Automotive update: Moving from customer experience to customer excellence
One of the mantras in automotive retail is to focus on the customer experience. However, I would argue in this modern world, a successful retailer needs to have a complete ethos of customer excellence.
In my blog this month, I look at why retailers should move from providing excellent customer service to an providing an excellent customer experience – or what can also be termed ‘rock star management’.
Automotive brief
This time last year car dealers were on fire. Today they’re generally struggling to be positive. However, this is because as a group they have collective amnesia about the market which always slows down in quarter four. So to bring some positivity into the picture, take a look at the data below comparing stock profiles on Autotrader for October 2022 to October 2021 and 2019 (pre Covid):
Autotrader stock profiles 2022 vs 2021
| October 2022 | October 2021 | Difference | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New cars | 25,098 | 17,618 | 7,480 | 42% |
| Sub 1 year | 19,679 | 20,682 | -1,003 | -5% |
| 1 - 2 year | 32,214 | 26,991 | 5,223 | 19% |
Autotrader stock profiles 2022 vs 2019
| October 2022 | October 2019 | Difference | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New cars | 25,098 | 34,574 | -9,476 | -27% |
| Sub 1 year | 19,679 | 63,905 | -44,226 | -69% |
| 1 - 2 year | 32,214 | 45,931 | -13,717 | -30% |
If you take 2019 as the last ‘normal’ year in automotive retailing, you can see you are all in a decent position. As ever, the devil is in the detail, and certain brands are finding life tougher than others are.
The top level Autotrader figures as follows:
Headline Autotrader figures
- 2022 stock MoM 28.9% increase, YoY 4.8% decrease
- 2021 stock, MoM 5.4% increase, YoY 19.4% increase
- 2020 stock MoM 7.0% increase, YoY 23.0% decrease
- Total market MoM 1.8% increase, YoY 9.5% increase
Top 5 brands by market share of 2021 stock
- BMW 9.3%
- Ford 9.0%
- Audi 8.8%
- VW 8.6%
- Toyota 8.3%
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