By David Toscano, Trade Content Editor, carsales.com.au
Australia’s strong performance in flattening the COVID-19 curve is having an effect on auto consumer confidence. And increased consumer activity is evident in the latest data from carsales.
Online car shopping on Australia’s #1 for cars has continued its steady upwards trajectory post-Easter, with carsales.com.au recording growth across sessions, searches, views and sales enquiries in the last week of April.
From April 24-30, sessions served on carsales grew 11.4% to 6.3m, compared to the previous week. In total 71.8m searches were undertaken, up 10.4%, translating into 15.7m detailed views of inventory, up 11.3%, compared to the previous week.¹
“It’s great to see the market begin to rebound. The growth in key audience and engagement metrics is indicative of greater consumer optimism,” commented carsales Chief Marketing Officer, Kellie Cordner.
“As states and territories across the country slowly wind back lockdown and social distancing measures, we anticipate that shopping activity will continue to grow in the coming weeks,” she added.
More sales opportunities for dealers
Although trading conditions for dealers remain challenging compared to the same period in 2019, there are still active auto consumers, explained Michael Holmes, Executive Director Dealer at carsales.
“There has been a noticeable uptick in enquiries submitted to dealers over the past week. This delivers both immediate conversion opportunities and a sales pipeline to work over the next few weeks.
“However, we can’t stress the importance of following up buyer enquiries in a timely manner — ideally within 30 minutes,” Holmes revealed.
In April 2020, more than one in four sales enquiries placed by buyers on carsales went unanswered by dealers.²
“When an enquiry goes unanswered, you’re effectively pointing that prospect at a competitor’s inventory item. Slow follow up costs sales, especially in this climate,” Holmes stated.
SMS AND AUTORESPONSES: TIPS ON HOW TO FOLLOW UP ENQUIRIES
Holmes also pointed to a number of features and processes that can assist dealers in better merchandising their inventory on carsales and help dealers buy remotely.
“Our new ‘Buy from home’ feature has already generated significant momentum since its launch last week, with over 30,000 dealer inventory items now displaying the badge.3 Pleasingly, there are also more listings featuring videos.
“’Buy from home’ and video are key features that give consumers greater confidence in engaging with dealers remotely. They also give dealers a great opportunity to meet and exceed the heightened customer expectations in this period,” Holmes concluded.
Global insights for Australian dealers
carsales hosted its first on Wednesday, April 29, featuring international dealers.
Automotive market experts from Brazil, Germany, UK, South Korea and Australia discussed the challenges the wider market is facing during the global pandemic, with an audience of Australian new and used car dealers.
Feedback indicates the webinar delivered valuable global insights for Australian dealers.
“Our international colleagues and counterparts were able to give Australian dealers a sense of the road ahead – and shared some important strategies and the trends they have observed,” carsales Australia Managing Director, Ajay Bhatia explained.
“There was plenty of insightful discussion. Brazil has led the way for our newest feature, ‘Buy from home’, making it easier for consumers to purchase cars remotely. We are also seeing disruption via car buyback guarantee products for consumers in Germany. South Korea meantime is showing resilience and a further acceleration of the use of digital tools by dealers, while the UK is learning to trade during a lockdown.
“In each of the markets, dealers are adapting to new ways of working and living.
“There’s definitely an active discussion about steering away from shiny showrooms and focusing more on consumer and COVID-friendly flexible trading,” concluded Bhatia.
carsales will host its next COVID-19 response webinar on Wednesday, May 5.
New car views return to pre-Covid-19 volumes
One area of rebound that has surprised many is new car views on carsales.
“In good news for dealers and automakers, views on new and near new vehicles have now rebounded to the volumes we saw pre-COVID-19,” revealed Jeremy Moger, Head of Commercial Insights at carsales.
“Earlier in the COVID-19 period, it was premium makes and luxury SUV categories that were capturing view share. Now, as more widespread market confidence returns, it’s mainstream makes and segments such as Light Commercial and SUVs that have returned to the forefront,” Moger stated.
Almost three-quarters of Australia’s new car brands (71%) logged an increase in view volume from April 24-30, compared to the previous week.¹
Mitsubishi was the big winner. The marque generated an additional 11,000 views on new and near new inventory during the period.¹
Importantly, the increase in new car views did translate into more sales opportunities. In fact, a whopping 65% of all brands registered increases in enquiry volume.¹
In terms of market segments, Light Commercial PU/CC 4x4 was still the most popular on carsales, up 28,000 views or 10% week-on-week.¹
Popular SUV Segments including SUV Small < $40k, SUV Medium < $60k and SUV Large < $70k also saw big increases in view volume week-on-week.¹
Source:
1. carsales internal data, 24-30 April, 2020 compared to 17-23 April, 2020
2. carsales internal data, April 2020
3. carsales.com.au, May 4, 2020