Online motor finance technology is increasingly being used by dealers to drive efficiencies in the showroom in a new development, we’re reporting at iVendi.
The benefits created in a web environment are helping to deliver better customer service and create flatter management structures explained James Tew, CEO.
“The fact is that quite a gap has opened up between the experience offered by most showroom and online systems, with the latter offering a much better service.
“I bought a car recently and it took the franchise dealer two days to deliver the 18 finance quotes I needed to arrive at the outcome I wanted. Using an online solution such as we and other companies provide, I’d expect that to take around 10 minutes.
“Dealers are noticing these kinds of gaps and, increasingly, are using online tech to deliver faster, more accurate and less labour-intensive customer showroom experiences that require reduced employee specialism and use flatter structures.
“This chimes with the move away from traditional showroom sales approaches to product specialists. The structure and compliance created by using an online sales process in a face-to-face situation can be overseen by almost anyone.”
The ability for the customer to self-serve in the showroom on decisions ranging from finance to added value products was also proving a key benefit, James added.
“We’ve actually been designing our products to be used in this way for some time but there has been a definite upsurge over the last year or so.
“It doesn’t work for every kind of dealer but in car supermarkets, for example, it very much fits into their customer-centric ethos to give the car buyer the means to create their own final sale by sitting them down with a tablet or screen in the showroom.
“This approach is also in harmony with FCA thinking. It provides the consumer with the tools to make their own informed decision in a low pressure environment.”
James added that using the same technology in the showroom and online also fitted in with the way in which consumers tended to buy cars in 2020.
“It’s generally recognised that today, there are few car buyers who behave in an entirely digital or entirely analogue way. They construct their own car and van buying journeys by switching between both paths as they see fit.
“Using just one system across the showroom and web works well within this pattern of behaviour. It effectively creates a common means of handling all elements of the process, meaning that the sale can be progressed anywhere at any time.”