Adaptation of Adjacent Retail Initiatives Driving Automotive Retail Digitalization

Adaptation of Adjacent Retail Initiatives Driving Automotive Retail Digitalization

The COVID-19 pandemic shows the automotive retail industry’s dependence on physical stores. While these physical stores are expected to continue being relevant in the future, the pandemic has brought digital tools’ role in customer engagement to the forefront.

Every automotive retail stakeholder can transform its customers' appeal by embracing digital transformation and maintaining the customer journey at the crux of digitalization across in-store and online touchpoints. As consumers buy groceries, electronics, and fashion online and depend on digital influencers to guide their purchase preferences, automotive companies are slowly inching closer to giving customers a truly differentiated vehicle purchase experience. While the automotive industry continues to be responsive rather than proactive regarding digital retail innovations, customer delight forms the core of other industries’ existence and survival. Digitally native automotive customers expect the same ease of purchase and experience they find with consumer goods. The challenge lies in identifying the right tools and partners to impact the customer journey positively. This research looks at avenues where new customer-facing tools pioneer customer experience and efficiency and narrows them down to the top 12 non-automotive best practices for potential automotive adoption.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the automotive industry’s focus to digitalizing its retail practices, which was long due. Other factors contributing to automotive retail digitalization are electric vehicles and discussions on the agency model in multiple markets. This continual automotive retail refresh is expected in differentiating a brand or dealership from the competition. The research introduces some of the most efficient and impactful non-automotive digital experiences.

KEY ISSUES ADDRESSED

What are current and future trends in the automotive retail industry?
What drives and challenges automotive retail digitalization?
Which non-automotive digital retailing trends are relevant to the automotive retail industry?
How can automotive retail apply cross-industry digital retail innovations?
How are changing customer engagement methods shaping the automotive retail landscape?