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iVendi’s new, free white paper - “Driving future success: Five key trends in online vehicle retail” – highlights some surprising new directions in vehicle buyer preferences.

An increasing number of consumers are moving towards buying their next vehicle almost entirely online, new research from iVendi suggests.

It shows that 74% expect to use some sort of online process to buy their next vehicle – either buying online and collecting in person from a dealership (45%) or buying online with home delivery (29%). Only a quarter said they would prefer to buy their next vehicle in person from the retailer.

The findings are taken from a new iVendi white paper, “Driving future success: Five key trends in online motor retail,” which questioned 1,000 recent vehicle buyers about their preferences and is being released this week.

James Tew, CEO at iVendi, said: “Most people in motor retail now tend to view it as a market where the showroom and online channels exist side-by-side as a hybrid, with the vast majority of consumers moving between the two at will as part of quite complex buying journeys.

“What our research shows is that this may be less the case going forward, and there could be a relatively rapid move underway towards increasingly digital sales. In our view, consumer journeys will retain a strong hybrid element but the situation we have seen in recent years where showroom and online split roughly equally could change quite rapidly with a substantial swing towards the latter.

“This clearly has implications for retailers, motor finance companies and anyone else involved in the process of selling vehicles. Their online processes need to be upgraded to ensure they meet the expectations of these buyers.”

The research showed that the age of respondents had an impact on these buying preferences. Older consumers are the most likely to favour buying physically at a dealership, with 34% of over 45s naming it as their preferred method, compared to 23% of 31–44-year-olds, and 21% of those under 30. 

However, perhaps surprisingly, preferences for fully digital purchases – with home delivery and no interaction with a physical dealership whatsoever – were very consistent across all age groups at either 27% or 28%.

The ‘click and collect’ method – transacting online, then collecting the vehicle from the retailer – was not only the single most popular method but also the one with the most progressive trend among the age groups. It was favoured by 37% of over 45s, 47% of 31-44-year-olds and 51% of those under 30. There was also a strong preference for click and collect among female respondents, 47% of whom expect to buy their next vehicle this way.

James said: “Breaking down the findings by age are important because they show the likely future direction of travel for vehicle buying and again, online looks as though it is going to become much more dominant.”

Download iVendi’s new white paper

A new free white paper from iVendi that drills down into the subjects covered in this interview can be found at ivendi.com. Called Driving future success: Five key trends in online vehicle retail, it is essential reading for anyone involved in the sector.

About iVendi

Founded in 2009, iVendi is the market leader in connected motor retail technology, creating digital products that help consumers to buy vehicles and dealers to sell them more efficiently, both on online and in the showroom. iVendi technology interacts with around five million consumers every month and thousands of motor retailers, manufacturers and finance providers. The company is based in Colwyn Bay UK. More information can be found at ivendi.com.

For further information, contact the iVendi team on 0330 229 0028, email tellmemore@ivendi.com or visit www.ivendi.com