Improving consumer confidence and the reopening of auto retail in Victoria pushed carsales.com.au to big audience growth in October.
Improving consumer confidence and the reopening of automotive retail in Victoria helped push Australia’s #1 for cars to big audience growth in October, according to the latest Nielsen’s Digital Content Ratings Monthly report.
carsales’ Unique Audience (UA) also grew 32% year-on-year to 4.75M, almost tripling the auto category’s 11% UA growth over the same period.
As a result of this growth, carsales’ UA is now 2.3x larger than its nearest competitor.
The strong increase in car-shopping activity year-on-year in October comes off the back of similar results in July, August and September.
Visitors to carsales were also highly engaged in October, spending over 31 minutes onsite in September – more than double carsales’ nearest competitor.
“Strong growth in key carsales shopping metrics over the past few months reflect improving consumer sentiment and sustained demand for cars,” says Kellie Cordner, Chief Marketing Officer at carsales.
“It’s great car-shopping momentum for carsales dealers to capitalise on as we get closer to the summer peak car-buying period.”
According to a Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey, consumer sentiment rose by 2.5% in early November – marking the third successive month of improvement as personal tax cuts and interest rate cuts begin to feed into the economy. Victorians had the biggest improvement in confidence, with sentiment in Australia’s second most populous state rising 9% – as social distance restrictions were eased and retailers were allowed to reopen.
The increase in consumer optimism was reflected in the VFACTS October 2020 sales report. Australian new car sales last month were down just 1.5 per cent below the same month last year. In fact, excluding Victoria from the report where dealers were closed for much of the month, the new car market was up 10% on October 2019.
Engagement with carsales Editorial content — another key indicator of interest in cars — continued to grow in October. A Unique Audience of 1.15M consumers interacted with written and video reviews, comparison tests and news, across carsales.com.au editorial pages – up 52% year-on-year and well-above the auto category’s 29% year-on-year growth.
The unique connection of carsales editorial content to dealer and automaker inventory cements its increasing importance and influence in the car-buying journey. With just one click on carsales.com.au, buyers can transition from researching a car via editorial content, to purchasing via a dealer or automaker’s virtual showroom – all from the comfort of home.
The result of this unique connection is that carsales content drives more action in the consideration stage. Consumers who have read carsales content are more likely to take action, conducting 5.6x more searches, 7.5x more views on details pages, and submitting 5.3x more sales enquiries.
LCVs again dominated the list of the most searched new cars on carsales, with the Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton, Isuzu D-Max and Toyota HiLux occupying the top four spots.
In fact, 15 of the top 20 most searched new cars on carsales in October were either LCVs or SUVs.
Last week, carsales Editorial announced the top 10 finalists have emerged from a strong field of 27 contenders for the 2020 carsales Car of the Year. SUVs nominated for the award include the Genesis GV80, Kia Sorento, Land Rover Defender, Mazda CX-30, Skoda Kamiq, Volkswagen T-Cross and Volvo XC40 Recharge Plug-in Hybrid.
Most searched new cars – October 2020
1. Ford Ranger
2. Mitsubishi Triton
3. Isuzu D-Max
4. Toyota HiLux
5. Toyota RAV4
6. Toyota Landcruiser
7. Toyota Landcruiser Prado
8. Volkswagen Golf
9. Mazda CX-5
10. Hyundai i30
11. Volkswagen Tiguan
12. Mazda3
13. Kia Sorento
14. Volkswagen Amarok
15. Nissan Navara
16. Mazda BT-50
17. Mercedes-Benz C-Class
18. Mitsubishi Outlander
19. Kia Seltos
20. Mercedes-Benz A-Class
