Industry News
US new vehicle buyers increasingly rely on manufacturer and dealer websites
11th October 2006
New-vehicle buyers in the US are relying more on manufacturer and dealer web sites throughout their buying process at the expense of portals and many independent web sites, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 New Autoshopper.com Study released yesterday.
The study, which measures the shopping habits of 28,989 new-vehicle buyers, has shown a shift in the focus of online vehicle shopping over the years from finding the right vehicle price to finding the right vehicle. A record high of 87% of automotive Internet users (AIUs) are visiting at least one manufacturer site, and they are visiting a greater number of them. By comparison, only 77% of AIUs visit an independent automotive web site -- down from the 2004 peak of 80%.
"Generally speaking, the independent web sites that shoppers find extremely useful are increasing in visitation (sic) or at least holding steady," said Dennis Galbraith, executive director of digital marketing solutions at J.D. Power and Associates. "However, consumer expectations are increasing faster than many independent web sites are improving. The result is lower satisfaction ratings for relatively stagnant sites in terms of new content and less visitation by actual buyers. Instead, consumers are visiting several manufacturer sites during the shopping process to gather the information they need."
The automotive sections of large portals all experienced significant declines in site visits from 2005, although Yahoo! Autos remains one of the industry's most visited automotive web sites. Some of the better-known shopping sites of the past, such as CarsDirect.com and Autobytel.com, are steadily declining in site visits by actual new-vehicle buyers. At the same time, some of the most visited shopping sites, including AutoTrader.com, cars.com, Consumer Reports.org, Edmunds.com, and Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com are helping shoppers find the right vehicle and are attracting as many or more new-vehicle buyers than ever before.
"Many independent sites start by asking the shopper 'what make and model are you looking for?' in exchange for pricing information," said Galbraith. "The problem is that many shoppers need help determining which vehicle is right for them … The cost of buying the wrong vehicle is generally far greater than the cost of poor negotiating. It is not a surprise that shoppers are moving away from sites that want to turn them into request-for-quote leads with little or no help offered to find the right vehicle."
(www.jdpa.com)
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