From the time the consumer embarks into the research stage of a vehicle to the point they finalize the purchase, this study found that majority complete their car buying journey within 3 months. The purchase duration tends to be shorter for used vehicle buyers, with 33% spending less than 1 month while only 23% of new car buyers indicated spending less than 1 month to complete their purchase journey.

By considering how car buyers manage their vehicle path to purchase, you can prioritize your dealership’s awareness and educational campaign efforts aligned to the inventory you have in stock. More specifically, examining the impact of channels leveraged to educate consumers on a specific vehicle make and model, social media is identified as a key platform. Second to social media are automotive marketplaces, which is where consumers conduct the bulk of their research, thus the channel plays a vital role in influencing purchase decisions.

As we’ve seen time and time again, price is the top criteria considered by buyers of both used (77%) and new vehicles (65%). Other areas of consideration are the brand, specifically brand reputation, fuel economy and availability. For used buyers specifically, 59% say that mileage plays a role in their selection and 37% consider vehicle history. Used buyers tend to be more inclined to have the price drive their decision while new car buyers show more interest in the feature-based specifications of a vehicle to help make their decision. This comes as no surprise since they can customize their features when purchasing a new car. If you’re of the mindset that there’s an opportunity to improve your vehicle merchandising efforts to include these criteria, check out this article detailing best practices to consider.

Online marketplaces have remained the key touchpoint and resource – used by 78% of pre-owned vehicle buyers and 45% of new car buyers. Once they’ve browsed the inventory available on marketplaces, 80% of used buyers and 60% of new buyers find them to be influential on their final purchasing decision. Your listings must be punchy to grab a viewer’s attention, and then include detailed information to keep them engaged. Other vital online touchpoints include dealer websites and manufacturer websites, so it’s important to be visible and consistent across multiple platforms.

Buyers visit an online automotive marketplace multiple times in their purchase journey – on average, 15 times for used car buyers and 9.4 times for new. Consumers most routinely leverage online marketplaces to compare prices and features, monitor deals, and search for online reviews. The majority spend over an hour each time they frequent a marketplace, thus keeping them engaged and informed is vital. They continue to research vehicles through automotive marketplaces even after they’ve visited the dealership. Their path is not linear, making marketplaces that much more important across all stages of their purchase journey.

Car shoppers cite a variety of challenges in finding a good deal and negotiating a fair price. New car buyers are most concerned with the vehicle’s availability and price, while used car shoppers prioritize knowledge of the vehicle’s history and condition.

When you connect with your buyers, your prowess with servicing the prospective car buyer represents everything to consumers. Although some respondents were fine with “the best price but a lackluster customer experience”, the majority of new and used car buyers prefer “a fair price and an amazing customer experience”. You can improve your customer service efforts from several angles, such as speedy lead response time, educated staff to reply to consumer inquires and transparent pricing to help build consumer trust.

As we continue to research car buyer behaviours, we observe noticeable shifts combined with mainstays. Automotive marketplaces have continued to outrank other resources at each stage of the car buying journey, with price identified as a top decision factor for both used and new car shoppers. However, as we dive further into the research, there are differences in the desires and needs of used and new car buyers, thus the service and experience you provide must be precisely tailored to them. No matter where they are in their journey, paying attention to every step of a customer’s vehicle path to purchase is sure to pay dividends.

Key Takeaways

• Majority are purchasing vehicles within 3 months. Used car buyers tend to purchase within a month, while new buyers are spending more time, 2 to 3 months.
• Price is the top criteria used to make a vehicle selection; leverage your GoTrader iQ badges to understand if you are pricing according to market value.
• Price is also one of the most challenging aspects of the purchase process, with both new and used buyers concerned if they are getting a good deal; be transparent in your pricing to instill trust in buyers.
• Online automotive marketplaces are a key touchpoint, used multiple times throughout the purchase process, even after the dealership visit; ensuring your inventory is present and well merchandised is vital to success.
• A majority of buyers find the sources they use to research vehicles to be influential on their purchase.
• Superior customer service and a fair price is more important to buyers than having the best price but a lackluster experience; ensure your staff is equipped to provide the best possible service experience to every prospective customer.

Source: DIG Insights Vehicle Path to Purchase Research Study August 2022, n=1369.

Description

Each vehicle’s description should complement the photos, joining the informative text and visuals into a cohesive package. Consider leveraging the character count associated with your descriptions as an opportunity to layer in any recognition you’ve received in the industry, or to cover the aspects that make your dealership unique, effectively framing a compelling story about your dealership operation, while building consumer confidence and trust.  Follow these fundamental steps in crafting effective descriptions of your advertised inventory:

• As heading text is limited by a pre-defined character count, this VDP feature should be limited to contain year, make, model and trim
• Understand the target buyer of each vehicle and ensure that your descriptive text is in complete alignment to what typically entices buyers of specific vehicle segments – note that sports coupe/sedan drivers will often skip past details surrounding safety ratings, while SUV and minivan prospects have little regard for 0-60 time
• Describe all key vehicle features, such as premium upholstered seating, keyless entry, push button start, sunroof, enhanced infotainment, advanced connectivity, heads up display, as well as safety features, for instance lane keep assist, front collision mitigation, blind spot assist, to name a few
• Considering use of an automated description writing tool to ensure you don’t miss an element of the vehicle and contain consistent information about your dealership across all inventory listings
• Granted the vehicle has not been involved in a collision, capture this detail in the copy block, and consider providing access to a CARFAX Vehicle History report directly within the VDP
• Populate the latest odometer reading, ensuring this vital detail is provided upfront
• Outline financing options, lease rates, or other incentives, if these are available at the time of placing the listing – and be sure to keep these up to date if a vehicle remains on your forecourt once the promotional period has expired
• Describe your unique selling proposition in a “Why Buy Here” statement to kick start the trust building journey with the most serious car shoppers
• Include customer reviews and awards to showcase the recognition your dealership has received
• Maintain a solid Google Review rating – dealers with reviews over 3.5 stars have their rating appear on both on the Search Results Page (SRP) and VDP

Final Thoughts

Fine-tuning your online merchandising action plan to recognize and embrace each of these components of your inventory listings is a sure-fire approach to driving optimal engagement with your online audience, to build confidence, trust, and desire with consumers for each vehicle you have on your forecourt. Omitting crucial information, visuals and an asking price could well act as the Achilles heel for your dealership’s ability to attract consumers to your inventory, well before you have a chance to convert a VDP visit into an inbound lead, and ultimately, a sale. The sooner you embrace and implement an effective merchandising strategy, the faster you get your well merchandised inventory to market, the higher your chances of attracting the right buyer and dramatically increasing the return of your investment not just on Auto Trader but across your online advertising efforts.

There is no better time to step up your merchandising game!

Source: (1) gotrader.ca Vehicle Purchase Behaviour Research, December 2021 (n=496). (2) gotrader.ca Data Warehouse, GoTrader iQ Price Badge Analysis, 2021. (3) gotrader.ca Data Warehouse, January – July 2022.

The estimated duration of the vehicle purchase process has improved significantly over the past few months, as, generally, consumers state that vehicle purchase timelines have decreased. At the start of the pandemic, 72% of consumers said their vehicle purchase timelines would be extended. Our latest findings show that this number has decreased by 27 points, where 45% now claim it will take longer than anticipated to make their purchase.

Consumers that were considering delaying their purchase has also improved, with only 42% of respondents expecting to delay their purchase, down from 68% at the start of the pandemic. Those who stated that nothing would delay them in buying a vehicle has doubled, from 6% to 13% in the latest wave of research.

The use of automotive marketplaces within the car buying journey has remained steady throughout the duration of the pandemic. Of those surveyed, 61% of used car shoppers rank online automotive marketplaces as their top information source. Used car shoppers are continuing to use dealership websites (46%) and manufacturer websites (41%) during their car shopping journey.

Looking at the triggers that initiate a vehicle purchase has remained the same throughout this entire time period. The top three reasons being their vehicle is getting too old, they want to upgrade to something newer/nicer, or, are in need of a larger vehicle. Keep these factors in mind as you unearth more about your customers’ needs and help situate them with a vehicle that aligns to their desires and expectations.

From the perspective of consumer feelings towards the pandemic, and whether they believe the situation is improving or worsening, we’re seeing a significant improvement. In March 2020, 66% of consumers stated that they were very concerned about COVID-19. As we have moved through the thick of it and have witnessed more of the country re-open, this number dipped to 43% in July 2020.

From these results we can conclude that shoppers are continuing to demonstrate an uptick in their intention to purchase a vehicle. They continue to rely heavily on online sources to do the bulk of their research throughout their purchase process. Based on these results, along with the unrelenting increases to quality traffic on the gotrader.ca marketplace we have experienced month-over-month, dealers should feel confident in their strategic investments to attract consumers to their virtual and physical lots.