Car Dealers Risk Losing Customers If They Fail to Post Prices Online
17 October 2000
Car Dealers Risk Losing Customers If They Fail to Post Prices Online
New Study Shows 85% of Online Auto Shoppers Leave if They Can't Find Prices
CINCINNATI, Oct. 17 Availability of pricing information
continues to be the single most important item online car shoppers want from
car dealers' Web sites, according to new research released today by Friedman-
Swift Associates, a Cincinnati-based market research firm, and The Cobalt
Group , a leading provider of e-business products and services
to the automotive market.
"About 83 percent of car shoppers said prices of new and used vehicles
were the most important items a car dealer's Web site should display," says
Judy George, senior vice president of Friedman-Swift Associates. "Almost
70 percent wanted to see comparisons between Manufacturers' Suggested Retail
Price (MSRP) and dealer invoice prices as well."
Consumers' desire to have auto dealers post prices on their Web sites is
so strong that 85% of shoppers indicated they would shop somewhere else if
they didn't find prices listed on a dealership Web site, George notes.
Following price information, consumers voiced strong preferences that car
dealers' Web sites also contain:
-- Full descriptions of new and used vehicles: 75 percent rated as very
important.
-- Options available on a new vehicle: 74 percent rated as very
important.
-- Photos of new and used vehicles: 67 percent rated as very important.
-- Current inventory lists of new vehicles: 65 percent rated as very
important.
-- Current inventory lists of used vehicles: 55 percent rated as very
important.
-- Side-by-side vehicle comparisons: 50 percent rated as very important.
At the very bottom of consumers' preferences were links to auto insurance
information, which only 23 percent rated as very important, and real-time
chats with dealership personnel, which garnered only a 22 percent rating.
"In all of Cobalt's automotive e-business best practices training and
consulting, we recommend that dealers post pricing and inventory availability
on their Web sites," says John Holt, president and CEO of The Cobalt Group.
"Dealers' Web sites are an online extension of their dealership and the
dealers who embrace consumers' demands for pricing and inventory online will
by far outperform those who do not."
Friedman-Swift's research was based on interviews with 1,439 online
shoppers who visited The Cobalt Group's DealerNet.com car shopping site in
June, July and August 2000, and has a margin of error of 2.6 percent. Nearly
half -- 47 percent -- of the online shoppers in this study plan to buy a car
in the next six months.
This National Dealer Web Site study is the second research study conducted
jointly between Friedman-Swift Associates and The Cobalt Group.
ABOUT FRIEDMAN-SWIFT ASSOCIATES
Friedman-Swift Associates, based in Cincinnati, OH, is a leading provider
of automotive marketing research, working with auto dealers, manufacturers and
advertising agencies since 1979. Dedicated to helping auto dealers and
manufacturers serve consumers better, the company has pioneered proprietary
research that helps dealers understand the needs of both Internet and
traditional automotive shoppers.
Friedman-Swift has conducted over 4,000 automotive research studies. The
firm's clients include a majority of the largest automobile dealer groups in
the US, and most dealerships who lead in sales performance for each auto
manufacturer.
More information about the company can be found at http://www.friedmanswift.com .
ABOUT THE COBALT GROUP
The Cobalt Group(TM) , headquartered in Seattle, is a
leading provider of Internet-based products and services for the automotive
industry. Cobalt helps dealers, dealer groups and automobile manufacturers
harness the power of the Internet to realize new efficiencies, win new
prospects and better serve their customers.
With approximately 6,000 dealer Web site clients, over 10,000 dealers
using its parts locating system, and relationships with 15 automotive
manufacturers and more than 50 of the 100 largest dealer groups in the United
States, Cobalt is one of the leading technology companies serving the
automotive industry.
Cobalt operates MotorPlace.com(TM) ( http://www.MotorPlace.com ), a business-to-
business vertical portal for the automotive industry; DealerNet(R)
( http://www.dealernet.com ), one of the best-known automotive destination sites on
the Web; and PartsVoice(R) ( http://www.partsvoice.com ), a leading OEM auto parts
locating and data management service. The Cobalt Group also owns IntegraLink
Corporation, the auto industry's premier provider of advanced data collection
and reporting services. Cobalt offers Web site services that are endorsed by
the National Automobile Dealers Association.
The Cobalt Group has offices in Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Detroit, MI;
Columbus, OH; and Austin, TX.
For more information, please visit The Cobalt Group at http://www.cobaltgroup.com
or call 1-800-909-8244.