Zhang Yan, Senior Executive Vice President of Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd
It is under the leadership of "new luxury" and "heart luxury" that digital transformation has become the key fulcrum of sustainable development, and customer experience is always the only way forward.
Text / "Autobot" Wu Yu
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the 53rd floor of the green space China Jin, Zhang Yan enjoyed the warm winter sun while leaning down to visit Lee Shing Hang Plaza in the southwest. In the four years since he took over Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Service Co., Ltd., this was a rare break for him. The "digital transformation" that occupies the C position of the topic after 50 minutes of exchange is just the icing on the cake, and what Zhang Yan really wants is to establish an innovative and leading "competitiveness".
If you want to follow the beginnings of digitalization, you may have to look to the second generation of S-Class sedans that came out 43 years ago and first offered airbag options. The sensor module for batch loading transmits the data of the vehicle status to the on-board ECU one by one as a reference for the operation of the airbag. Since then, Mercedes-Benz has entered the digital age.
In the past 10 years, the advantages and value of data have surfaced, not only mobile phones replacing cameras, e-commerce replacing sitting merchants, but also changes in consumption habits and business models... Manufacturing has also ushered in the "golden age" of sensors, watches can record heart rate strides, refrigerators can set temperatures remotely, Tmall genie can answer most of the questions people want to know, and even running shoes can prompt "the remaining mileage it serves me"...
Today's digitalization is no longer an after-dinner dessert with coffee, but a realistic melody and framework.
Automakers are putting a lot of sensors into their cars, or "sensorizing" modern cars – collecting as much information as possible about the state of each car, diagnosing vehicle problems, improving the driving experience, and preparing for a larger digital ecosystem and more perfect mobility services in the future.
But the blue ocean will soon become the red ocean. When a market is completely digitized, the supply will move from scarcity to wealth, and the drama of "bad currency expelling good money" will also appear - Taobao Jingdong takes turns to recommend, when it is not the best choice; commenting that the ME group occupies the home page, it will not be your favorite... People try to regulate massive amounts of data and information, but all they get is confusing data and doubled rules.
With the increase in the penetration rate of electric vehicles and the mainstream of smart cars, homogeneous competition and price comparison competition are also in the shadows, users are drowned in the whirlpool of bits, and brands are also lost in the dark forest... At this time, listening to zhang Yan's description of "digital transformation" and then looking at the "core competitiveness" he pursues, there will be different tastes and feelings.
Grasping the main theme of China's economic vitality and continuous consumption upgrading, strengthening mercedes-Benz's luxury brand positioning, keeping up with the development trend of China's social electrification and interconnection, and defending Mercedes-Benz's leading position in the automotive industry, "digital transformation" is almost the only way.
Driving digital transformation in the Chinese market, Mercedes-Benz has done a lot of solid work. Zhang Yan said that for Mercedes-Benz, the concept of digitalization, contact points, and the application of big data allow us to more accurately understand and reach customers in the marketing process, and provide customers with the required services.
2021 is the year of the electrification of Mercedes-Benz, not only the new generation of compact pure electric SUVs - domestic new EQA and EQB SUVs listed, there is a new EQS that redefines the new benchmark of large luxury pure electric cars, as well as a large number of recyclable materials, the wind resistance coefficient is reduced to 0.17, and the VISION EQXX concept car with a single charge mileage of more than 1000 kilometers has turned out...
2021 is the digital year of Mercedes-Benz, making full efforts in digital retail, digital clients, digital services and digital finance, not only improving dealer operation efficiency, but also improving user service experience, and closer to the relationship between brands and customers...
In terms of digital retail, Mercedes-Benz launched the mobile "OTR+" dealer operating system. This is the industry's first digital mobility solution, which can collect data on customers' corresponding models in a timely manner and effectively improve the service efficiency of dealers. O2O personalized recommendation service is to convert the customer information and vehicle information provided by all online contacts into offline customer service solutions to meet the personalized service needs of customers.
At the level of digital sales, Mercedes-Benz has launched four major digital platforms, including official websites, WeChat platforms, mobile phone applications, and car-machine interconnection, making it easier for customers to connect with brands through digital touchpoints. At present, the updated Mercedes-Benz official website has achieved a total of 90 million visits, and the online showroom Mini Program has brought customers nearly 30 million innovative interactions.
In terms of digital services, more than 3 million car owners have activated the Mercedes me interconnection service. In 2020, the Mercedes me application was revamped to provide more services to car owners, including remote car search, remote start, remote door opening and closing services, etc., currently has more than 2.5 million downloads, with an average daily active more than 250,000 people, which is a highly active online service system in the industry.
In terms of digital finance, Mercedes-Benz provides customers with full online financial services, and the newly upgraded digital end-to-end financial loan process allows customers to complete convenient, efficient and safe auto finance loan services in less than 10 minutes.
A look at Mercedes-Benz's digital practices reveals that the customer and customer experience wears a halo through it. Zhang Yan said that the whole system of Mercedes-Benz in China is working closely around digital development, from infrastructure construction to business promotion, and ultimately around the improvement of "customer" and "customer experience".
Zhang Yan's "digital transformation" is not simply IT or software first, but to master the productivity of innovation, can more quickly adjust the business direction, efficiently integrate their own resources, and continue to lead in the key competition of key markets.
The "digital transformation" mentioned by Zhang Yan is not simply to transfer offline business to online, but to make extensive use of digital tools, fully tap the potential of data, listen to and understand the needs of users, and accurately provide the products and services required by users, so that "new luxury" becomes the banner and "heart luxury" goes deep into the soul.
In the past four years, Mercedes-Benz has enriched the product lineup of "new luxury" and improved its leading position in the field of electric drive and intelligent technology, and on the other hand, it has continued to optimize the service experience of "heart luxury" to meet the needs of electrified and digital customers, so as to understand and serve customers more comprehensively.
It can be said that it is precisely under the leadership of "new luxury" and "heart luxury" that digital transformation has become the key fulcrum of sustainable development, and customer experience is always the only way forward.
In the foreseeable future, digitalization will become the engine of Mercedes-Benz to drive the transformation of the whole system and establish core competitiveness, and it is Zhang Yan's original intention to promote digital transformation by reaching customers more directly, understanding customers more comprehensively, satisfying customers more perfectly, and connecting customers more permanently. 【Copyright Notice】This article is the original manuscript of Automan Media, and may not be reproduced without authorization.