1:23 pm, June 8, 2020
Auto Trader has reported a rise in audience figures to a record average of more than two million cross-platform visits a day since showrooms in England were allowed to reopen a week ago (June 1).
Saturday (June 6) alone saw a week-on-week increase of 37 per cent, it said.
Car buyers are also lingering longer while researching cars on the automotive marketplace, spending an average of more than 20 million hours every day.
It said its research had pointed to a lot of pent-up demand and a paused market. With the market now open again it labelled this translation into action as ‘encouraging’.
The number of leads sent to retailers during May in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales rose by 42 per cent against May 2019. It hailed that as ‘good news’, with showrooms allowed to reopen in Northern Ireland as of today (June 8) and dealerships in Scotland and Wales set to follow in the coming weeks.
Richard Walker, data and insight director at Auto Trader, said: ‘Car buyers are sending a huge amount more leads to retailers.
‘We used to talk about buyers not needing to leave a digital footprint and just turning up at forecourts, but now that’s just not possible. Instead, buyers need to make online or telephone inquiries. In fact, on Monday alone, leads were up 88 per cent year on-year – a clear sign of the pent-up demand.
‘Retailers have needed to adjust their business models and adapt to the new Covid-related health and safety measures. We’ve certainly seen many increasing their digital offerings, with home delivery services, online deposits and video walkarounds.’
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