Pub. 11 2012-2013 Issue 3

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S F A L L 2 0 1 2 22 new jersey auto retailer The threat for dealers in the late ‘90s was concern for being surpassed by outside challenges to the franchise system as well as innovative marketers. The threat today is dealer apathy and resistance to remain focused on the customer experience. We used to look at our competitors across the street and mimic their actions in our sales and marketing strategies. Today, we simply click their websites and click around to see where they list their vehicles to ensure we stay in the game. We should stop looking at our competitors and start looking at leading online retailers. Today’s customer wants more and they are voting with their dol- lars. It’s been too many years since dealers were truly innovative and took a risk in the Automotive Internet Marketplace. It’s a good time to consider your own strategy and the safest bet is to side with the customer expe- rience. Customers love the Internet and espe- cially love Mobile. In fact, it’s a common oc- currence for a customer to be in your showroom and be submitting a request at your com- petitor’s dealership for pricing while you are actively working a deal for them. Dealer’s have got to respond with some cool and con- venient updates to make it easier for customers to self serve and complete the car buying process with as little effort as possible. A friend of mine described his car buying experience with a national used vehicle retailer this way: “It was like going to the grocery store. I was able to shop online, talk with the salesperson, they brought it from another location and it took about 40 minutes for me to complete the paperwork at the dealership.”We see dealer- ships promote “buy in an hour” and I really think that’s what we need to strive for. We’ve seen so many great gains in Automotive e-tailing to this point. I think the next frontier will be driven by the dealers who redefine an easy experience for the customer by leveraging the mobile devices to simplify the process for customers and salespeople. Imagine a customer signing their agreement on your salesperson’s iPad and driving home in less than an hour. Someone’s going to figure it out. It might as well be you. David Kain is President of KainAutomotive.com. He can be reached at 859-533-2626 or david@kainautomotive.com. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS  continued from page 21 It’s been too many years since dealers were truly innovative and took a risk in the Automotive Internet Marketplace.