Automotive News - February 4, 2008 - (Page 21) Clicking vs. tire kicking Page 26 Grading stores online Page 29 Spurring sales Page 82 NADA PREVIEW This section examines electronic retailing on the eve of the annual dealer convention INSIGHT FEBRUARY 4, 2008 • 21 E-commerce alters how dealers do business Donna Harris dharris@crain.com M ore clicks, fewer bricks. The auto industry continues to move elements of vehicle sales and service online. Some experts predict the electronic sale — from an initial customer inquiry to home delivery of a car or truck — will become dealers’ dominant business model within five years. Skeptics counter that selling cars and trucks is simply too complicated to expect that the complete process will be online soon — if ever. They ask: How do dealers take trade-ins over the Internet? How many customers will want to place their private financial data on the Web when they buy or lease a car? But enthusiasts and critics agree: For better and worse, the Internet is substantially reducing the amount of time customers spend at dealerships. “By the end of the decade, dealers won’t have an Internet department,” says Steve Emery, a consultant to the National Automobile Dealers Association. “That will just be how all car deals are done.” As dealers gather in San Francisco this week for the annual NADA convention, there’s likely to be plenty of talk about e-sales and other online operations. This special section of Automotive News examines aspects of the digital dealership: new- and used-vehicle sales, finance and insurance, parts and service, marketing and advertising, inventory management and factory communications. Click-through sales Consumers are used to buying a variety of merchandise online from such popular Web sites as eBay and Amazon.com. Evidence suggests many customers would like to click their way through vehicle sales as well. Two out of three consumers say a start-to-finish Internet car sale appeals to them, according to survey data from AutoNation Inc. The nation’s largest dealership group is testing e-sales in Atlanta. Asked how they would prefer to shop for a car, most survey respondents say they prefer the Web to a dealership visit, AutoNation says. Last year, two-thirds of new-vehicle buyers and three out of five usedvehicle buyers used the Internet at some point during their purchases, J.D. Power and Associates reports. see E-SALES, Page 22 Dealing digitally Conducting an entire vehicle sale online — from a buyer’s first research to final delivery — is no longer a far-fetched notion. AutoNation Inc., the nation’s largest dealership group, is testing startto-finish transactions. Dealerships of all sizes are putting more of their operations online. Some dealers insist the brick-and-mortar store will always be indispensable, but nearly all agree the Web is transforming the way they do business. Automotive News looks at the digital revolution in auto retailing. http://Amazon.com
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