A modern dealership should put people first and keep customer needs paramount, and technology tools can help store leaders get there.
So concluded panelists speaking at the J.D. Power Auto Summit Thursday in Dallas. The group of industry experts and insiders said dealers, automakers and vendors need to think about what the term “modern retailing” really means.
“A lot of people would say [modern retailing is] digital retailing,” said Brian Reed, CEO of Digital Auto Advisors and a partner with venture capital firm Automotive Ventures in Georgia.
But it goes beyond that.
“We consider modern retailing [to be] the whole process, not just what happens online,” Reed said.
Ron Frey, a consultant in Oregon and a former executive with CDK Global and AutoNation, said that while digital retailing platforms are useful tools, retailers often feel they’re done modernizing once they put the technology into operation.
“Our industry has often done it where it is a check-the-box [situation]. They say, ‘Now I am a digital retailer,’” Frey said. “Modern retail speaks more to the macro-environment. Where are consumers today? What has changed in consumers’ perceptions and patterns and how they approach purchasing?”
When ‘modern’ was simple
Kirk Preiser, director of retail buying experience for Audi of America, said modern retailing is a constantly evolving concept.
“I’ve been working on modern retail for 30 years,” Preiser said. “Back in the ’90s, modern retailing for me was working with dealers to put up a website.”
That evolved to a focus on pricing innovations in the early 2000s and continues in the era of digitization and the pursuit of omnichannel strategies, he said.
Omnichannel refers to technology and processes aimed at providing a seamless buying experience for consumers whether they shop online, in-store or both.
Automakers should collaborate with dealers and listen to what they need for their particular customer base rather than imposing mandates, Preiser said.
“There is a large portion of my team that have retail experience, and that’s on purpose,” Preiser said. “It is important to have people who have sat in those chairs so we can really see [things] through dealers’ eyes. We have a working group to build that collaboration.”
Solvable?
Phil Battista, president of dealership technologies and head of modern retailing at J.D. Power, suggested that the notion of creating a seamless experience for consumers isn’t quite solvable yet, in part because automakers and retailers have divergent opinions about what modern retailing is, and how and where technology is best used.
“What we want to do is not force consumers down a particular path,” said Battista, who moderated the panel. “We want to give consumers options.”
But what does a consumer truly want and need?
That is an ever-changing phenomenon, said Justin Oesterle, CEO of RouteOne, a credit application management software company in Michigan.
“Meeting the expectations of the customers where they sit now is how I define” modern retailing, Oesterle said. “If you look at what was state of the art in 2010, it looks antiquated now, and that’s not that long ago.”
In the end, it comes down to creating an omnichannel approach that is truly collaborative among all parts of the dealership ecosystem, said Andy Park, CEO of CarNow, a digital retailing provider in Georgia.
“It is absolutely important that we address and succeed in creating an omnichannel experience,” Park said.
And the views of all parties are important in building something that works, he said.
