“Offering online purchasing is a must, as more than 25% of customers are potential users. Only about 2% of customers in our global research sample have bought a new car online, which means they have signed contracts and paid without visiting the dealer.
While online is becoming the most important starting point, buying experiences are still not pure digital plays. Customers typically shift between different online and offline channels at least four times, and they expect their preferences to carry across channel boundaries so they don’t have to repeat them again and again.
More than 60% of customers decide on a brand, model, and price before visiting a dealership. Increasingly, customers know exactly what brand and model they want, and how much they want to pay, before visiting a dealership (see Figure 4). Customers spend a significant amount of time researching their purchase online, but most still visit dealers for a test drive, final configuration, and the purchase.” For more info, check out Gigacars.com experts.