Who's seen Carvana's newest ad? I can already predict the responses.
They're directly communicating to the feelings stress in shopping with a dealer. 99 out of 100 shoppers EXPECT some level of hassle, yet, plenty of dealers still believe that they can get away with the same level of friction they always have. And when that doesn't work, they blame everyone except themselves.
Dealers
blame millennial buyers. They blame government regulations. They blame the economy. Nobody blames the fact that the majority of dealers are years behind the curve in their omni-channel experience.
Branding is something you feel when you think of anything. A person, a dealership, a company, anything. We live in a world of influencers with "personal brands".
A brand needs to be more than a guy on a lot yelling that he has the lowest prices. The shopping experience can't force shoppers to sit in your building for hours doing paperwork and dreading the experience. Even people in the industry don't like they buying process.
Better experience starts with better branding and goes hand-in-hand with making sure that branding is felt in the customer experience.
Carvana makes a good point, but can customers really make a complete and informed deal entirely online? Not really. Our solution is SARA (Smart Automotive Retail Assistant). Frictionless process, saves time at the dealership, and allows customers to structure their deal without leaving their house. Learn more here: https://ecreditminer.com/best-automotive-digital-retailing-tool
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@Amanda, I 100% agree. Not to mention, what really bugs me with this model is that it fails to address the elephant in the room. That is the "trade-in" how are they "calculating" actualized values without seeing the vehicle. And with their "return" policy, I would imagine the customer would "return" their vehicle if they did not agree to the trade-in amount. All of which can cost Carvana (they have not been profitable yet, no?) thousands of dollars.