Toronto, Ontario, March 21, 2020: Stores are unable to keep up with demand for sanitizer and personal protective equipment.
Car dealerships sit at the epicentre of many communities across Canada.
They are gathering places where people drop off their vehicles for service, socialize and visit to shop for their dream vehicles.
Dealerships have been adapting their stores to create a more customer-centric experience, and to encourage more people to visit and enjoy their amenities like free wi-fi, coffee, workspaces and areas to lounge.
That’s why the dramatic measures taken across the country as I write this — including Canada shutting its borders to foreigners, and greatly restricting public gatherings — are going to have profound and perhaps lasting impact on car dealerships and in particular on their staff.
No one can say for sure what the “new normal” will be as the immediate and worst health risks posed by COVID-19 start to dissipate. It’s a complete unknown.
For dealer principals already bracing for the economic impact of declining car sales and multiple forces of change swirling around them, the COVID-19 threat is particularly difficult.
If there’s one silver lining in all of this, it’s that while dealerships are overhauling their in-dealership experience, many have also been overhauling their digital car shopping experience.
For dealer principals already bracing for the economic impact of declining car sales and multiple forces of change swirling around them, the COVID-19 threat is particularly difficult.
There are many vendors in the Canadian market today who can provide some level of digital retailing that can allow consumers to shop and “retail” their next new or used vehicle from the comfort of their home — or from their self-isolated quarters at home.
The demand for car purchases might drop off for a while, as people re-prioritize, and perhaps even as people are travelling and commuting less in the short term.
But demand will return, and dealers would be well advised to use the “pause” in business to continue to renovate and modernize their digital retailing and online presence.
I visit a lot of dealership websites and it’s hard to find very many that provide a truly seamless, or elegant digital retailing experience that’s on par with the best experience in other industries.
It might seem to be a difficult time for dealerships to invest in these digital tools as their business is slowing down.
This strategic investment might, however, help dealerships re-emerge on the far side of this pandemic as stronger, more evolved businesses better able to meet the needs of car shoppers — especially since some might be even more inclined to do their shopping from the safety and privacy of their homes.
