In March, the Canadian auto dealer team visited Las Vegas, Nev. to experience the bright lights in the big city.
But the glitz, sizzle and pizzazz weren’t happening at a casino or nightclub — they were in the vast exhibition halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center that had been converted into the world’s biggest exhibition of digital signage and interactive technology.
The 2016 Digital Signage Expo bills itself as the world’s largest and longest running conference and trade show in this field. With more than 200 exhibitors, and a full slate of conference sessions before, during and after the exhibition portion, it was an explosion of technology all vying for our attention.
It also provided us a window into what dealerships can expect to be available and on display in their facilities in the not-too-distant future. The timing couldn’t be better for a digital transformation in automotive retail.
One of the speakers at the CADA Summit in February described auto dealerships as “digital deserts” where visitors would be hard pressed to find anything digital to interact with or connect them to their online experience. Car toppers and posters, and brochures just don’t seem to have the sizzle customers might expect when they visit a dealership today.
This creates, quite frankly, a boring retail experience where we rely on the sales associates to deliver the passion, knowledge and enthusiasm for the products being sold. As good as your sales team might be, there is an increasingly large chunk of your customers who would prefer to conduct their own self-guided discovery as they navigate towards a purchase decision.
This is particularly true of the millennial generation — those between 18 and 35 — who are now projected to outnumber the boomers.
There are a number of reasons millennials will be more attracted to digital experiences. Firstly, they were raised in the hyper-connected, digital world.
Other research suggests they aren’t the most trusting generation.
“Millennials have emerged into adulthood with low levels of social trust,” said the Pew Research Center, in their study, Millennials in Adulthood.
When asked whether “most people can be trusted or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people,” just 19 per cent of millennials said most people can be trusted, compared with 31 per cent of Gen Xers, and 40 per cent of Boomers.
It’s also important to consider that they might be less comfortable talking about things like money and credit than other customers would be.
Millennials are the first group in the modern era to have higher levels of student loan debt, poverty and unemployment and lower levels of wealth and personal income than their two immediate predecessor generations had at the same stage of life, according to the Pew researchers.
So, let’s connect a few dots here.
Millennials represent — or will soon represent — the biggest chunk of your possible customer base. Most love all things digital. They will be doing most of their research online using a range of digital tools, some provided by the OEM, and others by third party sites. They don’t really trust real people. Many are in a tough financial situation, but still need transportation.
Put yourselves in their shoes, and now walk into your dealership. What greets you? What catches your attention? Can you privately explore which vehicles you can afford?
It’s time you honestly assessed your dealership experience to ensure you are providing the type of digital discovery experience that matches all of your customers needs — both in sales and in service.
