The number of cars sold through Nissan in China, Europe and North America combined accounted for 11% of the company’s total sales in those markets in the first part of this year.
While COVID-19 was throwing a key on the wheels of car retail, a senior member of Nissan’s board of directors challenged the leading operations officer to what the automaker was doing to adapt to a new era in which consumers might be reluctant to explore showrooms. Operations officer Ashwani Gupta told the board assembly last July that Nissan was in the race to create a “full virtual adventure from start to finish,” according to three others close to the discussions.
He said it would allow consumers to search for cars online, deliver home models for road tests, and make procurement plans without having to go to a dealership if they decided not to, resources told Reuters. The assembly provides a review of how the pandemic is doing. pressure automakers in all primary markets to rearrang their methods of managing more vehicle sales online, moving away from the classic showroom approach.
Change is driven through a replacement in customer behavior. The number of cars sold through Nissan in China, Europe and North America combined accounted for 11% of the company’s total sales in those markets in the first part of this year, according to sources. who refused to be appointed because they are not allowed to speak to journalists.
That compared to 4-5% at the same time last year, virtual volumes were not as viewed at the time, said one of the three, a senior Nissan executive.
“I would say that these new purchasing behaviors, which emerged in the COVID era, will remain and become permanent,” the executive added. “The pandemic is transforming the way we work, the way we communicate. The same goes for the acquisition of cars.
Some key points and knowledge are expected to be shared at a press convention on November 12 when Nissan announces the effects of its last fiscal quarter that ended September 30. ended in March 2021.
A Nissan spokesman in Yokohama said there was a strong call for online shopping, that they had become “irreversible with COVID-19” and that the company was addressing the factor in partnership with dealers. “each and every level of the trip: choose to shop online and at physical distributors,” he added.
The company’s dynamics focused first in North America and China, its larger markets where virtual sales are more complex than elsewhere, according to sources. In the US, the US has not been able to do so. U. S. , Online consumers can search for an express car in the inventories of all Nissan outlets. in a given area, not just in a store’s inventory.
In China, consumers cannot do the same, but are willing to buy cars online; In the first nine months of this year, 17% of the approximately 758,000 new Nissan cars sold there were purchased online, according to sources, which are what Nissan defines as digitally purchased buyers, which are the company’s main e-commerce sites: Chebaba in China and NissanUSA. com, and leave their tactile information and then make purchases in whole or in part online.
AKATSUKI COPPER, ANYONE?
However, increasing online sales is a major challenge for the industry, as it is particularly diverted from the same old showroom strategy and can cope with the resilience of franchise dealers, who have a symbiotic relationship with automakers.
What is at stake is mainly for Nissan, as he suffered even before the pandemic hit and hit car sales, dealing with a series of monetary disorders resulting from the competitive expansion pursued by fallen leader Carlos Ghosn and the consequent lack of new car models.
Digital control is perceived through senior executives as profitable, as online sales enable the company to reduce operational waste in car distribution and marketing and knowledge gathering, two sources said. For example, this summer Nissan opened an online page committed to the new Ariya electric gaming app vehicle, which is expected to be presented internationally next year.
In the first 4 days, 1. 2 million others visited and Nissan learned, as consumers expressed their preferences, that the most popular features in the world were a lounge-like interior and connected services, according to Nissan’s executive.
In Europe, the most popular color is the two-tone Akatsuki option, black and copper, depending on the font. others weren’t sure or didn’t prefer. clients were more slightly divided between the two education options.
This knowledge has allowed Nissan to be more accurate in ordering portions and systems for other regions in order to meet demand, the executive said. “For us, marketing is dictated through intuition,” the user added. “It’s more knowledge-driven and more accurate. . “
‘THAT’S THE WAY WE LIVE’
Chee-Kiang Lim, Chinese CEO of Detroit-based urban science consulting firm, said classic automakers lag behind natural electric vehicle corporations in terms of online sales, with Tesla, NIO, XPeng and WM being the main players in the digital sector. Mass market players such as Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen are the ultimate resort in China, with concrete projects to bring online sales to life,” he added.
“Volkswagen, for example, trained its dealers in live broadcasts and would even make a live broadcast of a check drive. A salesman would drive a car and broadcast it live directly. Another Nissan source, close to the board of directors, said The main goal of the online sales crusade is to decrease the number of dealership visits an average visitor makes to buy a car, one or two, as opposed to several.
Zhang Weichen, a physical education representative at Beijing Elementary School, bought his first car this summer, a Nissan Sylphy sedán, and visited a dealership until the procedure is complete.
By the time he visited the dealership, to see the actual style he chose and negotiate a maximum price, the 32-year-old had studied the car by testing a friend’s Sylphy and the virtual real tours held at Nissan’s Shebaba, and picked up a discount voucher for the car on site.
“We’ve already bought all sorts of things online. It’s our way of life,” Zhang said. “If I buy a car again to upgrade my Sylphy, I will do it more commonly online. “
DEALT DILEMMA MINORISTAS
However, a big question is that distributors who have invested millions in their showrooms see Nissan’s driving as a threat.
One board member spoke to Gupta at the last meeting in July, according to two of the other people close to the discussions. In response, Gupta said the new sales style was a hybrid meal due to physical distributors and that it was not an effort. franchised retail outlets or reduce their margins, other people said.
Gupta told the board that Nissan needed dealerships to deliver cars and provide maintenance and repair, and that they represented competitive merit over Tesla and other newcomers looking to sell cars directly to consumers without franchised stores, adding resources.
Several franchise store operators in China said in interviews with Reuters that most Nissan dealers were following the company’s online campaign. “As a component of the pandemic, consumers are highly dependent on online channels, as are distributors,” said Yin Yufen, general manager of a Nissan Dismantling Workshop in the southern city of Guangzhou.
She said that about 30% of other people who bought cars at her store have gone online in recent months, up from 20% the year before. “It’s not a challenge because we have the final say on the price, so it doesn’t really affect our profit margins and bonuses. ” Another dealership executive, the head of a giant chain, said that promoting new Nissan cars was such a complicated proposition in existing situations that many dealers were content to give up more control over the process.
“Dealers don’t need to do any more unnecessary Nissan actions because we don’t make money,” said the boss, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. “We don’t care if Nissan takes over sales. process, as long as they give us some kind of constant margin of service, ” he added. “You do what you need, Nissan. “
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