By David Toscano, Trade Content Editor, carsales.com.au
Car buying activity on carsales.com.au continued to grow as social distancing measures were eased across the country. Here’s what caught our attention on Australia’s #1 for cars this week…
From May 7-13, carsales served 7.1m sessions, up 5.2% on the previous week. This activity delivered 82.6m searches, up 9.1%, while inventory views totalled 18m, up 6.5%.¹
carsales Editorial searches grew a huge 33.5% compared to the previous week to 265,445.¹
“Shopping activity on carsales continues to steadily increase and there are signs of greater auto consumer confidence. Sessions and searches are up by as much as 32% and 50% respectively, since mid-March,” says Kellie Cordner, Chief Marketing Officer at carsales.com.au.
“It appears that many consumers are re-evaluating their transport preferences and lifestyles as social distancing measures loosen,” says Cordner.
carsales’ iOS app is in high demand as shoppers take to their smartphones to find a new car
Maximising badges to promote ‘Virtual Showroom’ services
‘Buy from Home’ badges are now a key element on carsales search results and details pages. Over 38,000 inventory items on carsales now feature the unmissable green badge.
In a recent webinar, Head of Executive Business at carsales Ren Blanning explained why dealers should add badges like ‘Buy from home’ to their listings, and how to do this via AutoGate.
“Buyers appreciate the efforts dealers are making to deliver more frictionless sales transactions,” says Blanning.
“We believe the ‘virtual showroom’ services dealers are promoting via badges will be important to consumers and shape how dealers do business, long after this crisis ends.
“It’s critical that dealers master how to deliver these services and effectively promote them in their listings.” Blanning adds.
Driving more interest with Video
With over 51,000 listings now promoting the option of Video Calls via the ‘badges’ enhancement, carsales this week published some easy tips to for better live video calls, that enhance the experience for prospective buyers.
And when it comes to utilising video to engage buyers, Craig Hynes, Dealer Services Director – Product and Operations at carsales reminds dealers that they can also upload video to their listings via AutoGate:
“A live video call is a great way to engage a prospective buyer in place of the traditional dealership appointment, and address specific questions and concerns.” says Hynes.
“In addition, dealers should add video to their listings to deliver more emotion and excitement around key selling features – which can help translate into more buyer interest. For example, consider how you can use video to highlight boot capacity, a powered tailgate, the sound of an engine or exhaust, or folding the roof on a convertible.”
A guide to uploading engaging videos via AutoGate can be found here.
New car market: Benz top; Land Rover and Ford dealers among the winners
New car listings on carsales are drawing more buyer activity.
From May 7-13, 93% of brands saw their view volume increase compared to the previous week, with the greatest views increase achieved by Mercedes-Benz — up 25,000 views.¹
Other top performers included Volkswagen, BMW, Mazda and Mitsubishi, which all grew in excess of 19,000 views.¹
“The positive trend in new car views and enquiries continues, especially for premium and upper-mainstream brands. They seem to have weathered the COVID-19 storm well,” says Jeremy Moger, Head of Insights at carsales.
“There’s genuine intent to purchase new cars on site, with the increase in views translating into more sales enquiries last week,” he says.
Almost 70% of brands saw an increase in sales leads compared to the previous week. But it was Land Rover and Ford, buoyed by continued interest in utes and SUVs, that were the biggest winners, up 42% and 29% respectively.¹
Likely fuelled by the government’s upweighted instant asset write-off scheme, Australia’s love affair with 4x4 light commercial vehicles shows no signs of slowing, with the segment realising the biggest increase in sales enquiries, up 15% compared to the previous week.¹
And consumer interest in SUVs continued to grow, with enquiry volumes for both the SUV Medium <$60k and SUV Large <$70k segments leapfrogging the Passenger Small < $40k segment. ¹
Used car market: More interest in MINI, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota inventory
Engagement with used inventory on carsales was also a good news story last week. The biggest movers in terms of views included Jaguar up 15%, Kia up 13%, and Mercedes-Benz up 21%.¹
A key driver of Mercedes-Benz’s growth was the ever-popular C-Class sedan with views up 12%.¹
For Mercedes-Benz, the increase in used inventory views translated into 21% more enquiries across its range of models. By way of comparison, Australia’s biggest selling brand, Toyota, registered a 14% increase.¹
But it was MINI that outshone its bigger rivals, with enquiries on dealer used inventory shooting up 55% compared to the previous week.
April top search keywords: Automatic up, AMG in position ten
carsales.com.au top search keywords are a great indicator of what’s on the minds of Australian car buyers.
‘Ute’ and ‘van’, two of the most popular vehicle types for instant asset write-offs, were popular search terms in April, while ‘sunroof’ (a traditional favourite with private car buyers) came in third position.
And as revealed by the latest onsite consumer survey, the recent influx of first-time and non-car owners on Australia’s #1 for cars may have been responsible for pushing ‘automatic’ to the top of April results.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the presence of Mercedes’ performance arm ‘AMG’ – the only brand term to make the top 10.
From new cars to used cars and keywords, there’s no doubting that Mercedes-Benz is the brand of the moment on Australia’s #1 for cars.
Source: carsales internal data, April 30 to May 6, 2020 vs May 7-13, 2020