Car dealerships are having to grab the attention of customer's who are increasingly spending more time online. Can augmented reality really drive your dealership's sales? Here is the answer. 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Augmented Reality by now. AR hit the mainstream with the release of the Pokemon Go and the introduction of Snapchat filters, but can the technology really meet your business goals and drive your dealership’s sales?

The short answer is yes and this post explains why... 

 Augmented reality is a technology that superimposes virtual objects or holograms on top of the existing environment in real time. AR is more than just an opportunity to play games in the real world, however, it’s an opportunity for you to showcase your products, engage with your customers, and sell more. The dealerships that embrace AR as part of their marketing and sales strategy will shape the future of the auto retail industry. 

Car buyers spend 59% of their time online researching. No longer do car buyers stroll up to a car dealership and then research car prices, compare different models, and test drive cars. In fact, according to 2016 Beepi Consumer Automotive Index, 4% of those interviewed said they would “love” being able to sell or buy a car from home and 42% were fine buying a car without a test drive, as long as there was some form of guarantee. The good news is that 72% of respondents would visit dealerships more often if the buying process was improved.  

(Source: V12 Data)

The challenge facing dealerships of the future then is how to improve the buying process. There are many benefits of AR for car dealerships, but here are three ways for improving your customer’s buying process and therefore increasing your sales.  

3 Ways AR Can Improve Your Customer’s Buying Process

1. Provide your customers with a unique and memorable experience with your products (and brand)

Customers are no longer are incentivised to visit dealerships to learn more. Instead, they spend their time browsing online. The ability to overlay technical data onto real-world objects (i.e. cars) to provide customers with contextual information that they can interact with is a major breakthrough for car dealerships. By making the technical information of cars as accessible and visual as possible, augmented reality provides your customers with a new way to see and experience features. This new experience will ultimately lead to more sales.

There are countless example of companies using AR to improve customer education, but the example of Hyundai stands out. The automotive brand launched an augmented reality sales tool for Australian dealerships which runs on iPads and helps sales staff to demonstrate the features and performance of Hyundai’s new i30 hatchback. Just this week BMW became the first brand to test out Snapchat’s new AR lens. To promote its new X2 model, Snapchat users can interact with a virtual 3D version of the car. Snapchatters can customise their version of the car, changing colour and moving it around from different angles. 

2. AR improves the dealership experience

The traditional car dealership model is changing. Perhaps the most obvious change is the merging of the physical and virtual as brands look to digitise their showrooms. 

Digitising showrooms not only bypasses the problem of limited physical inventory but allows dealerships to present buyers with a customer-centric approach. No longer will buyers need to see the car physically. Again there are countless examples from automotive brands Audi to Ferrari, but this is just the beginning.

A survey of dealer principals carried out by dealer management system (DMS) giant CDK Global revealed the following:

• 72% of dealers expect to use advanced immersive technology to present products to potential customers in the dealership and online.
• Of those dealer principals surveyed, 83% said that by 2021 there will be fewer dealerships and groups are expected to consolidate to central hubs or into high-footfall retail locations.

(Source: Motor Trader) 

3. AR raises awareness and boosts sales

For car dealerships, other than test driving, there is little for customers to experience before purchasing the car. AR 3D product visualisation, however, has changed the game. 

Our R&D team created a car configurator app using Apple’s ARKit to showcase the capabilities of AR Product visualisation. Users can place photorealistic 3D models of their favourite Audi anywhere. Creating a rich and immersive AR experience poses many possibilities for car dealerships. 

If this sounds familiar then perhaps you read about Jaguar Land Rover, who released a new augmented reality advertisement in June. The team behind the campaign explained how it was intended to not only raise awareness of the new car model but drive orders for when the car went on sales in August. 

Maybe this is your first time reading about the possibilities of AR or maybe you’re already planning to use AR to improve your dealership. Either way, the technology is a new sales and marketing tool that has the potential to give you a unique and compelling competitive advantage.

If you’re interested in learning more or speaking to our team of AR experts, then get in touch.