Latest carsales data show two-thirds ready to buy in next month
Latest carsales survey data has confirmed Australian car buyers are still keen to drive away in a new set of wheels.
Despite significant movement restrictions thanks to COVID-19 lockdowns, the August Consumer Sentiment survey shows car shopping consumer demand remains strong with nearly two-thirds (64%) of survey respondents looking to purchase in the next month.
This is the highest level carsales has recorded since COVID-related consumer sentiment surveying began in March 2020 and a strong indicator of modern consumerism’s ‘Buy Now’ mentality.
Tellingly, half of these intenders are not prepared to wait more than one month for their preferred new car to be in stock.
Inventory management to meet consumer needs
In a recent carsales Trends in Automotive Digital Retailing webinar, carsales’ Head of Executive Business, Business Consultancy Services, Ren Blanning, explained that to meet evolving consumer expectations in the face of new car stock storages, dealer inventory management must be a primary business focus.
“With 50 per cent of car buyers not prepared to wait more than one month for a vehicle, a robust inventory strategy that focuses on turning over all or most of the dealer’s stock each month is vital,” Blanning explained, adding that aged inventory simply costs dealers money.
A key driver to inventory management is lead spread – ensuring that all (or most) existing inventory is generating customer enquiry all (or most) of the time.
carsales data taken since July 2019 shows a national spike in lead spread in July 2020, when many COVID restrictions were in place. This forced dealers to embrace digital for lead generation.
Looking at July 2021 data shows lead spread has come back off 2020 peaks as more businesses reverted to the showroom-first status quo.
As part of her presentation in the carsales webinar, Blanning noted that the highest performing dealers retained their focus on strategic inventory management throughout and continue to do so.
“The top 10 per cent of Australian dealers consistently achieve between 80 and 90 per cent lead spread, so there is incredible opportunity to generate higher profits by robust inventory management, targeting the right car to the right customer and generating enquiry across the entire inventory set,” says Blanning.
As your digital partner carsales has a range of tools to enhance your inventory management strategy, with products such as Autogate, LiveMarket and LiveMarket Insights. Your carsales account manager can give you more information.
Maximising opportunities beyond the ‘9 to 5’
Blanning also highlighted consumer behavioural changes as a leading indicator for retailers.
“Traditionally dealers were seen as an ‘information kiosk’, with pre- and early-internet consumers being less informed. Now, intenders conduct research online, moving towards the dealer enquiry stage further along the purchase journey,” Blanning explained.
“In response, many industries have evolved to the digital-first consumer approach by moving to more of a ‘24/7’ retailing system, as consumers now expect more immediate servicing of their needs,” says Blanning.
To maximise these opportunities, successful car dealerships have also shifted from a traditional ‘business hours’ approach to a more flexible system; one that spreads dealer resources across a wider daily time frame.
“Our research indicates that over half of all dealer enquiries occur outside of the ‘9-5’ time period,” explains Blanning, noting that this is when consumers generally attend to personal business.
“Strong dealers have recognised this and have implemented split shifts, for example, to ensure that the business is able to respond in a timelier manner, more often.”
Meeting the consumer need
There can be little doubt that the digital-first marketplace is the way of the future, and the COVID pandemic has simply accelerated this shift.
carsales data demonstrates that investing in a quality, digital-lead and always accessible customer experience – with a wide array of online tools to assist the customer at each step – can drive increased dealer enquiry and sales.
For more information on how carsales can assist your digital transformation, contact your carsales Account Manager.
Further reading
Consumer data reinforces need for digital-savvy dealers
carsales buyer behaviour – August 2021
