Part Two: Why Aren’t Dealers Adopting Digital Retailing?

By now everyone knows about digital retailing. There are enough automotive technology providers hawking their version of “Retail Magic,” it would be hard to miss it.

At its most basic, digital retail technology empowers car buyers to move through the buying journey online and seamlessly transition in to dealership. Meaning dealers are able to pick up where customers left off and finish the transaction without process or information duplication. And, according to our recent survey about digital retailing, almost every dealer agrees with that: 92% say that online retail tools allow customers to move themselves down the funnel, and 72% of dealers agreed that consumers should be able to start and stop parts of the purchase process where they want to online – and expect to pick up where they left off at the dealership. Most even agree that it sounds like a solid plan: 85% of dealers intend to make their website more transactional by adding more digital retailing tools.

What’s the Difference Between Knowing and Actually Understanding Digital Retailing?

Knowing about a technology isn’t the same as understanding what it does or how it works.  There seems to be a fair amount of questioning over the value digital retailing tools are bringing to dealerships. For example, just 66% of dealers surveyed agreed that dealerships who ‘power up’ with technology (e.g. digital retailing tools, etc.) are more easily able to simplify the process to run more volume at higher profits, and benefit F&I Managers.* That’s a big gap between knowing what it does – and wanting to actually use it. It’s frankly an indication that many dealers have serious concerns about adopting the technology, even though it’s increasingly the preferred way to buy a vehicle. For the 12% of dealers who are actually opposed to making their website more transactional, the top reasons cited are:

- #1: Loss of personal customer/dealer interaction

- #2: Loss of control. Online tools ‘unlevel’ the playing field between the dealer and the customer

- #3: Compliance concerns

For the 15% or so of dealers who have some digital retailing tools but have no plans to adopt more, the top barriers cited are:

- #1: Reluctance to change/happy with way things are.

- #2: Cost/Integration of new products from multiple providers can be expensive and vendor cooperation is unlikely.

- #3: Loss of control. Online tools ‘unlevel’ the playing field between the dealer and the customer.

Are dealers slow to evolve? Or have they simply seen too many ‘shiny objects’ come and go?

Either way, the message seems clear: dealers hesitate to adopt digital retailing tools because they fear a lack of control over the transaction.  Most dealers are reluctant to make serious changes to a sales model that has made them financially successful. Understandably, they are comfortable with the traditional way of selling cars - and many managers only know what they learned before online retailing took over.

Truth is, digital retailing does not remove the salesperson, or introduce chaos to the car sale. The objective of DR technologies is to allow consumers to complete parts of the transaction away from the dealership, facilitate the mutual exchange of information and, most importantly, help dealers sell more cars in less time, while also improving profitability and customer satisfaction.   

As great as the technology can be, having the right culture, processes and people in place for what comes after is so much more important.   And because every dealer and transaction are different, a digital retailing plan needs to be flexible enough to best meet the needs of the dealership, their brand and their customers.  As an example, most dealerships will have to make significant changes in order to accommodate the following:  

- Determining the right sequence of steps to move people thru the DR experience without losing them

- An increase in active-buyer lead flow, that requires different word/talk tracks.

- Online to in-store integrations and workflows

- Adopting new measurement criteria for leads, engagement and conversion

- Building a future-oriented sales and management team

• - Ensuring compliance  

According to the survey, the potential of Digital Retailing is compelling to most dealers – but many dealers still believe transparency and profitability are in conflict.  The key to closing that gap is to focus on the consumer experience, not the technology.  Dealers will first need to commit to transparency, then figure out a business model and plan that results in the highest profit from a transparent process.  Vendors can help dealers embrace the change by finding solutions to their workflow challenges.

In part three, of Digital Finance SOS – Is Digital Retailing the Answer? we will look into the impact digital retailing has on dealers and consumers. For a summary of today’s numbers, click here.

Part 1: Is the Strong Preference for Dealership Financing Shifting?

We recently took a deep dive into some key industry numbers around digital retailing (DR), including proprietary data from a survey eLEND conducted earlier this year. Our goal is to assess online auto financing trends, investigate DR’s potential impact on auto finance and understand dealer perceptions and attitudes towards it. 

In part one of this three-part series, we set the stage by asking: Is the Strong Preference for Dealership Finance Shifting?

The numbers tell a story of a marked shift away from dealership financing: According to FICO's 2019 Consumer Survey of Vehicle Financing, most U.S. car buyers (63%) opted for dealer-arranged financing in 2018. BUT, that's down from 73% a year earlier. And, even more concerning, is that for their next purchase, only 40% said dealership financing would be their first choice.

Compounding the shift away from dealership arranged financing, is the growing consumer appetite for online financing options.  The same 2019 FICO study shows the number of consumers acquiring vehicle financing online more than doubled in 2018 to 13%, up from 5% in 2017 – and 28% say online financing will be their first choice next time round.   While dealer-arranged financing continues to be the epicenter for auto loan originations, these trends are, and should be, concerning to dealers.

So, let’s look at why this shift is happening and what can be done about it.

First of all, we need to acknowledge the problem rather than hide from it! It’s not going away. Consumers, and especially millennials, demand control over every single experience - they demand ease, convenience, transparency and instant gratification. Nothing could offer less control and transparency  - and at the same time create more consumer anxiety and skepticism -  than what has been the typically hours-long in-dealership car buying experience.

The data tells the story: satisfaction scores among customers who secured direct financing outside the dealership were 34 points higher than those selecting an indirect financing option offered by the dealership. And, though it may be conventional wisdom to think that an online finance customer can be easily flipped, 43% of dealers in our survey reported that they are unable to flip the majority of pre-financed customers into a dealership financing option.

Acknowledging the three primary reasons that customers are willing to leave the dealership for financing are the first three steps on the road to solving this challenge:

(1) Empowered, convenience-driven consumers want more control over where and with who and how they do business.

(2) New business models and digital finance technologies introduced by lenders and some of the disruptors are attractive to buyers.

(3) Consumers are reporting much higher satisfaction when securing direct financing outside the dealership.

So what can dealers do to confront these trends and preferences? The numbers tell us that it all starts with thinking about what the consumer wants, not what the dealership wants them to do. You know the adage: give the customer what they want, or the competition will.  It’s worth noting that nearly half of U.S. customers consider just one lending source before they make a decision. So if dealers continue to be reluctant to make financing information available on their websites, are they eliminating the opportunity to be part of the consumers short list of financing considerations?

Understanding how consumers prefer to shop for vehicle financing options and adjusting your technology investments is key. Investing in digital retailing solutions to satisfy the 90% of shoppers to complete some of the ‘buying’ steps online is one way dealers are protecting and growing finance penetration.  Think of it like this.  With website based DR tools, transparency becomes a two-way street, forcing the consumer to be more transparent, giving up more of their personal information earlier in the process and shifting the online information advantage back towards the dealer.  

By changing when and how the shopper is introduced to payment information and dealership financing options, the combination of technology and data enable the dealer and the consumer to come together much faster.  The two-way transparency is a trust multiplier.  Deal transparency 1) increases finance penetration; 2) protects and even grows PVR; and 3) the accelerated transaction times directly correlate to a more positive customer experience.

But are dealerships adopting these tools? What are those tools? Are they right for the job? What are the barriers to adoption and what are the results?

In part two, of Digital Finance SOS – Is Digital Retailing the Answer? we will look into dealership adoption of DR. For a summary of today’s numbers, click here.

There probably isn’t a dealer in the US who hasn’t been approached with a dizzying array of shiny objects under the ‘Digital Retailing/Finance Technology’ label, purporting to do anything from solving each friction point in the dealership sales and finance process to putting a man on the moon (well, the last one is not true, but the hyperbole in some digital retailing marketing makes one almost believe it could be).  

The truth is that digital retailing, in its purest form, has the potential to be a very good thing. But, to date, the ‘potential’ has yet to be realized, especially when it comes to digital finance technology.   Yes, pieces of the puzzle are in place, but the complete picture has yet to emerge. And we believe that the complete picture of digital finance technology is not just about an online experience or a payment calculator, it’s about gathering consumer data, vehicle data, lender data, and a deal structure – and aggregating that information to facilitate an accurate and transparent exchange of information, including a realistic payment expectation – that gives customers what they want and that actually protects the dealer’s profits in the deal. 

So, how does a dealer know whether or not to sign with a digital finance technology vendor and if the pieces of the puzzle that vendor offers can help to complete that picture for his/her dealership?  Here are six questions we think every dealer should ask before signing on the dotted line. 

1. Can you put the customer in the right car with the right deal structure matched to the right lender programs rates, terms, payments, advances with a fundable deal?

Okay, that is a mouthful but, think about it, this really is the bottom line for any vendor claiming to offer a complete digital finance technology solution.  If any part of that equation is missing, so is the deal. For example, if the vendor says they can put the right customer in the right car, does that mean the right car that the customer selects?  Yes? Great, but is it joined to the other components such as the right payments? Yes? Great! But when you say right payments, do you mean a ‘vehicle qualified’ payment? Or the right ‘credit qualified’ payment?  Or the right payment matched to your lender programs? Or all of the above? How many pieces of that puzzled can they solve? All of them? Great. Have them demonstrate it to you, and if they are successful, move on to question 2.

2. Are you certified from a security compliance standpoint by the credit repositories? 

Why is this important? Without that compliance certification, the vendor will not have access to critical information that will enable them to access needed data and use logic to match a customer’s qualifications to lenders’ pricing, underwriting, and advance highlights.  If they say no, the conversation is over. If they say yes, ask for evidence of certification, then…move on to question 3. 

3. Do you have access to raw credit report data and the software to parse it out?  

Why is this important?  The vendor needs to have the intuitive software that will enable them to go deeper than just an estimated credit score and, for example, be able to calculate debt to income ratios. For example, if a customer says ‘I want this car, I want this payment’ but their debt to income rate is higher than acceptable lender guidelines, you will not get to a fundable contract.  Debt to Income ratios are included for most lender underwriting rules which require parsing out the raw credit report data to calculate – but 99% of Digital Retailing tools don’t even have access to such data!  However, if you have found the 1% and the answer is yes, move on to question 4.

4. When quoting payments, whether your solution offers a payment calculator or self-help desking tool, does the quote include all applicable taxes – local, county, and state – plus license and registration fees for that jurisdiction, as well as interest rates, money factors and residuals down to the trim level model ID of the vehicles, at each credit tier and monthly term, and then match to the customers qualifications payment quotes to actual lender underwriting and advance guidelines?  

Why is this important? Without this data, you are not calculating the real payment for your customer which creates a disconnect which can lead to friction in the negotiation. Is the answer yes? Great move on to question 5.

5. Do your online payment quotes waterfall to best payment for customer or profit to you from your Lender’s Standard Rates Sheets, Special Incentive Rate Sheets, and Regional Rate Sheets simultaneously? 

Why is this important? There can be more than 500 data points that impact the final terms of a deal. Such as, is the vehicle, new, pre-owned, certified, year of vehicle, same brand as franchise dealer. Each vehicle can have different mileage, term, advance guidelines before you even consider the customer qualifications. 

Other factors such as loan to values (LTV’s) affect whether deals get loan approval or not. Trade-in’s effect LTV’s. Payment to Income ratios can impact available qualified terms such as 84 months for standard programs, but if the amount financed is $1 below the minimum allowed, the max term is 72 months. And for special APR, 84 months may not be allowed.

So, if the answer is yes to questions 1 through 5, then your vendor has achieved the equivalent of putting a man on the moon. More likely, the answer is no to all, or some, of the above. But do not despair!  A final question to ask is:

6. Are you collaborating with, or open to collaborating with, vendors/solutions that fill the gaps in your solution?

If the answer is yes, then you have found a partner who is looking out for the best interests of everybody in the transaction: the consumer, the dealer, the lender, the other supply chain providers – somebody that’s truly helping to evolve digital retailing and make it work. 

The reality is that there are vendors out there who consistently misrepresent their DR/Finance Technology capabilities, ultimately disappointing dealers, dampening the reputation of digital retailing and finance, and setting back critical evolution.   But vendors who are transparent and willing to work with your dealership and other vendors to fulfill the promise of digital retailing are worth their weight in gold and might just be able to help you complete the DR/Finance Technology picture.

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To read Pete's most recent blog, click here: https://www.elendsolutions.com/6-questions-you-must-ask-every-digital-retailing-vendor-quoting-payments/
 

Survey indicates that auto dealers are ready to embrace digital retailing, while highlighting “experience” disconnects: tools providing inaccurate and/or misleading quoted payment terms are key culprit say 87% of dealers

Foothill Ranch, CA – January 23, 2019 - A new report from eLEND Solutions asks the question: Is digital retailing promising more than it can deliver? Although digital retailing, and its many definitions, is being touted as the future of automotive retailing, this survey of auto dealerships indicates that a key hurdle remains: namely, the many standalone digital retailing tools or platforms quoting inaccurate and/or misleading payment information to consumers, which are ultimately creating more skepticism with buyers and expensive rewrites and unwinds for dealers.

According to the report, dealers who adopt digital retailing tools are striving to deliver a frictionless buying experience, including more transparency about the ‘deal’ but, these same surveyed dealers report that basic payment calculator estimator tools are actually getting in the way of their desire to evolve. In fact, an astonishing 87% of dealer respondents agree that it’s common for payment estimator tools to provide inaccurate or unrealistic payment expectations. And it is impacting sales: 74% report that well over a quarter of deals that include digital retailing-provided payment terms have to be rewritten (with 37% reporting that between 51 and 100% have to be redone!) -- and the majority lose over 60% of those sales. 

How strongly do you agree or disagree that it is common (>50%) for a payment estimator tool to provide an inaccurate or unrealistic monthly payment expectation?

-50% Agree

-37% Somewhat Agree

-13% No Opinion / Not Sure

-0% Disagree

-0% Strongly Disagree

“Because most of these tools return unqualified payment quotes - unmatched to the customer’s credit profile, a specific vehicle and, crucially, any of the dealer’s lender programs, they establish an unrealistic payment expectation that leads to an unavoidable conflict and consumer dissatisfaction,” said Pete MacInnis, CEO of eLEND Solutions.

When paired with the recent J.D. Power finding that nearly half of auto loan customers shopped for vehicle financing options before visiting the dealership, it’s clear that dealers are at risk of not only losing consumer confidence but also losing their share of the financing revenues.

Still, dealers report that they are bullish on digital retailing: 67% agree that ‘powering up’ with technology can simplify the process and result in higher profits. And nearly 60% of dealers surveyed who are using digital retailing solutions believe that the average profitability of these deals is equal to, or higher, than non-digital retailing transactions.

“With dealers needing to rework many of these deals, it’s difficult to believe that profits are outweighing the cost of time delays, not to mention the negative impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty,” continued MacInnis. “Digital retailing needs to catch up with both dealer and consumer expectations.”

Although nearly 50% of dealers who aren’t using digital retailing tools say that unrealistic payment expectations hurt F&I profitability, dealers overall indicate that they are willing to embrace F&I transparency and process improvement:  63% say that these is room for improvement when it comes to transitioning online shoppers into the showroom and cite the number one area for improvement as: “matching finance terms to a consumer’s credit profile.”

The report also uncovers some alarming disconnects. For example, nearly 60% of the surveyed dealers say they wait to pull credit until after the deal has been negotiated which causes time delays in the sales process because the deal terms haven’t been qualified or matched to the dealer’s own lender programs before negotiations.

“In order for digital retailing to deliver on its considerable promise, the tools need to start providing realistic, ‘qualified’ payment quotes,” said MacInnis. “The sooner real consumer-qualified finance terms matched with dealers’ lender programs can get involved in the deal, the more profitably they can be structured and the more satisfied consumers will be.”

Key Data Highlights

• 87% of dealer respondents agreed that it’s common for payment estimator tools to provide inaccurate or unrealistic payment expectations.
• 74% of dealers report that nearly 1 in 3 digital retailing-initiated deals that included a non-qualified payment quote have to be rewritten.
• 74% of dealers agreed that, on average, 6 of every 10 deals that have to be re-worked, are unable to be saved.
• Nearly 50% of the dealers who aren’t using digital retailing tools believe that unrealistic payment expectations hurt F&I profitability.
• 60% of the surveyed dealers say they wait to pull credit until after the deal has been negotiated.

eLEND Solutions will be at NADA Booth #6553W January 25th – 27th.

About eLEND Solutions

eLEND Solutions™ (DealerCentric rebranded) is re-platforming from a company specialized in credit solutions to a FinTech SaaS and DaaS company focused on providing a simplified vehicle purchase process for the retail automotive industry. The advantage of their industry neutral credit and finance decisioning solutions is a more efficient, faster-moving Sales and F&I deal-flow that sells more cars at higher profits in less time – benefitting dealers, lenders and consumers.

Contact: 
Media Relations 

Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, melanie@mwebbcom.com or (949) 307-1723
Crystal Hartwell, mWEBB Communications, crystal@mwebbcom.com or (714) 987-1016

Enhancement to eLEND’s popular CreditPlus online credit application is designed to accelerate the sales process and create a more positive credit experience that benefits both dealers and consumers 

Foothill Ranch, CA – January 17, 2019 – eLEND Solutions™, specialists in online and in-store credit and finance solutions for auto dealers, today unveiled Showroom Credit Express, a significant enhancement to its popular online credit platform, CreditPlus. Showroom Credit Express offers a suite of digital in-store credit decisioning solutions that give dealers and consumers revolutionary efficiencies, flexibility and control of the credit experience at the dealership.

Showroom Credit Express offers four digital credit options:

(1)   Consumer Portal, for new customers and returning customers who have previously started a credit application online  

(2)   Digital Showroom, a long form application for new customers

(3)   Showroom Quick App, a short form application for new customers

(4)   Cash Buyer Quick App, a short form for cash buyers for OFAC check

All options are web-based and require no platform login - meaning all options are easily accessible via a standalone URL from any screen (desktop, kiosk, mobile device) and all operating systems (Android, iOS and Windows) - allowing consumers to drive themselves through the credit experience at the dealership.       

“‘Time kills deals’ is a dealer adage that remains true. Filling out paper credit applications just to have to key them in moments later to send to the bank is grossly inefficient, not to mention that today’s buyers want to do as much as they can before coming into the dealership,” said Marcus Barnes of Jupiter Chevrolet, Garland, TX. “Standard web forms don’t really cut it because they don’t connect the dots to the store and they don't keep compliance. For these reasons, and more, we’ve made eLEND Solutions new digital showroom applications an integrated part of our buying solution.” 

Unlike other digital credit apps available to dealers, with the Showroom Credit Express Consumer Portal, consumers are able to re-access and finalize a CreditPlus application they may have started online – for example, adding references and banking information required for loan funding. For walk-ins, first-time applicants can access and initiate the process anytime, anywhere – including on their own smartphone – while in the dealership.  All four self-service options give consumers the control and participation in the process they crave – while eliminating the unengaged wait time they dislike. In addition, process bottlenecks and inefficiencies that are commonly associated with long-form paper applications and salesperson data entry are eliminated.

As part of eLEND Solutions’ ongoing mission to provide a simplified vehicle purchase process for the retail automotive industry – current and future CreditPlus subscribing dealers can choose one, multiple or all Showroom Credit Express options – for no additional charge or fee. Additionally, all options seamlessly integrate with all major CRM platforms, include secure digital storage with easy access to all disclosures and consent (permissible purpose), and include an option for digital signature capture. 

“CreditPlus was developed to enhance dealers’ existing credit application processes so it works better for everyone – consumers, salespeople and the F&I department. Upgrading it with in-showroom digital access ‘anytime, anywhere’ was a logical extension,” said Pete MacInnis, eLEND Solutions’ CEO. “eLEND’s focus is to deliver tools that keep dealers doing what they do best – selling cars – while helping them improve profitability per car sold, and the consumer experience.”

CreditPlus, which delivers among the industry’s best performing and most secure dealership credit reporting solutions, works with 2,000+ dealership rooftops, has integrations with all major CRM & Inventory platforms, including DealerTrack and RouteOne - and is partnered with all 3 credit bureaus and all credit resellers.

eLEND Solutions will be demonstrating Showroom Credit Express at NADA Booth #6553W. 

About eLEND Solutions

eLEND Solutions™ (DealerCentric rebranded) is re-platforming from a company specialized in credit solutions to a FinTech SaaS and DaaS company focused on providing a simplified vehicle purchase process for the retail automotive industry. The advantage of their industry neutral credit and finance decisioning solutions is a more efficient, faster-moving Sales and F&I deal-flow that sells more cars at higher profits in less time – benefitting dealers, lenders and consumers.

Contact: 
Media Relations 

Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, melanie@mwebbcom.com or (949) 307-1723
Crystal Hartwell, mWEBB Communications, crystal@mwebbcom.com or (714) 987-1016

That seems like a pretty easy question. After all, digital retailing has been trending for more than 2 years and is being touted as the next obvious step to bring your dealership more in line with consumer expectations.

It’s all about giving consumers the online tools they need to accelerate intent to then move themselves down the funnel, as well as ensuring online tools are fully integrated and aligned with your showroom sales process.

Digital opportunity

You get digital opportunity. You understand the value, and you see the opportunity for your dealership. But what does it really mean? And how can you make it work?

To best implement digital retailing technologies into your sales and F&I workflow – online and in-store – you really need to have a clear understanding of what it is and how it can fit into your current sales process.

At eLend, we were curious to see how dealers are approaching digital retailing and recently took the pulse of dealers about this very topic.

Our survey garnered some surprising results... Click here to read on.

It dawned on me the other day that there sure are a lot of people telling dealers what to do.

In fact, it’s pretty much the same message all the time: Get more efficient! Speed up the sales process! Car buyers don’t want to go through a 3-hour ordeal just to buy a car! Make them wait and your CSI will crash!

Or how about this expectation: People want an Amazon or Apple buying experience when buying a car.

The point is pretty much the same: Car buyers want a simplified process that they are more familiar with. They want to spend less time at the dealership. They want to accomplish more upfront before ever stepping into the store. They expect that if much of the transaction can be completed prior to their visit to the dealership, their time at the showroom will be reduced.

Not surprisingly, according to a Cox Automotive study, less than 1% of consumers like the sales process as it is today.

This is something dealers know all too well. Why? Customers tell them every day.

Dealership teams aren’t oblivious to the fact that a change is needed. In fact, we fielded a survey just recently that found that 90% of dealers want an under 2-hour sales process. Of course, wanting and doing are two different things: only 47% of dealers reported they were able to achieve under 2-hour transactions.

It takes time, cooperation, and commitment to evolve from the “old way” to a process that leverages technologies and a ‘customer first’ experience. Progress is being made, CSI is improving, but it takes time.  CLICK HERE TO READ ON

New Report: Auto Dealers Consider Themselves Progressive/Willing to Adopt Digital Retailing, But Actual Digital Adoption Lags

eLEND Solutions Digital Retailing Survey reveals disconnects between what dealers say and what they do regarding digital retailing.  And there is confusion about what digital retailing actually is: majority define it as posting inventory online.

Foothill Ranch, CA –October 25, 2017 – A new auto dealership survey from eLEND Solutions offers a good news/bad news scenario for the future of digital retailing: dealers overwhelmingly say they are progressive and willing to adopt more digital retailing tools (84%), yet the majority define digital retailing as posting inventory and report that over 50% of their process continues to be manual/paper-based.

The snapshot survey, conducted among dealerships nationwide in August 2017, clearly illustrates that dealers are interested in a progressive, customer-focused, digital approach to retailing.   For example, dealers overwhelmingly agreed with the statement: “Sell the car the way the customer wants to buy it by letting shoppers start and stop when & where they want. Online or in-store.” but the actual process/tools implementation lags significantly behind this progressive intent. 

The dealerships surveyed cite customer service as their key dealership differentiator and believe a digital retail strategy is key to the shorter transaction times that they aspire to (90% want it to be under two hours but less than half are achieving that).

“One thing that remains consistent over the years, as we survey dealerships, is the disconnect between the progressive, streamlined digital process dealers say they want to offer and their ability to deliver it,’ said Pete MacInnis, CEO of eLEND Solutions. 

 “Customers’ expectations are passing beyond dealerships’ ability to deliver on those expectations,” continued MacInnis. “While this is, in part, attributable to slow adoption of new tools, entrenched legacy processes and the inherent complexity of car financing and purchasing, a key culprit is our industry’s inability to deliver a consistent, end-to-end digital retailing solution -- and one that is not cobbled together from multiple vendors. The dealership ‘will’ is there – they overwhelmingly want a solution that connects the online and offline dots – but the ‘wherefore’ has yet to arrive. The good news is that the solution is definitely on its way.”

Key Highlights from the Digital Retailing Survey:

• Customer service was cited as the top dealership differentiator
• 68% say the top benefit of digital retailing is shorter transaction times
• Dealerships overwhelmingly agree with the idea that their website operates as a ‘digital’ showroom (93%), but most define digital retailing as listing inventory versus actually allowing more of the deal to be initiated online or in-store app/web based smartphone/tablet technologies.

• While 84% plan to adopt more digital retailing tools, the majority (70%) are opting for an incremental approach.
• Reluctance to change and cost are cited as top barriers to adopting more tools – good news is that less than 20% are opposed to adoption.
• Online digital retailing tools connected with the in-store sales process was the top choice for nearly 70% of dealers.
• 60% say that if they could add more tools to make their websites more transactional, they would.

About eLEND Solutions
eLEND Solutions is a privately held automotive technology company specializing in online and in-store credit, finance and ‘deal making’ solutions designed to create a more efficient, faster moving Sales and F&I workflow that helps dealers sell more cars in less time, improve profitability and increase customer satisfaction.  For more information, visit www.elendsolutions.com.

Contact: 
Media Relations 
Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, (424) 603-4340, melanie@mwebbcom.com 
Crystal Hartwell, mWEBB Communications, (714) 987-1016, crystal@mwebbcom.com

There are few absolutes when it comes to the business of selling cars — which is a little amazing, right?

Most dealerships work hard to define an optimized path to success, one that starts the moment a car buyer sets an appointment or walks into the showroom. Yet even though there’s this clear and organized process, each and every deal takes on a life of its own, with hidden rabbit holes, unexpected wins, and more.  

You may be familiar with the unrealistic credit-challenged customer wanting too much car? The customer who can’t afford a bigger down payment?  Or perhaps the upside-down trade?

The fact is, with today’s information and technology-empowered consumer, automotive retail is more unpredictable than ever.

Dealerships today must take the following 3 proven behaviors into account when designing the most profitable route from shopper to buyer.. To read on click here.