In March, the Twin Cities Auto Show was at the Minneapolis Convention Center just down the street from our Fallon office, so the BrandTube team decided to take the opportunity to talk with car consumers.
We’d been reviewing the global study by Capgemini, Cars Online 2010/2011: Listening to the Consumer Voice, in which 33 percent of those surveyed in the U.S. market said they were likely or very likely to purchase a car online. The respondents mentioned various reasons for the online purchase—one of which was to avoid price negotiation or personal interaction with the dealer. To dig deeper into this finding in our provocative BrandTube way, we went to the show and placed a “magic remote” in interviewees’ hands and asked them to select the buttons they would use to control their car-shopping experience.
Almost every person addressed the interaction with salespeople as the shopping experience they’d most like to manipulate. While some said they’d press the “play” button to begin the sales spiel, most preferred the “channel” or “mute” buttons to relieve pressure from a pushy dealer. Frequently, respondents mentioned the desire to view only the information they wanted—”fast-forwarding” through an unnecessary sales pitch, as many had already done their research prior to visiting the dealership.
We’re wondering: Will there ever be something like a “magic” remote control to shut off the power on the age-old “used car salesman” stigma? Check out the highlights of our research.
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