The auto sales model accelerates the reconstruction: channel diversification becomes a new trend

Accelerate the restructuring of the automobile sales model

Recently, the "2021-2022 China Automobile Circulation Industry Development Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") was officially released. The "Report" shows that by the end of 2021, the total number of passenger car dealers is 29,318, an increase of 3.9% year-on-year, of which the independent brand network has grown strongly.

For the development of the automobile circulation industry this year, Xiao Zhengsan, vice president and secretary general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that due to the superposition of multiple factors such as the continuous multi-point outbreak of the epidemic, the rise in international commodity prices, and the surge in supply chain risks, the new downward pressure on the automobile market has further increased and exceeded expectations.

"The value chain of the automobile industry is accelerating its restructuring, and the automobile market is facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities, which will put forward higher requirements for the circulation industry." Xiao Zhengsan believes that the rapid development of products and technologies, markets and demand, especially the exploration of channel models triggered by new energy vehicle products on a global scale, is forcing the automobile circulation industry to accelerate transformation and upgrading.

Channel diversification has become a new trend

Xiao Zhengsan proposed that, on the one hand, the knockout race of brand manufacturers began to accelerate, followed by the change of circulation channels, and the second-hand car business will become the most core strategic business sector of dealers; on the other hand, new energy vehicles have sprung up, the market penetration rate has increased rapidly, and the proportion of individual car purchases has increased significantly, and it is expected to achieve the goal of new energy vehicle sales accounting for more than 20% of new car sales 1 to 2 years in advance.

With the relaxation of the second-hand car policy, the second-hand car market has been placed high hopes by the industry.

Lang Xuehong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that the second-hand car market will usher in a decade of golden development, and it is expected that second-hand cars can maintain an average annual growth rate of more than 20%. Based on the above prediction, by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", the annual trading volume of used cars will reach 30 million, which is basically the same as that of new cars.

Will the development of the second-hand car market crowd out new car consumption? Lang Xuehong told reporters that he also heard a lot of similar concerns. But in fact, the disposal of used cars consumers will not become a car-free user, there is a high probability of buying a new car, if there is a healthy, active used car market, each disposal of used cars will actually pull the demand for a new car.

The rapid development of the new energy vehicle market has led to the rapid expansion of the new energy vehicle channel network, and gradually formed a network with different functions in three categories: 4S sellers, showrooms/experience centers, and after-sales service centers in the form of channels. The "Report" shows that in 2021, 2468 new 4S dealers will be added, mainly from luxury brands and independent and new energy brands.

Lang Xuehong introduced that with the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market, manufacturers have increased their investment in the construction of new energy channels, and based on their own situation, they have selected the common network or the sub-network method. At present, luxury brands mainly adopt the method of common network, and most of the new energy high-end sub-brands launched by independent brands adopt the method of networking. The joint venture brand takes the Volkswagen ID series as an example, on the one hand, it sells in the original channels, on the other hand, it encourages agents to establish supermarkets in the commercial center; Guangqi Honda has released a new new energy vehicle channel.

"New and old forces are exploring channel changes, the boundaries between models are blurred, and the service channels for new energy vehicles are also being reshaped." Lang Xuehong said that whether it is a common network or a sub-network, it will face its own challenges in the future, and the key lies in ensuring the professionalism of new energy-related services and balancing the interests of existing channel networks.

Supermarkets enhance the consumer experience

The "Report" shows that in 2021, the new energy vehicle supermarkets located in shopping malls/shopping centers have developed rapidly, reaching more than 2,200, and nearly 70% of the supermarkets are concentrated in 20 cities.

Walking into Beijing's Blue Harbor, Hopson Hui, Bloomage Shopping Center and other shopping malls, you can see many new energy brand supermarkets. On the 5th floor of Hopson Hui in Beijing, the open space of nearly 3,000 square meters in the atrium is now divided into several areas, where nearly 10 new energy vehicle brands are stationed. After the consumer visits one store, he can lift his foot to go to another store to continue shopping.

When introducing to reporters, the sales staff of Xiaopeng Automobile revealed that hopson hui stores have good sales, sometimes selling hundreds of units a month.

"First-tier cities have the highest density of supermarkets, with an average of 107 supermarkets in each city." Lang Xuehong said that now supermarkets can also be seen in third- and fourth-tier cities, especially in the eastern coastal areas. Supermarket stores can enhance the consumer experience and promote brand promotion, which is still in a period of rapid development, but due to the limited resources of suitable location in the city, the supply resources of supermarket stores will gradually become scarce in two or three years, and the cost of building stores will rise.

Car companies seize the mall, but also from Tesla. However, while more and more car companies began to enter the mall, Tesla closed some supermarket stores and began to increase the traditional 4S store model.

Tesla's turnaround, coupled with the news of the closure of other brand supermarkets, has caused concern in the industry. In this regard, Zhang Junyi, managing partner of Oliver Wilver Consulting, said that when the new energy vehicle brand first launched brand recognition, it would frantically grab the business circle. "It's actually an eye-catching behavior. When the brand has a popularity and sales volume has risen, the number of stores will be dynamically adjusted, the stores with high conversion rate will continue to open, and the stores with low conversion rate and poor cost performance will definitely be closed. ”

Will supermarkets recede? Lang Xuehong said that Tesla is actually two roads at the same time, while opening the 4S store mode, Tesla is still looking for shopping malls in Shandong, Hebei and other areas to build supermarkets. The supermarket should not be just a fixed outlet, the channel format should gradually develop to 4S stores, experience, delivery, maintenance, sheet metal spray center and other formats, and non-fixed site pop-up stores will also be adopted by more brands.

Digital transformation drives innovation

Lang Xuehong pointed out that throughout 2021, multiple factors such as repeated local epidemics and insufficient supply of hot-selling models caused by chip shortages have disrupted the sales rhythm and increased the difficulty for dealers to cope with market changes. At the same time, the high cost of customer acquisition and the reduction of passenger flow are the core pain points of dealers.

In the face of many pressures and challenges, auto dealers pay more attention to digital transformation, hoping to establish an automobile sales and management system with customer needs as the core through digital construction, tap the value of the whole life cycle of customers, optimize the profit structure, and improve profitability.

The digital marketing of Shijiazhuang Xinshan Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd., a large automobile trading group, started from the diversion of new media. Cui Xiaofeng, the company's after-sales manager, introduced that the store increased the number of viewers through live video broadcasting, got more clues, and also opened online websites such as Autohome, Easy Car, and Zhichedi to get more new customer development and clues. In addition, it is often produced to make some small videos of car maintenance and push them to old customers to strengthen relationship maintenance.

Faraway Auto Trade Group FAW-Volkswagen Audi brand Zibo Aowei Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd. chose Douyin as the main position for exploration in new media. It started operations in March 2021, uploaded 377 videos, received 41,000 likes, and from March 2021 to February 2022, it accumulated 616 people entering the store and sold 131 units.

"From zero transactions at the beginning, to 2 units, 4 units, slowly stabilized to 20 units... New media channels are now an important part of the sales mix. Wang Yanbo, director of the company's second-hand car, believes that the new media media can overcome the difficulties in the marketing of second-hand cars, such as displaying the details of the vehicles that customers care about through new media, expanding the geographical scope of the car watchers; through daily live broadcasting, it is possible to obtain customer needs and feedback, and it is easier to obtain customer trust.

At the same time, he also pointed out that the videos taken must be in line with their own product positioning, mainly car display and knowledge videos, not necessarily to force the speed of fans, but should pay attention to the quality of fans. Through accurate positioning, a virtuous circle is slowly formed, and finally all fans are vertical fans, and the monetization ability will be very strong.

Zhao Chunhong, deputy director of the Industry Coordinated Development Working Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that new media is not only a more efficient marketing channel for the second-hand car industry, but also a weapon to expand the scope of business. Under the background of mobile Internet, auto dealers should take advantage of new media traffic and customer monetization as soon as possible to achieve digital and intelligent transformation, and continuously inject vitality into the car dealer and second-hand car industry.

Liu Jin

(Economic Daily)