For many consumers, car buying is an unforgettable experience. No matter the budget or purpose, the process is often time-consuming and, at times, emotionally draining—even after finding just the right vehicle.
Meanwhile, sellers have their own challenges. After a pandemic that fueled more self-service buying than ever, we now live in a “new normal” that provides traditional, connected, electric and hybrid cars and auto parts for purchase anytime, any day. The automotive industry is becoming increasingly digitized, and this growing trend is pushing car dealerships to find better ways to connect with consumers and fulfill their needs.
That’s not all. In an increasingly digitized world, consumers demand personalized service with relevant choices, full control, and all within an omnichannel experience. Retailers and etailers now cater to the most sophisticated consumers who know what they want and expect their transactions to be completed with efficiency.
A recent industry study not only showed that 95% of car shoppers currently research information online during the process but 83% of those looking to buy a car prefer to do it online. In addition, today’s consumers go beyond comparing or customizing vehicles. They’re now conducting credit checks, financial arrangements, price negotiations and having warranty discussions online—a complete departure from the traditional process.
Adding to this challenge is a recession that, like most, will cause potential customers to reprioritize and reduce their spending. Lastly, several disruptors that can’t be ignored are also capturing more market share and competing with conventional car manufacturers and auto dealers: automobile vending machines, on-demand car services (Uber, Lyft, etc.) and car-sharing services (Zipcar, Turo, etc.) are viable options.
There’s never been a time in this industry where flexibility and responsiveness were more needed to keep up with customer demands.
So, how can car dealerships and auto parts brands adapt to these changing consumer behaviors?
Enter Salesforce Automotive Cloud™. Designed for automotive customers, Salesforce Automotive Cloud is a powerful solution that will help take the pain out of car buying, with features to help car dealers shorten the buying journey.
How Salesforce Automotive Cloud Works
Salesforce Automotive Cloud is built on the Salesforce Customer 360 Platform™ and extends the power of Salesforce Core, Salesforce Sales Cloud™ and Salesforce Service Cloud™. It spans the entire business journey, from prospecting, marketing and lead management to sales, after-sales and service.
The solution is designed to fully empower car sellers with a connected customer ecosystem powered by artificial intelligence (AI), analytics and a Salesforce platform. Its advanced capabilities deliver smarter, faster personalized customer journeys and selling and seamless collaboration between original equipment manufacturers (OEM), dealers and ecosystem.
Car dealers can access automotive-specific data models and built-in business processes and workflows to simplify their data gathering and daily operations. Lower customization costs also mean a shorter time to value and constant innovation with three releases per year.
Salesforce Automotive Cloud’s enhanced features include:
- Automotive lead management to convert more leads
- A vehicle console to unify vehicle and customer data
- An Automotive service console to serve customers faster
- Household management to connect vehicles and households
- Dealer performance management to maximize dealer performance
- Automotive data foundation built with the STAR standard to meet data integration industry standards
With Salesforce Automotive Cloud, you can truly maximize customer and vehicle lifetime value with a 360 view of the vehicle, customer and financial relationship.
The automotive industry is quickly changing, and brands that are flexible, nimble and proactive will reap the most rewards. Is your brand ready to maximize its reach with innovative products? Create a powerful web presence and a richer buying experience that helps build customer loyalty? If so, why not partner with experts already equipped with the tools and skills to help you exceed your customers’ expectations?
With extensive automotive industry experience, OSF Digital has developed and implemented solutions for major automotive clients globally. That’s why OSF Digital’s team in Brazil — the recently acquired Kolekto — was recently chosen as one of just a few launch partners for Salesforce’s Automotive Cloud.
As a Salesforce partner for over 15 years, we’re well positioned to implement and integrate Automotive Cloud for OEMs and dealerships that want to advance their online posture and provide a simpler, more personalized and streamlined car-buying experience for their customers.
To complement Salesforce Automotive Cloud, OSF offers the Automotive Accelerator, a robust industry accelerator that helps car sellers quickly set up an online marketplace. This solution offers great benefits, such as a fast go-to market, expanded customer reach and a seamless shopping experience. This latest Salesforce platform will allow us to further enhance our capabilities in the automotive industry and continue to deliver fast ecommerce implementations for our customers.
If you want to learn more, download our 2022 U.S. Automotive Dealership Ecommerce Benchmark Study. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the industry’s current outlook as well as how to embrace tomorrow’s technologies and make it easier for customers to find the car they need.
Salesforce Automotive Cloud™, Salesforce Customer 360 Platform™, Salesforce Sales Cloud™ and Salesforce Service Cloud™ are trademarks of Salesforce, Inc. and are used here with permission.
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