1:36 pm, January 31, 2020
AUTOMOTIVE retailers are ignoring lucrative aftersales opportunities – with more than a third of car owners never hearing from their dealer again post-sale.
That’s according to a new report from dealership software provider CDK Global, which polled 9,107 car buyers across nine countries for what is believed to be one of the largest studies of automotive aftersales.
Its ‘Consumer Focus on the Global Automotive Aftersales’ revealed that 35 per cent of car buyers never hear from their car dealership again once the car is sold, 10 per cent of the information received by owners from dealers is irrelevant, 43 per cent of owners don’t return to the point of sale to get their car serviced, and less than six per cent of dealers use digital channels (social media and/or apps) to communicate to their customers.
The report, which quizzed 18-to-80-year-olds in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, China and United Arab Emirates, also revealed key themes dealers must focus on to make the most of the aftersales market:
After the deal is done, customers are forgotten
Digital as a channel should be commonplace
Brand name is still king for sales but not when it comes to maintenance
The survey was conducted last August and September, and Neil Packham, pictured, president of CDK Global, said: ‘We have felt for some time that automotive retailers are not realising the full potential of the aftersales market, especially across Europe. To explore this more, and to give us and global dealerships insight into the aftersales market, we commissioned a survey to dig deeper into buyer trends in Europe as well as in China and the UAE.
‘This is part of our ongoing strategy to connect the automotive market, helping retailers take advantage of technological innovation, deep consumer insight and intelligence around future trends, in order to help them continue to thrive in a rapidly shifting and highly competitive marketplace.’
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