As Australia’s COVID-19 curve is showing signs of sustained and genuine flattening, are Australian consumers beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel?
In an onsite carsales survey of 1816 consumers on April 16, 2020:
– 18.6% of respondents said they were looking to buy right now¹ – up 11% from the previous survey on April 1-2, 2020
– 53.4% of respondents said they were looking to buy within the next month¹ – up 14% from the previous survey
– 19.3% of respondents cited travel restrictions and penalties as their biggest concern¹
“The survey results indicate a genuine uptick in short-term purchase intent on carsales. After a very challenging period post the introduction of lockdown measures, there’s greater cause for optimism for the Australian automotive industry,” says Deb Heaphy, Head of Customer Experience at carsales.
Onsite pop-up surveys on carsales.com.au – Australia’s largest and most engaged audience of car buyers – are a powerful and real-time gauge of wider auto market sentiment.
In the period April 13-20, carsales registered in excess of 700,000 sessions each day.²
“Consumer feedback has always been central to refining the car buying experience on carsales. Consumers are not afraid to share their unique and personal opinions about their auto purchase journeys via our surveys and feedback channels,” says Heaphy.
“Last week’s survey attracted almost 2000 responses in less than 12 hours,” she adds.
The survey results validate the power of virtual showroom tools in the lockdown period.
“Many dealers have done a great job in highlighting their commitment to customer and staff hygiene and safety via virtual showroom tools such as auto responses, photo galleries, comments, contextual advertising, video, website messaging and social media posts. This has helped deliver greater peace of mind for buyers and it’s reflected in the survey results,” Heaphy added.
“In particular, carsales’ new badges feature has also been used successfully by dealers to better communicate special COVID-19 customer service enhancements with buyers,” she says.
Travel restrictions and potential penalties were the biggest concerns for almost one in five survey respondents.
The news comes after calls for clarity on the important purchasing step from the wider auto industry, including carsales.
“It will be interesting to gauge how quickly the FCAI’s announcement affects consumer sentiment,” says Heaphy.
“The increased clarity in regard to test drives may help grow purchase intent, particularly of used vehicles where consumers like to try before they buy. Dealers should again use virtual showroom tools to underline that they can facilitate safe and convenient test drives that don’t run afoul of government measures,” she added.
Heaphy suggests with state governments assessing the potential for easing of COVID-19 restrictions, car purchase intent could shift dramatically in the near future.
“We’ll be closely monitoring consumer sentiment to keep our dealer and automaker partners up to date, and help them make informed business decisions,” concludes Heaphy.
Source:
1. carsales.com.au onsite pop up survey, April 16, 2020 (n=1,816)
2. carsales internal data, April 13-20
