Buying a car with just one click, maybe on Amazon. According to 4 out of 10 Italians, online car purchasing is indeed an increasingly tangible possibility, even on e-commerce websites.
This is one of the main findings from the annual Automotive Customer Study by Quintegia, presented during the Automotive Dealer Day Digital Edition on September 16th.
According to the survey results, conducted on a representative sample of over 3,400 respondents across Italy, in 2020, 41% of consumers expressed interest in buying a vehicle directly on the web, a figure that has grown compared to the 34% of the previous year. This trend is also reinforced by a survey conducted on a “smart” sample of individuals aged 18-54, early adopters of new technologies, characterized by an active lifestyle and innovative buying behaviors, with 80% of them stating their readiness to buy a car remotely.
Regarding platforms, official websites of automotive manufacturers remain the safest choice for 78% of those interested in online purchases, followed by dealership websites (50%), and e-commerce professionals (15%). Amazon, on its own, has gained the trust of 44% of potential “e-buyers” and 85% of the “smart” sample, where only 1 out of 100 respondents completely rules out the possibility of turning to the e-commerce giant for a car purchase. While the convenience of managing the purchase from home (51%), transparency of the offer (29%), and economic convenience (28%) are the top motivations for respondents in favor of online purchases, the reasons for saying no include the need for external support (decreasing from 62% in 2019 to 53% this year), the desire to see the car in person (29%), and the fear of not being able to handle the administrative aspects of the purchase (19%).
The presentation by Alberto Bet, Research Manager at Quintegia, took place during the workshop “Innovation and Customer Reorientation: the Path for Distribution Networks” and is available in video format for all Automotive Dealer Day 2020 registrants and can be purchased by non-registrants, along with all other sessions of the event, directly from the website www.dealerday.com
