A customer gets his car delivered at his home.
BEIJING: The people of China are used to digital payments for years. It’s a country where digital solutions are already very much a part of everyday life, even before the pandemic.
Prior to the crisis, Chinese car buyers would conduct online consultations before sealing the deal.
When people didn’t go out the door in February, the trend accelerated.
Take Volkswagen, for example. A total of 550 Volkswagen cars were sold in March in a completely digital process.
This was made possible by virtual showrooms that car buyers can visit from home without the risk of infection.
In the digital showrooms, they can see the vehicles and inquire in real-time about prices and equipment.
Live stream from the dealership: Mayer says car salesmen are becoming entertainers.
The number of visitors is high – the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture showroom on the Autohome platform alone has more than 2.5 million customer views.
“We are also currently observing a growing interest in car ownership, because many people no longer want to be dependent on public transport,” said Volkswagen sales and marketing head in China Michael Mayer.
Volkswagen dealerships are also using live streams to present cars. “Car salespeople are becoming entertainers. On average, dealers present a new show every other day on platforms such as TikTok or Kuaishou,” Mayer says.
In February, Volkswagen trained more than 70,000 participants in a three-day online training course in the use of live broadcasts and the production of short videos.
“After that, the lively experimentation with digital formats began.”
For example, virtual test drives were offered in which the interested parties sit in their living room at home while the dealer streams from the car.
If you want to test a car in a real-life situation, you can book the test drive online and have the car delivered freshly disinfected to your front door.
Customers also have the car delivered to their home after purchase or use the same service to have it conveniently taken to and from the workshop.
There is currently still one hurdle to overcome in the area of digital payments.
Mayer.
The maximum limits of the usual online platforms are not designed for new car purchases.
“In individual cases, however, we can already process payments digitally today, for example by online credit agreement,” says Mayer.
In the meantime, the car market in China is recovering from the corona-induced slump – Volkswagen expects the situation to normalize by the summer.
Mayer assumes that the digitalisation of the business will also continue at a rapid pace.
“However, this does not mean that we will make pure online sales the standard.”
Shortly before closing, many customers still wished for a personal meeting with their salesperson.
Mayer says, "They expect that they can negotiate the price. That works best on site. For this reason, we plan to have separate meeting corners in new car dealerships. Even if digital continues to spread, the human aspect must not be forgotten.”
