Business View Magazine | April/May 2022

8 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 CUSTOMER New Vehicle Pre-Orders Are Now Common, and Consumers are Willing to Switch Brands and Models with Less Price Sensitivity 1. 1/3 of vehicle buyers felt significantly impacted by the inventory shortage. Of those: a. 32% did not get their first vehicle choice. b. 21% went to a different dealership. c. 21% had to wait for the car they sought. • Takeaways: Dealers retain more business by proactively presenting alternative vehicle options from stores across their dealership group. They need technology to help nurture prospects longer if they are willing to wait for a pre-order or alternate vehicle to come in stock. 2. 71% of vehicle buyers waited up to 3 months to get their pre-ordered vehicles. a. 50% of those car buyers paid a $500 or more vehicle deposit. • Takeaways: Including options for pre- ordering vehicles within market messaging will expand opportunities for dealers. This is especially important if dealers combine messaging to sell consumers a vehicle they have in stock paired with taking “earnest money” toward a pre-order and future vehicles, parts, and service. 3. 20% of consumers said the dealer didn’t keep them informed about the status of their vehicle order. Our team leverages it to ensure our technology is adapting to address changing consumer behaviors to give our dealers and OEMs a substantial competitive advantage “The vehicle researching, buying, and ownership processes have changed exponentially since the onset of the Covid pandemic,” said Alexi Venneri, co-founder and CEO of Digital Air Strike. “This is the 9th year we have completed our trends study, and the data has consistently proven to be helpful for our dealers and the industry as a whole. Our team leverages it to ensure our technology is adapting to address changing consumer behaviors to give our dealers and OEMs a substantial competitive advantage.” Top findings and takeaways from Digital Air Strike’s 9th Annual Automotive Customer Experience Trends Study include: