Figure 1: The Future of Customer Experience

The customer experience consists of a large number of touchpoints. The dealer plays an important role in enabling the customer to take advantage of these touchpoints. The future trends of “mobility as a service”, digitalization and car dealerships as a “point of experience” are driving not only OEMs but also car dealers to redesign their branches. Recent market research has shown that customers make an average of 3.3 visits to the dealership before signing a contract for a new car. There are also clear differences between the age groups. Among the under-30s, the number of visits to the dealership is 4.6, compared to just 3.7 among older people. This shows us that the dealership still plays an important role in the car-buying process.

Digitalization and online business must not be forgotten and should be taken into account when designing a customer experience. Creating synergy between the offline and online worlds remains one of the biggest challenges for OEMs and retailers. Most customers start their search in a web browser and are directed to the dealer’s various online channels via keywords, offers and ads. If an inquiry can be generated from this, action must be taken. The customer wants answers in real time. In addition, the dealership is no longer the only point of contact, but also an online representation of the dealership, the digital dealership. This should be a personal consultation that enables the salesperson to call up the customer profile before the visit via an online and offline link and then respond individually to inquiries during the visit.