20100201 multi channel sales approach for premium autos

AUTO M OT I V E

Multi-Channel Sales Approach
for Premium Autos: Raising Cost
Effectiveness in Marketing and Sales

Editorial

The automotive industry in 2009 is without any doubt in the middle of one of
the most serious crises it has ever experienced. The slump in sales, imminent
insolvencies and significant excess capacity all combine to make it clear that
revolutionary changes in this sector are on the agenda.

One of the areas where such change is “waiting to happen” is automotive retail.
The structures and business models for automotive marketing and sales have
remained somewhat static, despite the rising heterogeneity and complexity of
the buyers. A spate of developments indicate that the prerequisites for change
are already present in the market, including target groups which do not feel
properly addressed, low margins on the side of the dealer, high sales costs on
the side of the manufacturer and an increase in intra-brand competition.
Companies who introduce radical innovations within the distribution system
can break out of this stagnation, and generate lasting competitive advantages
for themselves.

To guide this re-orientation in the automotive industry, we can take a look at
other branches where radical change in the sales channels has already taken
place. Following the example of these branches, we want to show in this
study how the establishment of a multi-channel sales approach, with a clear
and segmented sharing out of activities between the OEM and the dealers,
is a strategy option for working markets comprehensively and efficiently.
The complexity of customers’ requirements for purchasing cars can be met by
managing an integrated range of sales channels matched to the diversity of
customer segments. Many automotive companies have untapped potential in
the market which could be exploited as a result of such an approach, which
would then create a clear competitive advantage for them.

With this study KPMG hopes to make a stimulating, if not provocative,
contribution to the dialogue within the auto industry over changes in marketing
and sales. I wish you good reading.

Dieter Becker
Managing Partner
Global Head of Automotive

© 2009 KPMG Europe LLP a UK limited liability partnership, is a holding company of a number ofmembers of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated
,
with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. KPMG Europe LLP and KPMG International provide no client services. No KPMG Europe LLP subsidiary or other
member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG Europe LLP KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does KPMG International
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have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm. All rights reserved. Printed in Germany. KPMG and the KPMG logo are registered trademarks of KPMG
International.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ..............................................................................................2

Introduction ...........................................................................................................4

Part I: Empirical Analysis.......................................................................................5

1 Twelve sales channels ......................................................................................6

2 Prospects for success and further development of sales channels...............11

Part II: Evaluation and Scenarios........................................................................13

3 Suboptimal integration of the sales channels ................................................14

4 What a multi-channel sales approach needs to do .........................................16

5 Four scenarios ................................................................................................18

Conclusion: Raising Cost Effectiveness.............................................................28

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2 Multi-Channel Sales Approach for Premium Autos: Raising Cost Effectiveness in Marketing and Sales

Executive Summary

To address the wide range of individual Scenario 1 – Retail trade
preferences amongst car buyers regard-
ing the purchase process, this study In the business-to-consumer segment,
has identified twelve separate sales the manufacturer focuses predominantly
channels: on the brand image, whereas the other
elements of the purchase process are
1 Sponsoring looked after by the dealer. In short, the
manufacturer focuses on marketing for
2 Factory sales the end users, the dealer focuses on
sales. In contrast, business customers
3 Customer contact in the context are serviced at nearly every stage by
of servicing the auto the OEM. This business model is above
all prominent in the markets for food
4 Dealerships and household articles.

5 Cooperations with non-auto brands
such as fashion or electronics Scenario 2 – Cultivating strong
brands
6 Internet website of the OEM
As the owner of the brand name, the
7 Internet website of the dealer manufacturer plays a central role when
it comes to cultivating the market for
8 Automotive “shopping malls” new customers. The dealer profits to a
great extent from the image building
9 Events carried out by the manufacturer and his
efforts with respect to canvassing new
10 City showrooms customers. This gives the dealer the
space to concentrate above all on the
11 Brokering from non-auto contact to existing customers and on
companies, e.g. a jeweller improving the relations management
with respect to the customers already
12 Recommendations from third known to him. It is often the case with
parties for new customers products backed by strong brands,
such as fashion or upmarket consumer
The authors of this study present four electronics, that the manufacturer culti-
scenarios for customer segmentation vates the brand image and strongly
and the corresponding structures/ promotes the acquisition of new cus-
allocation of activities between the tomers. The dealer on the other hand
OEM and the dealers in managing the concentrates in this case primarily on
twelve channels accordingly. customers who are already committed
to the brand.

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Scenario 3 – Purchase process The assessment of the success pro- Raising cost effectiveness
with or without personal sales spects of the scenarios shows a clear
support split on the one hand between OEMs The use of the internet as well as the
and dealerships in Scenario 1, which coordinated allocation of resources in
In this scenario, the manufacturer is comes closest to the current arrange- the sales channels, as provided for in
responsible for customers who need ments in the auto market. each scenario, taken together result in
no personal support, while the dealer an increase in cost effectiveness. Ulti-
can focus his resources on his specialty, Scenario 2 on the other hand sees a mately, the internet as a sales channel
i.e. exactly those customers who do functional distinction between the OEM is the most cost-efficient instrument
want such support. It is possible in this and the dealerships. While OEMs handle that can be employed to communicate
case to draw a parallel to the travel the overall image as well as the link relevant information and to handle sales
industry where the customers can between specific product images and processes. In the medium term, how-
decide whether they make their own their target groups, the primary role ever, it is not to be expected that all
bookings on the internet or make use of the dealer is managing customer customers will make exclusive use of
of the personal assistance offered by relations, sales and after-sales steps in the internet as a sales channel. Thus,
a travel agency. the purchase process. Thus, Scenario 2 the segmented use of a range of sales
seems to make the most sense for the channels, in a clearly defined sales
premium segment. approach for manufacturer and dealer
Scenario 4 – Product-specific alike, enables a systematic and cost-
added value in the automotive Scenario 3 is the most radical departure effective use of resources. Clearly
trade from the current business models, and defined fields of action, with the
is based primarily on internal, i.e. cost, elimination of redundancies and the
This scenario works on the premise that considerations. Within the context of exploitation of synergies, foster the
the OEM establishes a specific channel Scenario 4, the OEMs would benefit development of specific competences
mix via which he processes all sales from managing their own distribution and serve to raise cost effectiveness
activities independently, i.e. without channels along the lines of Scenario 3, in a comprehensive manner.
incorporation of the dealer. Retail bank- segmenting customers according to
ing, where the “producers” (i.e. the the costs of managing them.
banks) manage directly their own sales
channels, is an example where product
knowledge is decisive for the genera-
tion of an added value in the sales pro-
cess for the customer. This scenario is
configured such that manufacturers in
the automotive industry employ exactly
their product knowledge in the same
way as retail banks do, to handle the
entire distribution on their own.

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Introduction

This study was prepared by KPMG Structure of the study
together with the International School
of Management (Sebastian Waldorf, In Part I, the empirical results of the
assisted by Professor Dr Ralf A. Brickau) study are presented. The twelve sales
between January and April 2009. The channels identified as a result of the


results are based on a combination of interviews are described and evaluated.

desk research and discussions with In the second section of Part I, the
experts. A total of eleven Managing prospects for success in managing
Directors of dealerships spread over each individual channel are presented.
the entire premium segment in Germany
were interviewed. The empirical analy- In Part II, KPMG evaluates the empiri-
sis was rounded off by discussions cal results. The suboptimal integration
with experts from institutes and asso- of channels is briefly touched upon
ciations such as the Institute for here. The statements arise in part from
Automotive Business (IFA), Global comments made in the interviews and
Insight and the German Association of in part from other market observations
the Automotive Industry (VDA), as well on the part of KPMG. In the second
as an expert from AutoScout24. section of Part II, the demands made
Because of the different geographical on an integrated multi-channel sales
locations and dealership sizes within approach are portrayed, derived from
,

the German premium automotive mar- the interview results and from the rele-
ket, the dealers interviewed represent vant literature. In the third section of
an excellent cross-section for ensuring Part II, KPMG presents four scenarios
reliable results. for a multi-channel sales approach.
Although the structure of the scenarios
is taken from other consumer branches,
,

the content is derived from the inter-
views. This section is summed up with
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a conclusion related to raising cost
effectiveness in the car trade.

Part I: Empirical Analysis

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1 Twelve sales channels

These days, it is possible for a premium such an event and can be approached
manufacturer to market his products during its course. All-important is that
via different channels and in doing so, the person who makes initial contact
to address his customers in a very indi- with the customer is the one who will
vidual way. The following text presents support him throughout the entire
a number of these possibilities and purchase process and thus build up a
integrates them later in possible sales bond. Christian Boe, Managing Director
scenarios. The figure below shows of the Porsche Centre in Mannheim,
what those interviewed said about sees above all considerable advantages
these channels during this study. in “sponsoring an event when your
own staff is on the spot and is involved
The comments on the individual in the event themselves. ”
channels were as follows:

Factory sales
Sponsoring
Factory sales constitute the purest
The sponsoring of events such as form of direct sales and are usually
large-scale sports meetings serves only applied as part of VIP sales pro-
above all to improve the image of a grammes or in the used-car business.
company. Over and above this, pro- The discussions in the market have
spective customers can be invited to shown, however, that these types of

Figure 1: Sales channels and their evaluation
Sponsoring 45 % 9% 9% 36 %

Factory sales 27 % 27 % 45 %

Auto in service 82 % 18 %

Dealerships 91% 9%

Non-auto brand cooperations 91% 9%

Internet OEM 82 % 18 %

Internet dealer 55 % 18 % 27 %

Shopping malls 64 % 9% 18 % 9%

Events 73 % 9% 9% 9%

Public events 45 % 9% 18 % 27 %

Closed events 73 % 9% 18 %

City showrooms 73 % 27 %

Brokerage 36 % 64 %

Recommendations 18 % 82 %

Positive Neutral Negative No mention

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activities by manufacturers are viewed everything in detail, whereas Roger
”
as strong competition. Wilfried Hallier, Störzer, Managing Director of the
Managing Director of the Porsche Porsche Centre Nuremburg, adds that
Centre Hamburg North-West, com- “customers place the quality and the
ments that “what manufacturers are service offered by the salesperson
already practising today does not really above the visual impression of the
help in a lot of sectors such as the showroom. As far as the contact to
”
used-car market. ” the customer goes, Professor Willi Diez,
Head of the Institute of Automotive
Research, states that “selling via a
Customer contact while the auto is point of sale is these days somewhat
in service outdated. A lot of customers really
want to be approached in a completely
The time that the customer spends in different way than via the classic car
the dealership waiting for his car to be showroom. But there are naturally also
”
serviced, or any other form of contact other opinions: an important element
with the customer in the context of here is without doubt the test drive,
servicing his or her car, can be made which Roland Klement, Managing
much better use of to actively approach Director of the Porsche Centre at
the customer and to initiate a subse- Stuttgart Airport, still sees “as being
quent purchase process. Boe, for the best sales argument and thus
example, thinks that “making use of essential.”
the service process to approach the
customer” is an option that is not yet
being exploited to a satisfactory Non-auto brand cooperations
degree.
With respect to contacting potential
customers, cooperating with firms from
Dealerships outside the industry was repeatedly
broached in the discussions during this
The traditional car dealership in its cur- study. Christoph Käding, Managing
rent form is designed to cover different Director of Bach Premium Cars, says
process steps, namely customer rela- that “joint ventures are perfectly feasible
tions, sales and service. Generally and are gaining an increasing amount
speaking, it must also be ensured that of attention, whereby it’s all about
the corporate image is communicated developing a concept together with an
and represented at exactly this cus- interesting partner. In this particular
”
tomer contact point. Manfred Seidel, case, the joint activity was with the
Executive Director Sales Germany at manufacturer of private yachts in his
AutoScout24, the used-car internet showroom in order to approach a com-
sales platform, says that “the dealer mon clientele. Boe agrees and sees
must be in a position to serve both the possibilities “in both directions, i.e.
internet-savvy customer as well as the both in a car showroom, in order to
senior citizen who wants to be shown increase the customer frequency, as

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well as on the partner’s premises. As
” Internet dealers
for gaining new customers in the pro-
cess, Hallier says: “We invite the manu- In comparison with manufacturers,
facturers of premium brands to the dealers can display their products on
Porsche Centre to present their prod- their website in a targeted manner and
ucts on our premises, and we acquire can initiate the sales process there
new customers for ourselves in this and then, and can also communicate
way. By the same token, Störzer says:
” directly with a customer. The internet
“Joint ventures with other premium is absolutely ideal for the used-car
products are great provided that the business, and will become increasingly
partner is the right one. I can also important in the future. Peter Kraft,
envisage exhibiting our brand in the Managing Director of the Porsche
showrooms of another premium brand. ” Centre in Lörrach, says that there are
two sides to this coin: “On the one
hand, I can take an exotic car in part
Internet OEM payment because the marketplace
for this car is the world. But on the
The website of an OEM today serves other hand, the best-price shopper
mainly to convey the image, whereas need not buy in his immediate vicinity,
the acquisition of customer contacts but can rather purchase anywhere he
and their transmission via this medium likes. Sascha Heiden, Senior Market
”
will play a much greater role in the Analyst at Global Insight, also says
future. In this context, Seidel says that that “the internet will in future become
“the internet will become the lead an increasingly important sales channel
channel to the dealer in the future.” above all in the used-car trade. ”
Jürgen Niemuth, Managing Director
of the Porsche Centre Munich South,
makes a fundamental observation in Automotive “shopping malls”
this context: “Internet has changed so
many things. Even before coming to The spatial positioning of different
the car showroom, the customer brands at one location is generally seen
informs himself thoroughly. And when as being positive, provided that the
he gets there, he usually only wants overall presentation has an exclusive
to know how much the car costs and flair. Splinter, Managing Director of
how soon he can have it. People simply the Porsche Centre Berlin-Potsdam,
have so many more possibilities with for example, feels that “consolidating
the internet. For our part, however, this different brands makes sense because
trend means that we are often deprived the presence of the right brands makes
of the opportunity of having a real it possible to generate a higher cus-
sales discussion. ” tomer flow. Störzer sees the advantage
”
above all in the fact that “the customer
can get a good overall idea of the
entire market without having to go
far, whereas there were some other
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interview partners who rejected such parties serves primarily to enhance the
models on principle. image of the company as well as to
generate initial contacts. Professor Diez
says: “One has to go to the customer
Events these days and not the other way
around. It is immensely important to
With regard to the possibility of using present oneself at highly frequented
events within the sales system, a locations and to try to go wherever
distinction must be made between there is traffic rather than trying to
public events, those organised by third generate the traffic oneself. A road
parties and closed events. Whereas show in the centre of town, for example,
public events include, for instance, the is a good way to create a point of
presentation of cars in city centres, interest, whereby such an event must
those organised by third parties can be always provide the possibility of taking
exhibitions and sports events. Closed a test drive.
”
events usually take place in the car
showroom itself or on the premises Closed events
of a joint venture partner. In a further Closed events serve more to cultivate
step, according to Käding, “the events customer relationships and thus customer
are split into two groups, namely those loyalty, although once the customer
that concentrate on acquiring new leads have been reliably qualified, there
customers and those that serve to is nothing standing in the way of a
enhance the loyalty of existing custom- successful contact to new customers
ers. Boe confirms the effectiveness
” via closed events. For Hallier “these
of such events, because “to my mind, events are above all an important topic
selling is no different to customer rela- because we frequently attempt to
tions management. Whoever succeeds acquire new customers at them. Peer
”
in creating a good atmosphere will find Kraack, Head of Sales Porsche Centre
it easier to make a sale. Hallier adds
” Limburg, says that “open driving days
that “above all, themed concepts are are encouraged because an extremely
important in order to create a bond high rate – higher than that known from
with customers. As mentioned earlier,
” normal test drives – can be achieved in
there is also the possibility of cooperat- terms of making sales. ”
ing with other companies. “What is
new is that we are hitching up to other
premium brands and that we are trying City showrooms
to make contact with the target group
via these joint activities.
” The positioning of showrooms in
downtown areas encountered a wide
Public events and those organised range of reactions by those who took
by third parties part in the study. Whereas some of
The organisation of public events or those interviewed argue against a
the integration of one’s own presen- concept that is restricted purely to the
tation in an event organised by third presentation of vehicles and Boe

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questions the cost efficiency, Störzer Brokerage Recommendations
sees this concept as being very effec-
tive, although “these lighthouse projects The concept of brokerage is that firms Comparable with the concept of bro-
should only be seen as a lead channel from other sectors refer their customers kerage are recommendations, where a
to the car showrooms; the business to the dealership or the manufacturer third party gives a potential customer
must remain with the local dealer. ” and receive a quid pro quo in return. the opportunity of taking a test drive,
He also says, “In principle, I would like Splinter believes that “there should be for example, in order to bring him into
to see such a showroom in every large a concept which provides for brokering contact with the brand, thereby upgrad-
city, although this is not something the customers on a commission basis. ing his own products or services in the
dealers can shoulder but is rather the Conceivable here would be a coopera- process. Or an existing customer could
responsibility of the manufacturers. ” tion with upmarket jewellers, for exam- recommend a friend as a potential
Other interviewees also see a clear ple. Boe, too, sees the possibility of
” customer in return for, e.g., a branded
benefit, but one that is nonetheless cooperating with “exclusive travel present. Kraack sees “such ’tickets-for-
countered by high costs. But when it agencies who function as independent a-friend’ concepts as an innovation
comes specifically to “the introduction brokers.” which can be judged as extremely
of new products” and “the acquisition promising in cooperation with selected
of new customers” everybody can
, partners.”
see a clear advantage.

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2 Prospects for success and further development
of sales channels

The automotive trade is currently at a customer relations and sales and service.
point at which the companies need to The sales approach must at all costs be
take fundamental structural decisions supplemented by further channels,
in order to secure their competitive because although this business model
positions in the long term. Today’s busi- may form the core of the sales activities,
ness model and the 12 channels identi- the customer does not necessarily
fied in this study reveal a host of areas want to visit the car showroom in all
where the potential for optimisation is phases of the purchasing decision pro-
present, in particular for generating cess, but may well expect an active
new customer contacts, lead manage- approach in a different environment.
ment and the used-car business. Under
the premise that the “experience” when As far as contact to potential customers
buying a car must still primarily originate goes, the topic of cooperating with
from the product itself, the test drive companies external to the industry
is still one of the most important ele- was raised repeatedly during the course
ments of the sales process, whereby of the study and was assigned a
open driving days and road shows are correspondingly high success potential.
also gaining importance. In this connection, the potential for
brokerage and recommendations can
With regard to service, it is clear that also be rated highly.
customer demands have risen markedly
and the time that the customer spends Besides an increase in activities asso-
at, or at least in contact with, the service ciated with used cars, the internet will
unit should be used more intensively play a major role in the future above all
for communication. In this connection, in the acquisition of customer contacts
it is furthermore clear that a shared and their direct transmission to the
location for sales and service has relevant sales units. In the medium
advantages. term, however, and at least for the
major part of the target group amongst
The start of a customer relationship can private customers, the internet will not
take place anything up to two years establish itself as the sales channel.
before the actual sale. At the moment, This is, however, conceivable in the
however, the customer is barely being domain of business customers.
taken notice of at this time, meaning
that the possibility of an early bond to The significance of events is on the
the brand is not being exploited. rise, and will continue into the future.
Already today, events display a high
The traditional car showroom in its cur- effectiveness when they are properly
rent form is designed primarily to cover organised, because they build on the

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point that “sales” is basically nothing The scenarios presented later in this
more than pure relations management. study use exactly these insights and
Whoever is capable of creating a good show how an OEM together with a
atmosphere will have success in this dealer can work the market in the future.
area. They can segment the customers
accordingly and combine the channels
One overall aim is to present oneself at in order to increase the effectiveness
highly frequented locations and to use and thus the profitability within the
the traffic that is already available instead entire sales system, and increase
of expending one’s own resources to customer satisfaction at the same time.
generate exactly that. In this context,
public events are viewed positively,
without any clear statements being
made on their sustainability as a sales
channel. The views on showrooms in
highly frequented regions vary, because
in spite of a principled endorsement,
the cost aspect constitutes a strong
counterargument.

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Part II Evaluation and Scenarios

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3 Suboptimal integration of sales channels

The current positioning and manage- • A closely meshed coordination
ment of sales channels is shown in the between the channels or between
table below. the phases in the buying process
does not always take place. This
Drawing on its own experience within has several aspects:
the market, KPMG advances the follow-
ing statements: – In the dealerships, it is often the
case that customer contact while
• There are many overlaps in the chan- the auto is in service is not always
nels operated by the manufacturers managed properly as a further
and dealers. This redundant use of sales contact, e.g. the salesperson
resources is inefficient. does not always greet the cus-
tomer personally when he brings
• The channels are not directed his car in for a service, or the
systematically towards a specific service contact is not used as a
phase in the buying process, but chance to collect the thoughts of
rather are broadly designed to serve the customer about purchasing
several purposes. This means that the next car. Another example of
the channels are not focused on a lack of coordination within the
achieving clearly targeted objectives dealership is, customer contacts
in the sales process. With an orien- from dealer events are not always
tation towards vague and diversified followed up properly within the
objectives, the effectiveness of the customer relationship manage-
channels necessarily suffers as a ment system (CRM).
result.

Figure 2: Sales channel management in the premium auto market today

Image First contact Further contacts Sales Service

Sponsoring Factory sales Auto in service

Dealership

Non-auto brand cooperations

Internet dealer

Internet OEM

Auto shopping malls

Public events

Closed events

City showrooms

Brokerage

Recommendations

Performed by: OEM Dealer Both
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– On the manufacturer’s side, the – Above all, with regard to the
contact details of prospective internet, with its potential for an
customers generated from high- extremely low-cost support
image events, the internet, or throughout the entire buying pro-
city showrooms are not always cess, channel management is not
recorded. This means that the optimally set up. On the websites
link between activities promoting of both OEMs and dealers, the
the image on one hand, and timing and quality of the response
managing the initial contact to to a query is not always satis-
the potential customer, is not factory. Even when the initial
always handled properly. response is appropriate, often
there is no follow-up to support
– The integration between OEMs the customer in moving forward
and dealers is not always optimal. in his or her decision-making
A good example of this is the process. Finally, the data which
frequent lack of coordination in OEMs and dealers have on their
lead management: Initial contacts websites, or which they have
generated by the OEM are often gathered via their websites –
either not recorded at all, or not e.g. product and customer infor-
passed on optimally – the right mation – is shared only to a limited
information at the right time to extent between the OEMs and
the right person – to the dealer the dealers. Yet combining this
for personal contact. In the other information would make the data
direction, the OEM is not informed yet more valuable to each party.
by the dealer about the success
rate of the leads passed on by
the OEM; in this way, the OEM
cannot assess the success of his
own lead generation.

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4 What a multi-channel sales approach
needs to do

The study has shown that a modern ments of exclusivity and allure, thus
sales approach for a company in the including an appeal to the emotional
automotive premium segment should motive for making a purchase.
be in the form of a multi-channel
system in order to make use of the The design of the point of sale must
resultant advantages and synergies. always contribute towards cementing
These include above all the chance of the customer’s perception of the brand
opening up new customer fields that and the associated image. On account
have not yet been accessed using the of the upmarket target group, an
present channels. Customer satisfac- atmosphere should therefore be created
tion – which forms a pivotal element which centres on an intensive product
of customer loyalty – can, for example, experience and the opportunity of active
be increased in a lasting manner by participation in shaping the buying
employing different sales channels, process. In a nutshell, this means that
because these can offer services that the customer should encounter a
are specifically tailored to the individual powerful product and service expe-
customer groups. rience at every single interaction with
the brand.
Ultimately, the success of a multi-
channel system is greatly dependent Professor Diez exhorts that “the expe-
on achieving a good “channel fit” and rience when buying a car must emanate
on how the business relations and the from the product itself. The image
”
customer interfaces, the so-called plays a predominant role when acquiring
“customer touchpoints” can be opti- new customers, because it puts the
mised. The term “channel fit” is under- customer in a positive mood with
stood here to mean the optimum coor- regard to the brand.
dination of the different sales channels,
whereby the focus is above all on In order to support the customer
preventing cannibalistic behaviour throughout the entire life cycle and
between the different channels, coor- establish a lasting relationship, the
dinating the activities in the market, active support of the customer – i.e.
and assuring a smooth flow of relevant customer relationship management
information. In short, “channel fit” (CRM) – will become even more impor-
means a success-ful process integration tant in the future in terms of recording
between the channels. the wishes and preferences of the
customer as well as managing the
The customer contact points must there- actual contact with the customer.
fore be positioned such that customers
at different points in the buying process The increasing heterogeneity of the
are made aware of the company and target group leads to the necessity
its product portfolio, and can also buy of having a number of different sales
the products featured in the portfolio. channels, or at least sales formats
The interfaces at which the customer available if the individual demands in
is made aware of the company should, the market are to be paid due justice.
for the premium segment, carry ele- Boe says on this subject, “In the same

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way as the manufacturers have tailored With regard to the linking of sales outlets for new cars and also for used
their individual products, I think that channels, the flow of information cars, is rated very critically by the deal-
the car showrooms will also have to between channels plays a crucial role. ers in some cases. Judged positively
rethink along these lines, because the This applies in particular to acquiring by many, but not really established as
customer is becoming more and new customers and thus to lead yet, are the so-called automotive “shop-
more individual. And the products must management. The customer data ping malls” The same applies to bro-
.
be placed accordingly using a number captured and stored in anyone of the kerage and recommendations, which
of different channels.” channels must be managed and relayed may already be a feature of sales
in such a way that an optimum contact systems, but are nonetheless not
A simplified segmentation already to and support of prospective custom- systematically implemented. The
exists in the car trade which divides ers is made possible in all channels and internet is currently one of the most
the customers basically into premium in all phases of the purchase decision. important instruments in the automotive
and non-premium customers. This The diversity of sales channels demand- trade, and its potential is by no means
distinction is taken into consideration ed today is above all a result of the exhausted. In addition to the above-
when setting up the channels. In a need to generate initial contacts and to mentioned optimisation potential in
similar way, different customer groups qualify these accordingly. The acquisi- lead management, exploiting all the
are addressed at events with a focus tion of new customers harbours huge technical possibilities which the internet
on either new customer acquisition or optimisation potential and is one of has to offer for the presentation of
building the relation with existing the key tasks of the automotive trade. vehicles is another area where more
customers. A fundamental observation Splinter underlines this with his state- could be done. Seidel says, “In my
can, however, be made that segmenting ment that “ways must be found of opinion, the technical possibilities
is applied primarily in product develop- approaching customers such that the already available on the internet – for
ment and is still being neglected in effectiveness of acquiring new cus- example, those that permit the visuali-
sales. Professor Diez explains: “The tomers can be increased. ” sation of vehicles plus their fittings –
segmenting of product offers is helpful are being made far too little use of for
for the strategic orientation of product The current status of multi-channel the presentation of vehicles. ”
policy, but this segmentation of products sales in the premium auto segment
is totally unsuitable for marketing.” may be summed up as follows. The
The messages to segmented customer sales channels identified in this study
groups must be much more than simply are all being implemented to some
the product features of the correspond- degree within the automotive trade.
ing cars. On the one hand, there is a high level
of innovation to be observed, and on
Hand in hand with the use of different the other hand, few channels are
channels, it is necessary to establish systematically and consistently imple-
clear-cut structures which do justice to mented across the market or within a
the increase in complexity amongst given brand. This highly differentiated
customers. The different channels within picture of a channel applies particularly
this structure must be coordinated to channels shared by the OEMs and
and cross-linked such that the conflict the dealers: sponsoring, non-auto brand
potential within an organisation is kept cooperations, events and the internet.
low on the one hand, and that the Above all in these channels, the
customer is supported in a comprehen- management of leads is not optimally
sive and satisfactory manner on the coordinated. The channel operated by
other hand. the manufacturer alone, i.e. factory

,
,
International.

20100201 multi channel sales approach for premium autos

20100201 multi channel sales approach for premium autos

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