Live car sales should not be based on sales.
Editor’s note: This article comes from “ Future Car Daily ” (WeChat public account ID: auto-time), author: Terence Lee Nan.
Author | Li Zinan
Edit | Xu Yang
I have to go online.
Xinguan epidemic has suspended offline consumption and life. Few people go out, and few people go to the store to watch cars. In order to minimize losses and continue business, auto dealers and mainframe manufacturers are transforming online.
The car dealer is ahead. According to the data provided by the huge engine under the byte beating, car companies and dealers have opened nearly 5,000 accounts on the Douyin platform, and there are nearly 5,000 live car dealers, and the cumulative live broadcasts have exceeded 80,000. In addition, Kuaishou also told the Future Automobile Daily (ID: auto-time) that the average daily number of live broadcasts of Kuaishou cars has exceeded 30,000.
Car companies are also keeping up. Spring is the peak period for new car launches. Since March, many domestic car companies including Chery and FAW Pentium have moved new car launches online. In addition, the cancellation of the Geneva Motor Show has also caused trouble for major multinational auto companies. On March 3, BMW, Volkswagen, McLaren, Audi, Porsche and other car brands jointly launched online live streaming, and the offline auto show became an online “fairy fight.”
FAW Pentium live broadcast in the workshop previously Source: FAW Pentium Official
According to the survey results of the China Automobile Dealers Association, as of the beginning of March, the comprehensive resume rate of 124 dealer groups (involving 8,155 4S stores across the country) has been calculated to be only 37.3%. Online live broadcast is even more enthusiastic. According to the “Analysis of the Impact of the Epidemic on the Auto Market” released by Chedi and China Automobile Dealers Association, the proportion of online live broadcast by dealers increased from 1% to 49% before the Spring Festival.
Going online is a trend in the automotive market in recent years. The advent of the new crown epidemic has made progress even faster.
It is unreasonable to expect the live broadcast to increase sales in a short period of time.
Ding Xu thinks, such asIf there is no live broadcast, the auto industry’s sales in February will fall further.
He is a fast-handed car anchor. For most of February, his Jetta 4S store was not operating normally, the customer visit rate dropped sharply, and the number of effective leads on the PC website also fell sharply. Telephone sales and Live broadcasting has become his most effective channel for acquiring customers.
The order conversion rate of live car broadcasts cannot replace phones and visits to stores, it is just a supplementary channel. In early and mid-February, he received less than 20 orders, 3 of which came from online customers. Previously, he could sell 40 cars a month when his performance was the best.
Some auto dealer groups are also increasing their live broadcasts. Deng Weiwei, the market leader of Bailian Automobile Group, once told the Future Auto Daily that, taking its group’s Hongqi 4S shop as an example, as of early March, in addition to traditional automotive vertical media, it used live-action interactive short-lived videos to broadcast live video interaction. , Online group purchase fairs and other methods to receive multiple orders and intention money.
Liuqi 4S shop live account situation Source: Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Deng Weiwei believes that the number of orders obtained through online sales is better than expected. “From the perspective of input costs, the contribution that online live broadcasting brings to us is already very considerable, after all, the investment required for live car sales is much less than offline car sales.”
Zhang Hao, Marketing Director of Changzhou Zhongtian Group, a car dealer, said that the company ’s live broadcast is not only for promotion, but also to explain some car buying concepts to meet customer demand for car purchases. Closer relationship between sales consultants and customers.
Currently, online sales cannot replace offline, and its greatest value is complementary to offline. The effect of online sales is very good, but it can’t accurately target groups with car purchase needs. Although the sales channels and spread of the store sales are small, it can well capture the interested car buyers and promote orders.
At present, the core of the competition of car dealers selling live cars online is still product power and price. Ding Xu believes that the current online live broadcast is still in its infancy, and there is no need to worry about the current results. “Many dealers are temporary buddies and have no live broadcast experience. Consumers also need time to accept live broadcast cars.”
Limited byThe properties of automobile commodities still need time to test online live car sales, and it takes time to establish consumer integrity.
Ren Hongyan, vice president of digital customer experience for JD Power China, said in an interview with the media that he now looks forward to the rapid increase in car sales through live broadcast, or to replace the original online and offline vehicle service form. They are all unreasonable and objective.
In addition, this type of live broadcast has different play styles for different car brands. For low-priced Volkswagen models, the accumulation of sales leads will have a positive effect on the accumulation of sales leads. However, for some high-end or luxury cars, it has a user group with different market positioning. It is relatively insensitive and pays more attention to the circle effect. The content and form of live broadcast also need to be adjusted accordingly.
The budding change cannot turn the impact of the Black Swan on its own. According to the data released by the China Automobile Association on March 12, auto production and sales completed 285,000 and 310,000 units in February this year, a decrease of 83.9% month-on-month and a decrease of 79.8% and 79.1% year-on-year.
But it brings some new hope. Zhang Hao is very optimistic about the effect and future of online live streaming. “Live broadcasting has brought a certain amount of sales to dealers, and more importantly has accumulated some fans and potential customers for it. Affected by the epidemic and the promotion of auto dealers’ Live broadcast has become a new channel for consumers to understand cars, and this is also an opportunity for dealers. After the auto market is restored, this part of the customer sentiment will be the main force of car purchase. “
Online streaming will be normalized
It is undeniable that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has become a booster for the digital transformation of car companies.
Deng Weiwei believes that with the consumer’s habit of live broadcasting, the effect of online live streaming transactions will be more obvious. Even though online live streaming cannot allow consumers to experience the actual car, the planning of live content and the presentation of VR and other technologies can make up for it to a certain extent. In addition, through the cultivation of live broadcast anchors, the influence of anchors and the number of fans can also be converted into actual orders.
“Buying a car is no better than buying lipstick, but if you make an influence and make a brand in a small area, the sales of live car sales should be considerable.” He said.
At present, live car sales are more about collecting customers online, which is equivalent to transferring offline ground promotion, exhibition industry, storefront activities to online communities, and the final transaction is still in the terminal. From a longer-term perspective, online live car sales as an opportunity point will also be a reshuffle for car companies and dealers.
Consumers asking for car purchase information Source: Photo courtesy of the respondent
At present, for car companies and dealers, the signal of a complete recovery of the car market has not yet arrived, but live broadcast can at least complete large-scale consumer coverage. The live broadcast breaks geographical restrictions and can reach more consumers, which will undoubtedly bring more chips to the rebound in sales performance of auto companies after the epidemic.
Ma Zhenshan, deputy general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Sales, thinks that online live streaming will become mainstream. He believes that reaching online customers in the future will be a normal situation, and it can easily communicate with sales consultants without spending too much physical moving costs. communication. FAW-Volkswagen is also preparing for this future. They are observing and evaluating data such as fan volume, number of live broadcasts, and transaction volume, and then research whether cloud live broadcast is more effective for planting grass or sales.
Changzhou Zhongtian Automobile Co., Ltd., where Zhang Hao is located, has also established an internal MCN organization, and arranged corresponding pre-sale live and after-sale live personnel in each store. Attract new users. “We plan to set up a live marketing team of about 400 people to ensure that our employees have enough ability to accumulate fans and popularity, and attract enough interested customers to close the deal.”
At the same time as car companies and dealers act, fast-handed, byte-beating and other platforms have also begun to increase their auto business.
Huge amount of engines launched the “24h Non-Snoring” car live broadcast comprehensive solution and “Sparkfire Ebara” project in February. Provides a series of methods such as live broadcast of new cars, linkage with OEM dealers, live broadcast ability training and other methods. Within 2 months, 10,000 dealers, tremolos and blue Vs have been settled. ByteDance believes that after the epidemic, car buyers will form new consumption habits, and corresponding manufacturers must adapt to this change and respond to this change.
According to Kuaishou, Kuaishou is now increasing the integrated marketing services for OEMs and distributors, such as the “One Hundred and Thousand Stores” plan, covering more than 100 cities, and more than 10,000 4S stores are entering Kuaishou. Kuaishou hopes that these measures will help auto practitioners to quickly precipitate private domain traffic, achieve revenue growth in Kuaishou, and also help host companies to achieve closed-loop marketing of brand exposure-collection-purchase.
Change has never been a rush, but it has been hidden in every link of the automotive market chain. Although the change is slow, it is irreversible.
