What is the Choice of the Discerning Consumers of Today?
In the last one year our lives have changed drastically. The dependence on technology and digitalization has increased phenomenally thus placing our bets on the segment as it rises to become a global movement. Human beings are the fastest to adapt to changing situations, thus when life shifted from offline purchases to online purchases in terms of commodities the automobile industry of the country adapted to this need in a span of days. Concepts of launching or showcasing vehicles digitally that could have taken years to come about was brought into action in matter of an odd one or two months. The growth has been enormous with the world witnessing 75% growth in the digital space.
This assessment of the need and requirement of the consumers, the unique situation of facing a global lockdown phased at different times, helped industries to evolve and ensure that they meted out experiential marketing from a digital front to the fullest extent.
When the pandemic struck, almost all businesses, across various industries switched on into the digital space to enable better opportunities and gain better profits for themselves. Consumers moved dramatically toward online channels, and companies and industries have responded in turn. In any case, digital technologies at scale are the solution. Experimenting with digital technologies over the past few years proved that they reduce costs, increase speed or increase quality in every business across industries.
COVID-19 brought about an increased demand on personal mobility thus prompting many people to assess whether they should return to using public transit or consider driving instead. Keeping this in mind, Big Boy Toyz and few others in the segment rose up to the occasion to provide consumer satisfaction to the utmost level. Since consumers now-a-days are more comfortable when the cars walk into their space instead of them walking into showrooms these sentiments have translated into a global wave of a new method of purchasing vehicles. Many consumers remain wary of engaging in face-to-face negotiations, providing paper signatures, and attending finance office meetings, all of which are typically part of the vehicle purchasing process. E-commerce is gradually emerging to be a one stop solution to all these problems.
According to Google, 95% of vehicle buyers use digital as a source of information and it takes 65% of buyers just 3 weeks to research online. In fact, twice as many start their research online versus at a dealer. When car buyers start their research, 6 out of 10 are undecided and open to different model and vehicle options. However, by the time they actually make it to a dealership, they often already know the vehicle they want to purchase.
Although, there are significant differences between two product segments: new and pre-owned cars. Pre-owned cars are ahead of new cars in the transition to online sales, largely because they don’t require coordination between franchised dealers and automakers. Switching to the digital showroom makes it a multi brand showroom, too. Used cars also don’t have the same high depreciation challenge as new vehicles. That facilitates online sales by allowing for marketing initiatives such as a seven-day return policy. Used-car retailers can offer that benefit without much risk of a large depreciation hit, and it reassures online buyers. The rapid growth of online-only used-car dealers in the past several years validates consumers’ willingness to buy cars online. As a matter of fact, supporting this statement, Big Boy Toyz makes 75% of its sales annually out of the digital app or the website.
Mr. Jatin Ahuja, Founder and CEO of Big Boy Toyz, says “Even in the present, when a customer decides to buy a brand-new car, they don’t prefer to go to the showroom. They instead prefer to call the car home, do the test drive, and finalize things at their own comfort and convenience. With organizations which have a strong goodwill, like BBT, switching to digital is going to help in a very big way because the customers do not need to test drive. The customers are very well experienced, they know what they want, and they trust us. So, yes, not just in the future but the digital switch is already making a change. So, yes, not just in the future but the digital switch is already making a change. Hence the consumers are now the tech savvy individuals making their choices on a click.”
