Report: Majority Of Car Buyers Showrooming On Dealer Lots

Showrooming has come to the automotive industry. Would-be car buyers have long used the PC internet for research during the purchase process; however a new study says that retail-style showrooming is now happening on car dealer lots. The data were collected in October and November 2013.

According to a new study commissioned by Cars.com and conducted by location analytics provider Placed, “63% of auto shoppers researched and shopped online while at a dealership using their mobile device.” Most of what these auto-showroomers are doing on the lot involves price research. However they’re also looking at reviews (of both cars and dealers), as well as checking inventory at nearby dealerships.

Source: Cars.com-Placed (2014)

Another finding of the research is that auto-showroomers are more inclined to visit additional dealers and thus less likely to be “closed” by dealer salespeople than in the pre-smartphone era. The study found that 62 percent of auto-showroomers visited additional dealer lots within a 24 hour period. That’s compared with only 36 percent of those not using mobile devices on the lot.

The study also reported that just over half (52 percent) of auto-showroomers were motivated to visit other dealer lots based on information discovered on their smartphones in real time. Advertising also played a role in luring these car buyers (the 52 percent) to other dealers: 33 were drawn to competing dealerships based on ads they saw on their smartphones.

The Cars.com-Placed study found that roughly 80 percent of car buyers conducted online research prior to a dealer visit, and 37 percent said they used multiple devices to do so. Smartphones were the most commonly used device (59 percent) followed by PCs/laptops (48 percent). Only 15 percent reported using a “PC only” to conduct research.

The clear message of the research is that dealers and carmakers need a cross-platform strategy today to reach the car buying public. If automotive and dealer sites aren’t mobile optimized and marketers aren’t doing mobile advertising they’re going to miss a huge part of the buying public.

Source: Cars.com-Placed (2014)

There are many additional, interesting findings in the study that carry marketing and advertising implications. There’s also advice for dealers about how to handle these auto-showroomers on the lot. You can download the full report (after registration) here.