Demand didn’t spike as restrictions were eased as seen in the previous lockdown
What’s the outlook for January?
In a recent interview with Car Dealer Magazine, Auto Trader COO Catherine Faiers discussed her expectations for lockdown 3. Catherine highlighted that there are positive signs, such as a huge spike in searches for used cars on Auto Trader since Boxing Day, with an outlook for the industry to achieve half of it’s normal sales in January.
“I would hope we would see levels of about 50% and we are basing that on audience levels on our platforms not on sold data”
This expectation was also reflected in our latest consumer research, with 49% of consumers prepared to purchase or reserve a vehicle online versus 51% who said they would only commit to a purchase at the dealership¹. In terms of whether the lockdown had directly affected their timeline, almost 60% said it had no impact on their decision (54%) or had made them want to purchase even sooner (5%)². 15% said they weren’t sure, which represents a further opportunity for retailers to remove doubt through how they present themselves and their vehicles. Commenting on the findings, Auto Trader’s data and insights director, Richard Walker, said:
“The lockdown was not the start to the year any of us were hoping for and unfortunately these new measures across the UK will have a significant impact on everyone’s plans over the next quarter. However, the data does give us reasons to be positive, with clear evidence of strong underlying consumer demand and buying intent.
As well as being far better prepared to continue selling via click and collect and home delivery over the coming weeks, we’re confident retailers can expect strong levels of demand as we come out of these restrictions.”
Richard Walker | Auto Trader Data & Insights Director
What can you do to maximise your share of online sales?
In a recent poll, 94% of Auto Trader retailers told us they were now operating click & collect and home delivery³, but doing this alone won’t open the floodgates to online sales. Digital retailing is about giving car buyers the confidence to commit to a purchase online without visiting a forecourt. This will require a significant amount of work for some retailers, to up their advertising game and bring the showroom experience online. To help you do that we’ve brought together our latest tools and insights:
Attract more buyers to your adverts
Make sure all your stock is advertised on Auto Trader
With the current restrictions, cars not listed on Auto Trader are effectively not for sale
Get the right exposure for your stock
With the volume of transactions in the market down, consider our prominence tools to increase your share of audience and sales
Improve your advert quality to attract more buyers to your adverts
Price to market and provide a high volume of quality imagery, plus a video for all vehicles
Engage buyers viewing your adverts
Provide more information about the deal
Give buyers all the information they need to qualify the purchase including finance, warranty, returns and a part-exchange valuation
Give buyers the opportunity to interact how and when they like
A major benefit of digital retailing is that consumers can shop 24/7. Enabling chat, text and email will ensure they can communicate with you how and when they like
Encourage your customers to leave reviews
Reviews play a key role in consumers committing to a purchase online, especially reviews from other buyers who have bought online
Offer live video viewings
Offer a virtual viewing, give the customer the chance to ask any questions and secure an opportunity to sell the vehicle
Set-up and personalise your new Retailer Store
With your physical forecourt closed, take the opportunity to enhance your digital forecourt experience with your new Retailer Store on Auto Trader
Convert more clicks into customers
Guarantee prices for part-exchanges
Offering a Guaranteed Part-Exchange (GPX) price on your adverts will give consumers confidence in the deal and reduce lost sales
Explain Click & Collect for buyers looking to commit to a purchase online
Run through the process with the customer and their rights under a distance sale agreement to give them the confidence to commit to the purchase online
Appeal to a wider audience by offering a home delivery service
Extend your home delivery service to appeal to a wider audience and explain the process and their rights to the consumer
How today’s advertising will influence the months ahead
The quicker you adapt to digital retailing the more impact it’s likely to have on your sales performance over the coming months. The graph below shows the percentage of buyers completing research in the three months prior to purchase, for the same period without restrictions. This shows that 23% of buyers viewed an advert from a retailer they went on to buy from in January, before committing to the purchase in April⁴. These numbers are likely to have increased this year, with some consumers putting off their purchase until they can visit a showroom.
This demonstrates the importance of taking action to ensure you’re in the best possible position to maximise your share of sales, both during the lockdown and as we emerge from it. With consumers becoming more familiar with the benefits of interacting with sellers online, it’s unlikely they will revert to their old shopping habits, creating a need for all retailers to adapt and keep pace.
If you’re looking for support with attracting, engaging or converting searches into sales on Auto Trader, complete the callback request and we’ll be in touch.
¹Auto Trader on-site surveys, 8th-12th January 2020 n=821 | ² Auto Trader on-site surveys, 8th-12th January 2020 n=1136 | ³ Dealer Portal Survey January 2021 n=3827 | ⁴ Auto Trader internal match data Jan 2019 - April 2019