From the layout of new energy to fuel vehicles, car service providers are seeking to break the situation

Not long ago, the 2022 Beijing Auto Show officially released a notice of postponement. Beijing Auto Show officials said that the postponement is due to the recent development stage of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in many places in China, and the epidemic prevention and control situation is grim. Car brands that were scheduled to release new models at the show also had to postpone the release of new models.

In addition, the U.S. Stock Research Agency also found that a Guangqi Honda 4S store was promoting group car buying activities in nearby communities. It is understood that if more than 10 people sign up to buy a car, each car buyer can be discounted by nearly 2,000 yuan.

In fact, as the weather warms up, the car market has also begun to heat up recently. Due to the postponement of many auto shows due to the epidemic, many auto sales and service stores are marketing in their own promotional activities. However, traditional offline store marketing is limited by geography and manpower, and it is difficult to achieve efficient drainage and accurate penetration, and the effect of activities is often not ideal.

Not only car dealers, but also some car sales service platforms have been affected by the postponement of the auto show. In the big environment, how should automotive service platforms cope with the test?

In the general environment, the new retail of automobiles should be more flexible

Since the first quarter, the sales of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles have shown different trends. According to the association, in March 2022, the sales of new energy vehicles reached 445,000 units, up 139.9% year-on-year, but the overall market sales of narrow passenger cars fell by 0.1% year-on-year.

The sluggish sales of fuel vehicles are mainly due to the impact of the scattered epidemic, and the marketing of major cities is limited; coupled with the continuous rise in gasoline prices, negative feedback is finally formed on the consumer side.

Service companies in the automotive industry chain have also been affected. The relevant person in charge of Tuanche Network previously said: "In order to maintain the orderly development of the business in the future, the offline auto show business has been suspended since January 2022 and will be resumed immediately after the epidemic eases. ”

However, compared with 4S stores with a single channel and a higher store cost, the car sales service platform channel that can make online reservations still has some advantages. For example, Tuanche.com can make users make reservations to watch the auto show through the online platform, and organize users with purchase intentions to buy cars at preferential prices in the form of "group purchase". With the postponement of offline auto shows, the number of online reservation users may usher in a round of growth.

The precondition for making a judgment is that the overall upward trend of the domestic automobile market will remain unchanged in 2022. On the one hand, according to the data of the China Automobile Association, even if the repeated epidemic situation and the lack of core in the supply chain continue, the auto market transaction is less affected, and in 2021, the production and sales of automobiles are 26.082 million units and 26.275 million units, an increase of 3.4% and 3.8% year-on-year.

On the other hand, relevant institutions have good expectations for the auto market in 2022. According to the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's passenger car sales may reach 23 million in 2022, an increase of 7% year-on-year.

Although the offline marketing of the automotive industry continues to be under pressure, the market demand has not decreased but has increased, and the number of users who have made online appointments to participate in the exhibition and see the cars may increase. Under this trend, Tuanche Network is expected to usher in performance improvement after the impact of the epidemic weakens.

How should the auto service platforms represented by Tuanche Network seize this opportunity?

Since auto transactions are large-value transactions, it is necessary to consider that buyers and sellers will still prefer offline payments in the short term. Only by increasing preferential treatment and improving follow-up services, such as better logistics, insurance, finance and other full-link services, can more consumers choose Tuanche Network.

With the upgrading of consumption, the trend of automobile marketing from store-based to experiential is obvious. Service providers should give full play to the experience advantages of holding auto shows and promotional activities, enhance user reputation, enhance the stickiness of car dealers, and ultimately attract more car dealers and users to join, forming a positive cycle.

In general, the trend of slowing down the overall growth of the traditional automotive industry is inevitable, and traditional car companies are transforming, for example, BYD officially announced the suspension of fuel vehicle production in March. Coupled with the postponement of the offline auto show since January, tuanche network needs to think about more possibilities for business development under the dual factors.

Spring River plumbing, the layout of new energy is intended to break the situation

For the future of Tuanche.com, founder Wen Wei had a judgment 6 years ago. In May 2016, CEO Wen Wei predicted that electric vehicles are the entrance choice for future automotive e-commerce.

Compared with traditional car companies, the new car-making forces do generally have "Internet genes", such as Tencent among the top ten shareholders of Weilai Automobile, and Xiaopeng Automobile is invested by Taobao China.

At the same time, unlike the decline in sales of fuel vehicles, the growth trend of new energy seems to be less affected by the epidemic. In the first quarter of 2022, the mainland retailed 1.07 million new energy passenger cars, an increase of 146.6% year-on-year. The "scissor difference" in sales of fuel vehicles and electric vehicles continued to expand, with the domestic retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles reaching 28.2% in March, an increase of 17.6 percentage points from the penetration rate of 10.6% in March 2021.

However, compared with traditional car companies, the new car-making forces have obvious problems in the channel: relying on the direct operation model and channel construction cannot keep up with the rise in demand, especially in the process of expanding the sinking market. It is difficult to meet the "last mile" of new energy vehicle marketing, which is a common problem faced by these manufacturers.

The sales network is one of the advantages of the online car sales service platform. According to the official website data, the group car network has covered more than 230 cities across the country and can organize more than 1,000 offline activities every year. In addition, Tuanche.com has proven its ability to carry out marketing activities for new energy vehicles. From January to October 2021, tuanche.com's electric vehicle sales covered 78 brands and nearly 100 cities.

Integrating offline and online resources to obtain customers across the globe, and then through long-term community fine operation and private domain live broadcasting, Internet service providers may be able to directly contact the "last mile" that has caused headaches for new forces.

Based on the foundation formed by the traditional dealer system, including the sinking market supply chain and the accumulation of experience in cooperation with dealers, the essence of the sales of new energy vehicles is the complementarity of the industrial chain between service providers and car companies.

However, at the same time, the traditional distribution system is also facing the challenge of differentiation between the needs of new energy vehicle companies and traditional car companies.

The first is the difference in user groups. According to the "2021 New Energy Vehicle Crowd Survey", the user population of new energy vehicles is different from that of traditional fuel vehicles. This part of the population generally has the characteristics of paying attention to cost performance, pursuing a sense of science and technology, paying attention to online reputation, and being susceptible to KOLs.

From the perspective of the preference of high-potential people's communication methods, compared with the recommendation of relatives and friends, celebrity advertising, etc., online content dissemination methods such as online word-of-mouth, car bloggers, and celebrity videos have become the main information channels for users to refer to in car purchase decisions, and the new communication methods have a greater influence on consumers.

This means that service providers need to adjust the mode of operation of private domains to adapt to the characteristics of high-potential people. Whether it can effectively form a good interaction with users will become the key to the third-party service of new energy vehicles.

In addition, compared with traditional car companies, the sales of new energy vehicles also face more problems in value-added services. For example, the problem of replenishment is a common concern of car buyers, which is more prominent in the sinking market. For service providers, the problem of replenishment has not only adversely affected their marketing of electric vehicles, but also brought more possibilities for business expansion.

For example, the group car can borrow accurate private domain user resources to cooperate with charging pile companies to develop new business; it can also directly cooperate with new power car companies, because the number of group buying groups is large, which can help car companies make more reasonable decisions about the layout of the energy supplementation system.

epilogue

In 2022, China's auto market is still under the dual pressure of the epidemic and the supply chain, but new energy vehicle companies are frequently spreading good results against the wind.

But as Meituan Wang Xing said: In the coming era of intelligent electric vehicles, Chinese companies have no reason to lose. With the rapid technological progress of domestic car companies, the market penetration rate of electric vehicles will be further improved.

To increase the new energy vehicle business, what new measures will the group take? Can you leverage your sales channels and digital marketing experience to achieve more sustainable and healthy growth? The U.S. stock research community continues to pay attention.