The COVID-19 pandemic means dealers have had to evolve and reimagine their overall business strategy quickly. Shared Mobility is one of the first options that must be put on the agenda since the potential to open a whole new sales channel is hard to ignore.
Therefore, dealers who use a comprehensive Car as a Service platform, such as Ridecell, can take advantage of a number of new revenue and cost-savings opportunities.
Let’s take a look at 4 key benefits:
- New Customers through a New Sales Channel – Prior to COVID-19, consumers only considered dealers if they wanted to buy a car or have it serviced. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic impacting the current state of the economy, the car-buying public is becoming more hesitant to commit to a vehicle purchase or even to a multi-year lease. In addition, with the rise of delivery services from Covid-19 stay-at-home and its surrounding economic impacts, many newly unemployed people are looking for low cost transportation to participate in the gig economy. That’s a lot of untapped customers who need a greater ranger of short-term options —like weekly or monthly vehicle packages.
- Easily extended and no-contact test drives – Almost all dealers strongly encourage test drives before purchase. Enabling extended test drives through an app allows customers more time (often at their expense) to better understand a vehicle, which increases the chance of a sale. And with the social distancing norms in place, customers are now expecting solutions that keep them healthy and safe—be it taking a car for a test drive to driving just the right one home. Enabling a contact-less, low-pressure test drive environment where a customer never needs to see a salesperson is going to be important for many buyers. And by signing up for any test drive, customers are captured on the dealer’s platform and pre-authorized for any future CaaS usage.
- Customer Retention – Often customers choose to scale back vehicle ownership, but still need occasional access. For customer retention, offering a shared mobility platform enables vehicle use on a pay per use basis. As well, such a platform allows current owners to access other vehicles for a short time to accommodate occasional needs, business that would be otherwise lost. As customers cut back during recessionary times, this gives dealers a way to retain a strong relationship and provide for their needs.
- Fleet and Inventory Optimization – A shared platform allows vehicles to be easily shared internally in the dealership, allowing flexibility when locating vehicles for test drives, parts or customer shuttles. Through the platform, data such as mileage, fuel level, and maintenance can be quickly ascertained, improving fleet management.
A shared mobility platform creates all sorts of opportunities for dealers. Find out more by downloading A clear road ahead: The dealer’s roadmap to Shared Mobility profitability.
Author: Mark Thomas, VP of Marketing and Alliances, Ridecell