For Mature Age vehicle purchasers -- Step 1: Search the Internet.

Graeme T Smith

How long will it take before Australia’s Vehicle Manufacturers and Distributors recognise the importance of their Internet presence in winning over the most financially qualified constituency – the Mature Age consumer, the over 55’s, the Boomers and beyond?

Hopefully everyone with marketing clout in the Head Offices of those Vehicle Manufacturers and Distributors has accepted by now that the Boomers and beyond  (for those who still erroneously categorise by year of birth, those born before 1964)  are not only the numerically largest age cohort in history, but also the most affluent, most diverse, most idiosyncratic, and most misunderstood of all market segments.

Their numbers are outweighed only by their spending power and their impact on culture and society.

Or does the problem lie within the youth obsessed marketing departments of the Vehicle Manufacturers and Distributors who haven’t recognised the largest and fastest growing on line constituency is in fact the over 55’s?

The Key Findings of a well researched Global Study of vehicle purchasers published by Capgemini back in November 2005 highlighted :-

“For the first time, the Internet has become the number one information source used by consumers when researching vehicles, surpassing family and friends and manufacturer-specific dealers. More than 60% of consumer respondents said they use the web, up from less than 20% three years ago. The time has come for manufacturers and dealers to view the Internet as an established, mature medium and integrate the channel even further into their marketing strategy and adjust their spend accordingly.”

“The majority of consumers in the market for a new vehicle are taking the time to research on the Internet prior to going to the dealership. Two thirds visit between three and six manufacturer websites, as well as informational sites, dealer sites, third-party sites and independent valuation services.”

The 08/09 edition of Capgemini’s annual Global Study, their 10^th, has just become available, and the role of the Internet has taken on far greater significance:-

“This year 44% of consumers said they were likely or very likely to purchase a car entirely over the Internet if that capability were available, up from 20% last year.”

The Study went on to add:-

“It’s easy to point to obstacles to Internet selling of cars: regulatory roadblocks, financing challenges, technology hurdles. All of which are legitimate concerns. But consumers simply don’t care. Increasingly, they want to be able to buy a car – from start to finish – over the Internet. In fact, they envision a future in which most cars are sold this way. It is incumbent upon both dealers and manufacturers to address the obstacles and challenges and take real steps to implement online vehicle buying capabilities.”

Reviewing the main messages from the decade of Studies, involving 42000 consumers and 2500 dealers, Capgemini concluded:-

“A decade ago, the balance of power in the vehicle buying process lay squarely with dealers and manufacturers. They had the knowledge and information that consumers lacked, giving them an upper hand in negotiations. Today the power balance has shifted dramatically, with many consumers one step ahead of dealerships and automotive companies.”

To ascertain the current level of Internet development by Australian vehicle manufacturers, distributors and dealers, I applied some TLC (Think Like a Customer) and decided to search Google as a mature age prospective vehicle purchaser would.  I googled the words “Selling vehicles to mature age consumers” and clicked on “Pages from Australia”.

The organic search results started with two listings from my own site www.SeniorCoach.biz , and zero results in the first five pages I checked for any vehicle manufacturer, distributor or dealer. The surrounding Sponsored Links, the paid ads, displayed web savvy peripheral retailers (proving the googled phrase was appropriate) , but again no vehicle manufacturer, distributor or franchised dealer.

My next step in emulating a determined mature age prospect was to start selecting the vehicle manufacturer sites by name. As a former 10 year employee and then Dealer Principal for Ford, that’s where I started.

As is the case with the Toyota and Holden sites, Ford have a basic “Build and Price” facility, which is a first step down the path that consumers have nominated they wish to travel, that is to be able to complete the vehicle purchase transaction over the Internet. No such preliminary facility exists where it would be most expected , the sites of the luxury vehicle market leaders.

Because I still have some Ford Blue blood, I won’t be too critical of their Internet site, publicly. But two items demand comment.

Firstly, if I were a legitimate prospective purchaser, the speed of compulsory downloads, particularly when I selected the new Fiesta to test, would have driven me from the site, angry enough to never return.

The other issue, which indicates the existence of age-related stereotypes within Ford’s marketing, was illustrated within the Fiesta landing page. In addition to links to the youth oriented PussyCat Dolls and  rip curl Women’s Pro surfing event, were icons connecting to social networking sites – Facebook, Delicious and Digg.

Disappointingly, no such icons exist on the web pages of the Ford models their marketing people consider will be purchased by “older” consumers.

Mazda took the same decisions by restricting their social networking links to the Mazda3 page, probably assuming the demographic attracted to their Mazda6 would not be interested.

Not one website by a manufacturer, distributor or dealer included a legitimate blog, which has been nominated in research such as Capgemini’s Study as being of significant appeal to prospective purchasers. All manufacturers’ Facebook pages will be dismissed by their target as no more than online advertising.

Space in this forum does not permit more detail on the failings of the Internet sites evaluated.  However, if Australia’s mature age prospective purchasers match the thinking, and purchase processes, of their international counterparts (and research repeatedly proves they do), then the vehicle industry’s websites, individually and collectively, will prove to be a frustrating introduction to the industry’s capacity to satisfy their prospects’ stated desires.

So, without another glass half empty/half full discussion, where are the competitive opportunities in this situation?

Firstly, there is a tantalising lack of Search Engine Optimisation(SEO) throughout the automotive industry’s websites. Tantalising to the manufacturer, and the more responsive entrepreneurial dealers, who fix their own SEO, and capture the web traffic their slower moving counterparts will continue to miss.

Secondly, vehicle manufacturers, distributors and dealers, at the highest management level, need to urgently rethink the importance and potential functionality of their Internet activity. Their marketplace is demanding far more than the “on line brochure” which is the basis of the industry’s current Internet offerings.

As always, responses from any parties aggrieved, or provoked, by the opinions within this blog will be welcome via a comment below.

Alternatively, a contact from any Automotive Industry participant, relating to any aspect of their marketing to Mature Age Consumers, will receive a prompt individual response.