By David Toscano, Trade Content Editor, carsales.com.au
With a backdrop of tougher social and economic conditions, online car shopping on carsales remained buoyant last week, delivering dealers both immediate sales opportunities and prospects to keep engaged over the coming weeks.
The announcement of stricter retail and personal movement restrictions by federal and state governments did dampen activity and enthusiasm on Australia’s #1 for cars, but traffic levels were still solid.
A total of 2.2m million car buyers visited carsales last week, contributing to 4.9m website sessions¹. In total over 48 million searches were undertaken, resulting in over 1.26m detailed views¹ of inventory published on site – helping deliver dealers with immediate sales enquiries to close, and a bank of prospects to keep warm.
Average session duration last week was nearly 6:20 minutes – indicating that carsales’ leading mix of dealer inventory (over 224,000 cars are now available to shop), OEM retail offers, and helpful news, review and research content, was keeping buyers engaged and entertained.
Buyers are still in market
Immediate purchase intention remains strong, with only a minor shift from the matching survey conducted on carsales between March 19-20, 2020. This week’s survey (April 1-2) of over 1600 car shoppers showed:
– 16.8% of respondents said that they were ready to purchase now²
– 23.4% said they were looking to buy within the next month²
– Greater concern about vehicle hygiene and the logistics of taking a test drive²
Michael Holmes, Executive Director – Dealer at carsales believes that the combination of well-merchandised inventory, a sharp offer and flexible dealer practices is still enticing enough for Australians to buy a car, even sight unseen.
“Overall sales numbers may not be what they were this time last year, and that is to be expected. However, good used cars, demos and to a lesser extent brand-new cars, are still selling.
“Dealers that have been able to quickly adapt their processes to make transactions as efficient for buyers as possible have been able to shift inventory. For example, we’ve seen some dealers use video to substitute for showroom dealer appointments, and also for vehicle inspections, to great success,” he added.
Strong car buying interest was also registered from engagement with carsales’ COVID-19 consumer car buying guide. The guide, put together by the expert carsales Editorial team, racked up over 27,000 reads last week, indicating that many buyers are taking the time to understand how they can go about safely taking advantage of a great deal.
New arrivals grab online attention
Ford Focus, Toyota RAV4, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Volkswagen Touareg and Nissan Patrol were among the household model names that increased their share of views last week on carsales. However, it was a bunch of brand new nameplates that really stood out.
“New Australian arrivals such as the Kia Seltos, Toyota Supra and various MG models had a great week on carsales, increasing their view share. All have been featured in very prominent above-the-line campaigns recently,” said Jeremy Moger, Head of Commercial Insights at carsales.
“This can cause a spike in views on carsales, as buyers head online to find out more via a destination that they know, like and trust,” Moger explained.
Another recent trend on carsales has been the growing view share of prestige, luxury and exotic brands. Ferrari and Rolls-Royce were among the big movers last week, while German premium brands continued to steal view share — often at the expense of more mainstream brands.
“Last week, aspirational, yet accessible prestige brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Land Rover all achieved growth in view share, year-on-year.
“There’s no doubt that Australian buyers are attracted to prestige brands and keen to assess their ability to park one in the driveway,” Moger concluded.
carsales content – a helpful, positive and entertaining escape
This week was another great one for carsales editorial engagement. One particular standout was Sunday, March 29, which saw carsales Editorial reads and searches spike an incredible 42% and 22% respectively, year-on-year.¹
“Engagement with carsales news, reviews and advice continues to be strong,” says Mike Sinclair, Editor in Chief at carsales.
“There may be an element of escapism in our underlying performance metrics but there’s little doubt in my mind that consumers are still researching. Our video and written review eyeballs continue to be very strong,” Sinclair explained.
“It’s also important in a time like this that we provide people with simple and helpful advice. Our COVID-19 safe buying and selling features have been popular too.”
Australia’s enduring love affair with utes – potentially buoyed further by the recent announcement of government assistance measures – drove strong engagement with news on the new Toyota Tundra, next-generation versions of the Isuzu D-MAX and Volkswagen Amarok and the upcoming upgrade of Australia’s most popular car, the Toyota HiLux all recording strong metrics.
Unmissable in above-the-line campaigns and ad placements on carsales, the run-out Holden Colorado is another utility firmly on the mind of buyers, helping send the brand’s sales up almost 30% in March.
So, as stock of the Holden Colorado dries up, which of its rivals is best poised to capitalise and subsume its monthly sales volumes?
Using real-time data from buyers on carsales.com.au, RedBook IQ suggests that Ford Ranger is best placed to benefit from the exit of the Colorado. Nearly one in three buyers that views a new Colorado on carsales, also views a new Ranger, while just over one in five buyers views a new Mitsubishi Triton.
Could the departure of Colorado push Ranger past HiLux and back into the number one spot? Let’s wait and see…
Source:
1. carsales internal data, March 23-29, 2020
2. carsales.com.au, onsite survey, 1-2 April 2020, i=1655