The push to expand online car sales services due to the Covid-19 lockdown will change the way new vehicles are sold forever, according to Volvo’s UK boss.
Registrations of new cars were virtually halted after the UK government’s lockdown rules forced dealerships to close in mid-March. Showrooms were finally allowed to open in England on 1 June and Northern Ireland on 8 June. There is still no firm date for when showrooms in Wales and Scotland will be allowed to open.
With dealerships closed, car firms and dealers attempted to maintain some level of service for customers by expanding current online services. Volvo UK, for example, accelerated enhancements to its existing online sales service, launched a ‘click-and-collect’ service and brought forward the full launch of Volvo Valet, a contactless collection and delivery option for cars that need servicing or repair.
“What we’ve done in terms of actions to tackle the coronavirus has essentially been two years’ worth of digital development in just eight weeks,” said Volvo UK boss Kristian Elvefors. “Despite the lockdown, we decided not to furlough many of our staff to make sure that we could keep a lot of people working on new developments that would help us keep customers interested and really help when it was time to restart.
“These are trends that we’ll see going forward. We’ll definitely see more of our operations move online in the future. We’ve learned so much working digitally which is going to be game-changing.”
Asked whether the online sales service has helped push sales during lockdown Elvefors said: “It has, and I’m sure that approach is here to stay now. Even with dealerships opening, the social-distancing rules are likely to limit demand, and there are people, such as those on high-risk grounds, who will be unwilling or unable to visit. So we need to make sure we continue to help them.”
“For us and the whole car industry, online sales are here to stay. The big challenge now is to offer all customers the same journey by whatever method they choose. Whether you’re at home or in a retailer, the approach should be omni-channel, with customers able to switch from online to offline and receive the same experience. That’s a big challenge to introduce, but it should become the norm.”
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Nope, nope, nope.
I love online shopping as much as anyone else, but cars are up there with furniture and houses in the list of "things I won't buy online". I want to be able to see, test and feel out the product to see if it's right for me before committing a massive chunk of money towards buying it.
Above all, buying a car in person means I can haggle with the dealership to get a couple of grand knocked off or score some useful freebies. It's a lot harder to haggle with a manufacturer's web application.
Sorry, I meant to say
I meant to say, they've all been reserved and not they'll all be reserved.
I do wish IT would provide some Edit functionality for these comments.
Car Brokers
Don't you just go to a car broker online and see what price they come up with, then go round a few local dealers and see if they can beat it? Isn't that the best way to ensure the most competitive deal, if you must buy new?
No local showrooms in their ideal world
Absolutely. The problem being Volvo want to do away with or at the least reduce the number of local dealers which is the whole point of wanting to expand online, to reduce overheads.
There's another issue of course. I usually keep my eye out for any bargains that crop up and I've seen a few what look like very good deals over the past month. As soon as the garages opened last week, they'll all been reserved. That would seem to put another nail in the coffin of those who believe "the future is online".
There is obviously a market for it, just like online groceries, but when the supermarket van arrives and you find what you ordered has been substituted with something you don't want, or like Dobbies Garden Centre who seem to have a list full of complaints from people who ordered plants based on beautiful colourful pictures only to find something resembling dried weeds to arrive! Online sales has its advantages but I'm struggling to ever see how it's going to impact the traditional showroom. I've been buying cars since the late 70's and in 40 years, that traditional showroom hasn't changed one bit. They're smarter and the coffee is nicer, but I can't see it changing much in the next 40 years either.