11:28 am, May 11, 2011
BMW will start selling parts and accessories direct to owners for the first time, thanks to a new partnership with eBay.
‘BMW Direct’, now live on eBay.co.uk, will satisfy the growing demand from consumers for purchasing original parts online.
Previously, BMW owners wanting to pick up Genuine Parts have had to place their order via one of the firm’s many dealerships.
With its new store on eBay, as well as merchandise BMW fans will be able to buy genuine BMW parts and accessories such as brake discs and car care products direct from the carmaker.
This is BMW’s first venture into e-commerce. The German firm says it will allow them ‘to reach those customers not accustomed to visiting a BMW dealer regularly.’
All items sold through BMW Direct are offered from stock with free postage and packaging and are covered by a full two year BMW warranty.
BMW UK will handle the shop front of BMW Direct with the processing of orders being handled by BMW Park Lane in London.
Carl Sanderson, general manager aftersales development, said: ‘As a premium car manufacturer, we are always interested in understanding customer preferences when it comes to buying products. We recognise that there are customers who wish to buy BMW products but do not necessarily want to travel to a BMW dealer to make a purchase.
‘As such we see eBay as the perfect solution for them. By embracing this modern retailing approach, we believe we can engage with and satisfy a number of additional customers through what is a new retail channel for BMW.’
Angus McCarey, UK retail director of eBay, said: ‘eBay UK is home to more than 100 leading brands who realise the added value an eBay shop brings, whether they are already selling online or not. There are over 600,000 searches for BMW every month on eBay and BMW will now be able to access this existing, yet untapped customer base, while increasing its reach to the millions of other consumers who buy and sell on the site.’
STRONG APRIL FOR BMW GROUP
APRIL saw he BMW Group report another set of strong sales. A total of 137,183 BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce vehicles were delivered to customers – up 17.9 per cent on April 2010.
Sales up 116 per cent for RR compared to April 2010
For the year to the end of April, the BMW Group achieved a new sales high of 519,944 vehicles – an increase of 20.4 per cent.
Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for sales and marketing: ‘In April, our positive market development continued with a strong gain of nearly 18 per cent. We continued our balanced growth worldwide with an increase in sales across almost all regions and markets.
‘Germany, the United States and China remain our three largest markets. But we also saw impressive growth in the dynamic young markets of Brazil, Russia, India, Korea and Turkey – the so-called BRIKT-countries.
‘We are on our way to achieve a 2011 sales volume of well over 1.5 million units, a new all-time high, with the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands all achieving new sales volume records.’
BMW brand volumes increased by 14.8 per cent in April with X models performing particularly strongly. Mini sales were up 34.5 per cent, while by the end of April of this year, Rolls Royce’s worldwide sales were 989 vehicles – up 115.9 per cent.
To see what is on offer on BMW Direct visit http://goo.gl/gyQQf
