Source/Upstream Journalist Yan Wei
Editor/Su Airlines
"No matter which mall you go to, you can see cars selling." Ms. Li, a citizen of Chongqing, lamented that in her impression, in the past, cars entered the mall, and only found an open space for a few days, but now it is decorated into a special exhibition hall and operated for a long time. According to the data, in the fourth quarter of last year, Chongqing's business district welcomed 31 auto brand stores.
On January 9, The Dadukou business district ushered in a new sales format, and Chongqing's first "auto supermarket" officially opened its doors to welcome customers. Different from the traditional 4S store, here will bring together a number of brands of hot models, users look at the car is like visiting the supermarket, one stop can experience a variety of hot models of multiple brands at close range.
The scale of 1400 square meters brings together nearly 20 hot models
The shopping malls in the core business district of Chongqing's main urban area have gradually become a must for new energy vehicle brands. Upstream news reporters learned from Savills that in the fourth quarter of this year, more than 30 new energy vehicle brands such as Ideal, Zeekr, Zero Run, and GAC Aean were laid out in Chongqing, and without exception, they were located in shopping malls in the core business district of Chongqing's main urban area.
Taking halo shopping park as an example, Xiaopeng, Weilai, SAIC R Car, Ideal Automobile, Zeekr New Energy Vehicle, Gaohe Automobile and so on have been brought together. Longhu Tianjie Park Store and Joy Plaza in the Central Park Business District, as well as Weilai, Nezha Automobile, AITO Automobile, etc. are also intensively opened.
On January 9th, Chongqing Automobile Commerce Association and Dadukou Wanda Plaza jointly created the first offline "Automobile Life Hall and 100-day Car Buying Carnival". The automobile life hall, with an exhibition hall area of 1400 square meters, brings together the mainstream brands and hot models of the times, including Changan, Ford, Ideal, Xiaopeng, Dongfeng Nissan Venucia, Chery, GAC E-An, BYD, Geely and other 9 brands and 19 models. Most of the models are new energy models, such as Xiaopeng P7, Ideal ONE, Changan Benben E-Star, BYD Qin DM-i and so on.
"The museum will also release more models and styles according to the release rhythm of new brand cars, and enrich the product structure." Chen Xueqin, secretary general of the Chongqing Automobile Commerce Association, said that the automobile life hall created this time practices an integrated business model to meet the needs of the automobile consumer market for the resident supermarket display and collect customers, and also provides new channels for consumers to buy cars.
"The 'auto supermarket' is located in the core business district, which can obtain more passenger flow for the brand, and the cost of entering the supermarket is greatly reduced compared to that of a single-brand store, and the test drive route can be adjusted according to the needs of customers, and it is more flexible." A person in charge of sales of a car brand who settled in said. Another car sales consultant stationed in the mall said that the conversion rate from test drive to order in the store can reach 40%.
Moving to auto new retail To replace traditional 4S stores?
Car supermarket, one-stop to see the car to buy a car, looks beautiful. Will this model bring an impact on traditional 4S stores?
The upstream news reporter learned that in fact, as early as 2017, under the favorable stimulus of the new "Automobile Sales Management Measures", Ali's "automobile vending machine", Suning Automobile Supermarket, And Gome store layout car showrooms emerged. However, after the high-profile admission, it was finally "short-lived", and the scene of the Mencolo Bird was staged immediately.
The reason is that the new retail of automobiles has not yet solved its own "death hole".
Consumers value nothing more than the price and after-sales price when buying a car. However, in order to introduce many car brands, the decoration style of the new automotive retail platform needs to conform to the culture of different car brands, which is one of the hard indicators of many automotive brands. And the cost of sales and after-sales personnel training will increase, while the cost rises, the original authorized brand of the original OEM or will cancel the preferential support.
At the same time, putting different brands and grades of cars together, the corresponding car brand value will inevitably be diluted, which is almost a fatal threat to the construction of car brands. This means that the supply of cars is limited, and the price is not necessarily cheaper than that of 4S stores. The lack of professionalism of the sales staff, coupled with the lack of test drive sites, the after-sales network can not do 4S stores and old maintenance factories, and the new retail of automobiles has become an "empty shell". In this way, after the freshness, only a few people are left. Profits generated solely by trading are easily diluted, and automotive new retail platforms face the problem of extending the business chain.
How to crack these problems? The relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Automobile Commerce Association said that the automobile life hall built this time is a multi-brand cluster settled in the supermarket, but different brands are still responsible for the corresponding brands, and the division of labor is more meticulous: product experts are only responsible for customer reception and product explanation, sales or showroom managers are only responsible for transactions, and delivery experts are only responsible for delivery.
"The accumulation of cars into supermarkets is undoubtedly an active change action made by manufacturers or dealers in the face of the trough of the automobile consumer market." The relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Automobile Commerce Association said that at present, from the perspective of the car brands settled in major shopping malls, most of the brands that have seized the business area and landmarks are new power brands. Compared with traditional 4S stores, supermarket stores have a high exposure conversion rate, lower cost of consumer clues, and more convenient, and you can look at the car by the way after a street meal.
"As for whether the traditional 4S store model can be subverted, it will take time to witness." The person in charge said that the inclusive market should have a diversified model, and in the future, the coexistence of traditional models and auto supermarkets can reflect the stability of a mature market.