By David Toscano, Trade Content Editor, carsales.com.au
Last week on carsales.com.au saw increased car-shopping activity, while Audi and Kia were the big winners in the new car arena. And consumer data reveals a key area for improvement for Australian car dealers that could lead to more sales…
Here’s what caught our eye:
From May 14-20, carsales served 7.6m sessions, up 6.4% on the previous week. This activity delivered 83.3m searches, up 1%, while inventory views totalled 18m, stable on the previous week’s result.¹
Over 250,000 Editorial searches were conducted, resulting in excess of 638,000 reads.¹
“We’re now consistently seeing over 1 million sessions per day on carsales.com.au,” says Kellie Cordner, Chief Marketing Officer.
“All states across the country are seeing car-shopping activity at an unprecedented level as social distancing measures are eased.”
“Last week, our carsales iOS app was trending amongst the top five free apps on the App Store, which is an indicator of more Australian consumers re-engaging with the car market,” she added.
Preparing for Super Saturdays
Over the course of May, dealer enquiries on carsales.com.au on Saturdays have exceeded daily records, as consumers take advantage of leisure time to shop for a new set of wheels.
For dealers, stronger car-shopping activity on Saturdays has implications for everything from inventory publishing and promotion, to staffing and sales processes.
“In times of very strong shopping activity, it’s critical that dealers ensure that their inventory is published, highly visible and well presented, particularly in the lead up to Saturdays – the busiest day of the week,” explains Michael Holmes, Executive Director Dealer at carsales.
“This includes using Promote upgrades to ensure that your inventory stands out in search results, uploading great photos and engaging videos to listings, and checking that inventory contains the relevant badges that promote the ‘virtual showroom’ services that make buying a vehicle from home possible,” he adds.
“Comments should also be checked. Make sure they include details of any new retail offers and value-added extras,” Holmes says.
Slow customer follow up
But while car-shopping activity booms, Holmes notes that follow up times across the week are deteriorating and lag behind most customers’ expectations.
“We’re now seeing the rate of dealer enquiries that remain uncontacted after 2 hours and 24 hours trending higher,” says Holmes.
“Dealers should aim to contact prospective buyers within 30 minutes. Consumers are particularly impatient at the moment and will buy another vehicle from a competitor dealer if you don’t respond quickly,” says Holmes.
carsales tools such as SMS via the AutoGate Mobile App and SMS and email auto-responses, can assist dealers with timely follow-up, especially with out of hours enquiries.
Watch the video to learn how to follow up a prospect with an SMS via the AutoGate App
Audi five-year deals take the fight to Benz and BMW
The good news continued in the new car arena last week, with buyer enquiries up 12% (WoW).¹
Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been among the top-performing brands since mid-March. In particular, Mercedes-Benz was the star performer between May 7-13 achieving over 25,000 more views than the previous week.
But it was Audi that surged last week (May 14–20), with views increasing 13.5% on the previous week and enquiries shooting up a huge 32%.¹
Increased interest in Audi comes off the back of a recent announcement that all Audis sold in May and June will be backed by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre factory warranty. In addition, Audi Australia will offer five years of free servicing and complimentary on-road and CTP costs – a move that eclipses all rivals within the premium space.
“New car shoppers are active and they are very open to influence,” says Jeremy Moger, Head of Insights at carsales.
“Consumer-friendly initiatives around warranty and servicing are likely to drive more interest in specific brands and models on carsales, as buyers take a closer look at special offers on a destination they know and trust.”
Another stand out brand this week was Kia, achieving a 31% increase in enquiries on the previous week.¹ Further growth might be on the cards too, with the brand clearing stocks of its popular Cerato small car with a discounted drive-away price.
Last week Kia announced a new-model blitz spearheaded by its first compact SUV.
Mazda, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz all outperformed the industry average growth for enquiries between May 14 – 20.¹
And with the three-pointed star on the cusp of releasing an all-new, seven-seat mid-size SUV starting at just under $60,000, buyer interest on carsales for Mercedes-Benz models is likely to continue to increase in the coming weeks and months.
SUVs retains advantage over small cars
SUVs remain the preferred body type for the majority of Australian new-car buyers.
Last week was notable for enquiry volumes for both new SUV Medium <$60k and SUV Large <$70k segments leapfrogging the Passenger Small < $40k segment.
This trend continued this week, with all SUV segments except for the SUV Small >$40k realising an increase in enquiry growth compared to the previous week.¹
Passenger Small < $40k remained fourth, behind the Light Commercial Vehicle 4x4, SUV Medium < $60k and SUV Large < $70k segments, in terms of overall enquiry volumes last week.
And after weeks of sustained growth, the Light Commercial Vehicle 4x4 segment maintained its enquiry volumes from last week, growing just 1%.
Used car market – Suzuki biggest gainer
In terms of used car views, Kia and VW were the big improvers last week with the brands boosting eyeballs on their inventory to the tune of 5.4% and 1.2% respectively.¹
For Kia, this shopping activity translated into a 21% increase in enquiries.¹ However, it was Suzuki which was the biggest improver in the enquiry space, up 23% from the week prior.¹
Source:
1. carsales internal data, May 7-13, 2020 vs May 14-20, 2020