Is Your Dealership Ready for the Retail Apocalypse?

A significant number of traditional car dealerships have seen dips in revenue, or at least a lack of growth, which can be attributed to the increasing popularity of online shopping and more convenient delivery methods.

Experts have termed this surge in e-commerce the ‘retail apocalypse’, after mass bankruptcies in the US retail sector. America has been hit particularly hard and fast by this online shopping revolution, but as a rule, patterns which occur in the US retail industry seem to later duplicate themselves in Europe.

There are numerous social and economic differences between Europe and the US which could affect the extent to which e-commerce disrupts bricks-and-mortar businesses, but there are important lessons to be learned from America’s experiences.

Finance

In Europe, a higher proportion of businesses are family owned and run, passed down through generations. This type of company tends to be managed and financed more conservatively. In the US, leveraged buyouts are more common, which involve a high level of risk.

US companies which resorted to methods that left them in debt like this, were vulnerable to declines in sales as interest in online shopping rose, while the way in which European business operate and are financed is more stable on the whole. Having said that, research specialist, Scope, has found that UK patterns of company ownership and debt are more similar to the US.

Real Estate

America has more commercial real estate for retailing per capita than European countries and the shift to online shopping will have affected a large number of bricks-and-mortar businesses. Having less physical retail stores may mean less of a dramatic impact for Europe.

Public Acceptance

A retail apocalypse will only occur if people are willing to change the way they shop. In America, around 14% of retailers’ revenues were generated online in their latest financial year, in contrast to just 5% in Europe.

However, this is only a median average, and looking at European countries individually paints a different picture. In the UK, France and Germany, roughly 15% of revenues were generated digitally.

Britain

When assessing the correlations between the US and Europe, Britain stands out as an anomaly. The UK is highly advanced in omni-channel retailing and as consumers, we have generally been quick to accept e-commerce.

It seems that the retail apocalypse is slower to hit most European countries, which could be due to the way in which businesses are financed and the more gradual increase in the popularity of online shopping, whereas bricks-and-mortar companies in Britain are having to fight off competition from digital competitors and adapt their businesses to embrace digitalisation as a matter of urgency.

Adaptation

Adapting your business model to respond to the surge in interest in e-commerce is easier than it sounds. It will involve ensuring that your company is visible to consumers browsing online and providing them with the means to make a purchase online. Click Dealer have expanded our services in order to help your dealership evolve.

Increasing online visibility can be done by using various methods of search engine marketing, including SEO, PPC advertising and social media marketing. Click SEM can help with this.

If you are interested in implementing a digital retailing platform on your website to allow visitors to complete part of their deal online, ClickEngage™ will allow you to process part-exchange valuations, finance quotes and transactions automatically.

To find out more about Click SEM or ClickEngage™, get in touch via [email protected]  or  01782 454354. Alternatively, you can send us a message through our contact page.

Do New Plans Mean Cheaper Electric Car Charging?

Ahead of the government scheme to ban diesel and petrol motors in 2040, Ofgem have said that motorists should be encouraged to top up when the cost of electricity is cheaper to reduce the need for additional costly power stations and more grid capacity.

According to the electricity regulator, motorists in Britain should recharge the battery of their electric cars only when plenty of renewable energy is being produced or in off-peak periods. This way, the number of additional power plants does not need to increase significantly.

Ofgem completed an analysis of the data collected from their research and found that around 60% more electric vehicles could be charged if flexible charging were to be used, in comparison with the current inflexible charging.

Electric Vehicle Usage

Sales of vehicles with alternative fuel types, such as hybrids and fully electric vehicles increased by 11% from last year in the first three months of 2018 alone.

Although, following their latest study to monitor the growth of electric car usage in the UK, motoring research charity, the RAC Foundation found that many car-buyers are put off from purchasing these vehicles because of an insufficient number of charging points locally available to them.

The report warned that a lack of access to reliable and straightforward charging facilities may limit mass market interest in environmentally-friendly vehicles.

In response to concerns such as these, the recent British Government strategy, ‘Road to Zero’, was published towards the end of this month and featured a significant emphasis on basic charging facilities, including the installation of thousands of additional charging points for electric vehicles around the UK.

Benefits for Consumers

Jonathan Brearley, an executive director at Ofgem, said, “Our reforms will help more users charge their electric vehicles and save them money.

“The proposals we have announced today will also harness the benefits of electric vehicles and other new technologies to help manage the energy system and keep costs down for all consumers.”

Brearley went on to say that Ofgem will make sure the energy system is fit and ready for the cleaner future and that it is inexpensive for consumers.

For more information about Click Dealer’s new blog service and content from our specialist automotive industry writers, get in touch today on [email protected], 01782 478 220 or through our contact page!

 

Empower Your Customers to Enjoy Automotive E-Commerce with ClickEngage™!

Click Engage
In today’s increasingly online climate, consumers need to make their own decisions, after all, it is their purchasing journey. People are used to the high-levels of customer service experienced on Amazon, eBay and other e-commerce giants and the automotive world is beginning to catch-up with the transactional standards expected today.

That’s why with Click Dealer’s award-winning online retailing and lead management platform, ClickEngage™, consumers can choose to complete the whole of the journey online or just a small segment. It’s all about giving them the tools to self-serve and do things in their own time and in a manner which suits them best.

ClickEngage™ can be utilised on any dealership’s website, franchise or independent, through the use of technical integration and the forward-thinking development of open APIs. The platform may be customised for consumers to complete their full vehicle buying journey online including: data capture, part-ex, finance, add-on deal stacking and even reserving their vehicle. Alternatively, dealers can strip the product back to just include one or a few of those functions, whichever is felt to be the best fit for their customers or business setup.

Whilst giving consumers the perception that they’re in full control of their own journey, by providing an array of options to cater to their wants and needs, dealers are actually the masters of their own destiny, because they can see the full picture of everything they do, due to the sheer transparency of ClickEngage™.

If a consumer looks at part-exchanging multiple vehicles, different finance options and views a variety of vehicles, through ClickEngage™, dealerships will know about it and can cater packages to better suit prospective customer’s needs, a very powerful position to be in indeed.

Dealers can take a more customer-centric approach than ever because of the visibility given to them by ClickEngage™, enquiry information drops straight into their DMS and details a customer’s journey through the platform in terms of their part-ex, add-on and finance interactions. It gives the dealer full visibility and if used effectively, can make a really positive impact on processes and ultimately the bottom line.

London Motor Company Owner, Spencer Kent, said: “Since going live on ClickEngage™ I’ve been able to improve my sales process no-end, simply because of the level of transparency I now have for my online enquiries.

“It makes life easier if you already know what part-ex customers want to use in a deal or even their thoughts when it comes to finance and stacking add-ons, as it puts you at an immediate advantage when negotiating the best package.

“ClickEngage™ is ever evolving, since we signed-up there have been various updates and improvements, Click Dealer really have their finger on the pulse of what is happening in this industry, they’re master innovators and a joy to work with.”

One of our dealers said he is also a huge advocate of ClickEngage™ and claims that it has saved him days in admin time per week as well as improving conversion for his dealership: “My conversion numbers have really rocketed since implementing ClickEngage™ on my website, the enquiries come in at all hours and the system automatically replies with quality content, it’s terrific!

“We can see how users have interacted with finance options online, which ultimately means we can customise the perfect deal for them before they’ve even turned up at the showroom. It’s helped to join the journey up for the customers who want to complete in the showroom and provide great data for the sales team to get the deal over the line.

“Click Dealer has really hit the sweet spot with ClickEngage™, they’ve thought of everything and it’s now a tried and tested formula. Our customers can do as little or as much as they want online, so we can give them the best of both worlds, whatever makes them feel comfortable to make their decision to buy.”

Get in touch with Click Dealer today for your free ClickEngage™ demo and take the first steps to giving your customers the online experience that they deserve.

Call 01782 454354, email [email protected], or send a message via our contact page to speak to the market leaders in online transactional processing for vehicles.

Revhead Ramblings: Why Aren’t Our Electric Cars Styled More Excitingly?

Often, unless you know your cars, you’d be oblivious to the electric forms on the road. They’ve slipped seamlessly into society; with the odd exception of course! I’m not sure if this is how it should be done though, most EVs are cautious petrol-car clones, they have design cues from their fossil fuel burning cousins that are purely cosmetic.

Manufacturers have so far failed to utilise the styling advantages afforded by the electric powertrain.

Standardised Design

This was present even in our first ever motor cars, high seating and tall wagon-style wheels were all too present in our previous mode of transportation; the horse and carriage. There’s no reason now that we have three-box or even two-box architectures. We often have a large front engine bay, occupied by nothing and upright grills that have no engine to cool!

Jaguar

While no cars have taken huge steps to differentiate from the pack, Jaguar are at least pushing the boat out a little bit with their i-Pace model. Project Designer, Ian Callum said: “It’s the most exciting project I’ve worked on in 40 years as a car designer. It’s a new hero Jaguar for a new era”

The electric nature of the car means it has a skateboard floorplan, this blank canvas gives designers huge freedom when designing the vehicle. By rejecting traditional styling, the design team have given the SUV a cab-forward design, not only does this emulate a mid-engined sports car, it also affords vast amounts of space for the rear passengers and storage space in the boot.

Traditional Styling

Electric cars need far less cooling than their ICE counterparts. This means their noses can be lower, a plus for style and aerodynamics too. Unfortunately, this is a feature few manufacturers take advantage of. Even with the i-Pace, Jaguar chose to only dip the nose so much, to ‘retain the Jaguar presence’. EVs also don’t need gearboxes, clutches, bell-housings, exhausts and petrol tanks – their omissions should all liberate cabin space. Heating and ventilation can also be more compact – see the Tesla Model 3. 

The uptake of electric cars is promising, more and more people are becoming happy with the idea of charging their cars and saving the environment. Surely that means then that their designers can be given some more leeway in terms of design? Tesla are leading the way at the moment; the layout of their Model X is revolutionary and I hope other manufacturers will follow suit shortly!

Click Dealer to Take on Codeweavers in Charity Football Match!

On Sunday, 12 August, Click Dealer will be hosting a charity football festival to raise funds for Leighton Hospital’s Ward 17.

The event will be held at Eccleshall Football Club’s Pershall Park Stadium, and the 11-a-side match will see a team of Clickers face fellow automotive software providers, Codeweavers.

There will be plenty of activities to keep you entertained before and after the match, including a penalty competition, dribbling race, crossbar challenge, keepie-uppie contest and a raffle, and after the match, you can enjoy indie music from a live band.

The bar will be open to keep you refreshed and classic football grub will be available as well as Levant-inspired street food. We will also have a special mobile bar, which should tempt any gin-lovers.

All proceeds from the event will contribute to our continuous fundraising for Leighton Hosptial’s Ward 17, The Child and Adolescent Unit, which treated Pippa (Click Dealer Director and Head of Customer Care) and Lee Rawlinson’s (Head of Sales) son, Jude, for meningitis.

Last year, Click Dealer raised half of our total fundraising target, and were able to hand over a cheque for £10,000 to the staff on Ward 17 who saved Jude’s life. We now have less than £9,000 left to raise to achieve our £20,000 goal.

The money we raise will help the hospital continue to provide a high standard of planned and emergency care to babies, children, adolescents and their families.

Tickets for the football festival are priced at £5 for anyone who would like to attend and help us raise money for this amazing cause, and it will be free for kids under the age of ten. There will be free, on-site parking at the stadium.

It is set to be a fantastic day for children and adults alike. The event will start at 12pm with a range of activities, food and drink to enjoy before the match kicks off at 3pm.

We hope to see you there!

To purchase tickets for Click Dealer’s football festival, email [email protected].

To find out more about Click Dealer’s charity fundraising efforts, or to make a donation, visit our Just Giving page.

 

Car-Buying Habits Change as New Technology Unfolds

Data Capture
According to recent data from automotive data and valuations expert, HPI, a significant number of motorists between the age of 25 and 34 are more willing to purchase a vehicle through an app than any other age group.

Of the 25- to 34-year-old’s surveyed, a mere 19 per cent said that they wouldn’t consider purchasing a new car through an app and 26 per cent said they wouldn’t buy a used car using this method.

Altogether, the survey saw more than 1000 motorists polled and on average, half of them were female, and half were male drivers. From the survey, HPI found that almost three-quarters (71 per cent) of those aged 65 said that they would never consider buying a new car online, and in terms of whether they would purchase a used car this way, the statistics were higher still at 76 per cent of people aged 65.

Generally, HPI found that the main reason why buying vehicles online proved so unpopular with some participants, was due to car-buyers wanting to carefully inspect and observe their vehicle before going through with the payment, while the second biggest reason was through fear of being overcharged as a result of buying this way.

Statistically, nearly 1 in 5 of those who completed the survey said that they would never buy any product online, with 1 in 6 of the participants confirming that they were uncomfortable with how their personal data may be used after buying a product online or through an app. Through the research, HPI found that over one third of those who would not consider buying a used car on the internet admitted that it was down to a lack of customer security if issues were to arise.

The data also uncovered that men would be more likely to make a vehicle purchase through a mobile application than women.

At least 13 per cent of the survey partakers had bought a new or second-hand vehicle online already without looking at it beforehand, and while almost two thirds of these had no concerns about doing so, over one third went ahead with the purchase despite the fact that they had doubts about it.

Consumer Expert at HPI, Fernando Garcia said, “Virtually all car manufacturers have an approved used scheme in place that allows consumers to buy a used car with a long warranty, often providing the same peace of mind as when purchasing a new car.”

He further added that, “The faith in these schemes is illustrated by the responses we canvassed in our research. Of those who would buy a car without trying it first, the majority would feel the most comfortable if the app was created by an official dealer or a car manufacturer. If the app was developed by a third-party company, that peace of mind was much less evident amongst consumers.”

For more information about our own vehicle retailing platform, ClickEngage™,  which allows your customers to reserve online, get in touch with Click Dealer today via [email protected]  or  01782 454354. Alternatively, you can send us a message through our contact page.

How Important is Diversity and Inclusion for Your Dealership?

diversity and inclusion
Recent research conducted by Ennis and Co reveals that 85% of automotive businesses believe that diversity and inclusion is a priority in the workplace; however, in comparison to other industries, we are lagging behind.

While diversity and inclusion (D&I) may be seen as a priority for the majority of companies, only 55% agree that they have made good progress in this area and a meagre 15% say that they have seen positive results from D&I strategies that they have implemented.

Changing Stereotypes

An inhibitor of D&I in the workplace is that people who would make your workplace more diverse are not applying for the positions you advertise. We could simply say this is out of our hands and give up, or, we could investigate the reasons behind this.

When people imagine certain job roles, minds tend to leap to a stereotype, and if an individual does not fit the stereotype for a job, they may be deterred from applying or not even consider applying in the first place. This is an issue particularly in the automotive sector and if we are going to increase D&I, public perceptions must be altered, and certain stereotypes eradicated.

Employee Retention

When it comes to discussing public perceptions, one group of people who seem to embrace D&I without question is millennials. Growing up at a time when acceptance of diversity and non-traditional job roles is at an all-time high may mean that young people have not formed such strong stereotypes themselves and they could be easier to recruit.

However, millennials are now just coming out of school and into work, and trying to identify a career path for themselves, and at this point, they may be likely to stray. To retain your young employees, help them understand what opportunities are available to them and how they may be able to progress within your company.

Employee Engagement

Action to improve D&I in the workplace must come from employers, but it is very important that everyone in the company is on board. Ford has hosted company-wide diversity and unconscious bias workshops to ensure that employees are aware of the importance of the topic.

You don’t need to go to this level, but make sure your team members are aware of the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace by implementing a clear strategy and talking to them about the subject.

 

For information on how Click Dealer can help your dealership, get in touch today via [email protected], 01782 478220 or through our contact page.

Revhead Ramblings: 4 Future Classics on Our Roads Right Now

We’ve all seen the stupid prices people are paying for classic cars. One hundred thousand pounds for a Mitsubishi Evo? No thanks. It seems that if you want a piece of motoring history or an iconic car from your childhood, you’ll have to pay through the nose to get it.

The best way to enjoy classic cars then, is to get them before they become a classic! Don’t wait to buy your dream car, do it now and savour every second with it.

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

Alfa should have a place in every petrol head’s heart. Their cars are works of art, unfortunately too many have been let down by lacklustre hardware. The Giulia is no exception, it’s had its share of roadside mishaps but it’s still the car you should have if you’re looking for a fast saloon.

Obviously, the people who don’t understand Alfa will look to the Germans instead, this means a limited run will be produced, so even with the Alfa-ness of the car, it will still prove popular with future collectors.

Ford Fiesta ST

We all know how popular Fast Fords are, from the Escort Cosworth to the Focus RS500; they’re all expected to fetch crazy money when they come to auction. The sporty supermini however, hasn’t been hit by rising prices just yet thankfully.

The ST can be purchased for anywhere around ten thousand pounds now, you might not be buying the best interior or the fastest car, but the driving experience is matched or exceeded by very, very few cars.

BMW I8

The i8 was the first production hybrid supercar. BMW did an excellent job of introducing hybrid power to the supercar loving world. Blisteringly fast acceleration and a decent range proved to the naysayers that electric power is a viable option for performance cars. It’s unapologetically ambitious while being grounded and sensible, it’s the benchmark for all hybrid supercars.

McLaren P1

Production of the P1 ended in 2015, yet it is still about twenty years ahead of pretty much all other hypercars, with a few notable exceptions. It is essentially obligatory to mention the Porsche 918 and the LaFerrari whenever discussing the P1, since they all combine similar technology and innovation with comparable results.

Just 375 P1s were made, it’s a shame that they’re now undoubtedly locked up in a temperature controlled garage with just delivery miles on them…

I dread to think how many cars right now are locked up as investment pieces. Everything from supercars to hatchbacks, sat waiting for their internals to seize and their tyres to rot. If you’re one of these collectors, throw motoring sentimentalism away, forget about your profits and let true fans enjoy these cars; invest your money in art instead…

 

Why SEO is a Necessity for Independent Car Dealerships

SEO
It is a common misconception that SEO is only for the big fish, but actually, engaging in SEO tactics can be just as beneficial, if not more so, for small, local businesses.

The main reason why SEO is so important for small businesses is that it boosts visibility, which helps people find you who might not have otherwise, bringing in more customers. This can really help your dealership’s growth.

Is SEO an Unnecessary Expense?

As long as you do your research, you can engage in SEO practices yourself, but it is very time consuming and could require you to hire a new team member to be able to handle the additional workload. The alternative option is to hire a specialist to manage your SEO on a monthly basis, which, for the amount you will be spending, may be the most cost-effective option.

Realistically, for an independent business, you will be looking at between £500 and £1,000 a month for SEO managed out of house, which may seem like a significant amount when you are looking at your expenses, but the important thing to remember is that this is an investment.

If you appear on the first page of Google for various search queries, you are likely to see a dramatic increase in website users, many of whom will turn into leads. With vehicles being expensive commodities, only a few sales will cover the cost of your SEO, but from our experience in managing dealers’ SEO, you are likely to cover the cost and much, much more!

Is SEO Better Than Other Methods of Lead Generation?

With traditional advertising campaigns, you will spend a large sum of money, reap the rewards, then interest may die down and you will be back where you started, and just uploading to advertising portals will not do much to help your visibility and growth.

With SEO, the campaign is continuous and leads are organic. As you gain more visibility, you will gain more website users, and as you gain more users, your visibility will increase further, giving you the opportunity to develop and generate an ever-increasing number of leads.

To find out more about our in-house automotive SEO services, email [email protected], call us on 01782 904 715 or alternatively, you can message us via our contact page.

Five Link Building Tactics Car Dealers Should Steer Clear Of

Link Building
Links are one of the biggest search engine ranking factors, and if you want to start bumping up your car dealer website’s position in Google, you need to be creating them! While link building is highly effective, if you don’t do it right, you could do more damage than good, so here are five things to avoid.

Link building is a highly effective SEO tactic used to increase your website’s domain authority, which, in turn, will improve your position in search engine rankings. For years, people have come up with new, illegitimate ways to create backlinks, but search engines have been continuously updating their algorithms to ensure that websites using these methods do not prevail. So, if you decide to use link building to optimise your website, here are some things to avoid.

Sending Content to Low-Quality Press Sites

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advising against occasionally creating your own content to submit to press release sites, but, some sites are better than others. Free press release sites hold far less value than authoritative press release sites, and if you want your link-building efforts to be worthwhile, you need to distribute your content to the latter.

Concealing Links

Hiding links on a website by making the font colour the same as the page background used to be a popular SEO tactic, and while this may sound like a smart idea, Google is smarter! This strategy is outdated and will not work anymore.

Trading Links

Link exchanges are risky and you should be very wary of them. They involve agreeing to link to a website as long as that site provides a link to yours, but if you are not careful, this could have a harmful effect on your search engine ranking. Before agreeing to a link exchange, there are two things you need to check: the site’s domain authority and relevancy.

If the site you are considering trading links with has a low domain authority, it is unlikely to have a significantly positive impact and if the site is irrelevant to your own, search engines will see this as unnatural, which could be damaging. If you are unsure about the website’s performance and relevancy, it is best to avoid the exchange altogether.

Forums and Blog Comments

Have you ever been on a forum or in the comment section of a blog and seen someone post a comment with a link in that doesn’t really make sense or seems completely irrelevant to the topic being discussed? This is a link-building tactic, and one that is no longer effective. Even if webmasters do not delete the comments, blog and forum links have been massively devalued by Google.

Rushing

Link-building is an extremely effective SEO tactic, but due to the increasing intelligence of search engines, it is not a quick one. If your website has never had any backlinks and then suddenly, you acquire a bucket load overnight, Google is going to assume you are spamming and you may be penalised. You must build your backlinks at a gradual pace; unfortunately, there are no shortcuts!

To find out more about link building and our in-house automotive SEO services, email [email protected], call us on 01782 904 715 or alternatively, you can message us via our contact page.