The nation’s public dealership teams say they noticed continued digital gross sales progress within the third quarter, with some retailers promoting 1000’s of automobiles by way of on-line gross sales platforms and others reporting a minimum of half of their transactions concerned some on-line exercise.
Lithia Motors Inc. mentioned its Driveway on-line gross sales platform retailed and wholesaled greater than 10,300 automobiles within the quarter ended Sept. 30, producing greater than $290 million in income — or almost 4 p.c of the retailer’s whole quarterly income, CEO Bryan DeBoer mentioned final month.
DeBoer mentioned that greater than 30,700 automobiles had been retailed to this point in 2022 utilizing Lithia’s e-commerce instruments. A lot of these transactions didn’t embrace a check drive.
“I do imagine that there’s changing into a better portion of the customers which are getting extra comfy with the concept of a automobile being delivered to house and … not having to check drive a automobile,” he mentioned.
Clicklane, the digital gross sales software developed by Asbury Automotive Group Inc., is projected to provide $1 billion in income in 2022 and $2.2 billion in 2023, Dan Clara, Asbury’s senior vp of operations, mentioned final month. CEO David Hult mentioned he expects 45 to 50 p.c of Asbury’s gross sales to happen utilizing the Clicklane platform in two to a few years.
That vary, Hult mentioned, is the “crucial mass” at which Asbury would take into account altering compensation, staffing and hours at bodily shops.
Greater than 90 p.c of Clicklane clients within the third quarter have been new to Asbury, and the platform transformed clients at greater than twice the speed of a standard Web lead, executives mentioned. Asbury mentioned it offered 6,817 automobiles by way of Clicklane within the third quarter, up 13 p.c from 2021 and an all-time document quarter.
Group 1 Automotive Inc. additionally set an all-time document by promoting 7,600 automobiles by way of its AcceleRide platform within the third quarter, COO Daryl Kenningham mentioned final month. That equated to 11 p.c of Group 1’s U.S. retail gross sales, additionally a document.
Almost three in 4 clients used AcceleRide for some a part of their transaction in September, Kenningham mentioned. Group 1 is working to combine AcceleRide with its dealership administration and buyer relationship administration techniques and credit score instruments, he mentioned.
“We proceed to check it in a number of dealerships and anticipate a full rollout within the months forward,” he mentioned. “Our early outcomes are very optimistic, and we anticipate this can present quicker and extra clear transactions for our clients.”
Penske Automotive Group Inc. makes use of a mixture of digital channels throughout its operation, CEO Roger Penske mentioned, together with its Most popular Buy program, automakers’ branded digital packages and Penske’s proprietary website in the UK.
Within the third quarter, “digital gross sales represented roughly 5 p.c of our whole unit gross sales,” Penske mentioned final month. With Penske reporting that it retailed 109,969 new and used automobiles in the course of the quarter, that works out to about 5,500 automobiles coming from digital gross sales.
Sonic Automotive Inc. CEO David Smith mentioned its e-commerce platform was rolled out nationwide in June at EchoPark.com, the web site for Sonic’s EchoPark used-vehicle-only model.
Within the third quarter, “omnichannel gross sales by way of our new e-commerce platform accounted for 31 p.c of EchoPark’s retail unit gross sales quantity, in comparison with 19 p.c within the second quarter,” Smith mentioned final month. “Additional, 7 p.c of EchoPark quantity in the course of the quarter was offered end-to-end on-line, as company continued to make the most of our enhanced omnichannel buy expertise — with out-of-market consumers representing 60 p.c of our e-commerce gross sales.”
Omnichannel refers to expertise and processes geared toward offering a seamless shopping for expertise for customers whether or not they store on-line, in-store or each.
At AutoNation Inc., CEO Mike Manley advised analysts final month that greater than 50 p.c of AutoNation’s automobile gross sales began on its digital channels in the course of the quarter.
“We have constructed, and have continued to construct, a compelling buyer worth proposition by way of the mixture of our digital instruments and our bodily belongings,” Manley mentioned. “That is crucial. It is actually the mixture of each of these issues.”
Jack Walsworth, John Huetter and Gail Kachadourian Howe contributed to this report.