"Price war", "involution", "cost reduction", "going overseas"...... If you use a few keywords to describe the auto market in 2023, it must be these words.
The rapid growth of the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has completely disrupted the original balance of the entire auto market, and also made the original automobile consumption model begin to be truly subverted.
New energy vehicle experience stores began to occupy the C position of each core supermarket, and you can visit a "car show" by the way when visiting shopping malls, and some shopping malls have even launched "new energy vehicle exhibition halls", and a number of new energy vehicle brands have begun to settle in the core location of a certain layer of the shopping mall.
Under such a trend, Autohome decided to end the market and continue to expand its territory of "selling cars".
Before New Year's Day, the twentieth store of "Autohome Space Station" - Beijing Railway Station officially settled in Beijing Automobile Museum. In fact, this is the offline store of Autohome, in this store, there can be multiple new energy vehicle brands at the same time, consumers can use holographic technology to achieve 1:1 car viewing, car dismantling, and car comparison in the same frame, etc., and can also get the most realistic virtual car experience by linking the actual test data of Autohome.
According to Yang Song, Senior Vice President of Autohome and Chairman of Tiantian Paiche, "The role of Autohome Space Station and Autohome Online App is the same, both are platforms that connect OEMs, 4S stores and second-hand car dealers. ”
"Each brand has its own official website and official app, why do you need the Autohome app?" he asked rhetorically in a communication with Yang Song.
In his opinion, because consumers want to see all models on one website, see the most objective third-party evaluation, and see the real interaction and reputation of car owners, which is not available on the official website of a single brand, and the same is true for offline stores.
Since it is unlikely that car manufacturers can solve all problems by relying solely on online Internet platforms like FMCG product manufacturers, car consumption scenarios naturally need to have offline scenarios, so that consumers can see cars and test drive experiences.
Therefore, in the context of the rapid development of the retail industry brought about by new energy vehicles, Autohome wants to develop offline new retail business. According to Yang Song, "Autohome Space Station will continue to expand its layout nationwide, and plans to complete the offline layout of 50 cities by the end of 2024 and 100 cities by the end of 2025." In the future, Autohome Space Station also plans to further explore the overseas business to help domestic OEMs take the first step towards going overseas. ”
However, achieving such an expansion goal will inevitably encounter multiple difficulties, the first of which is the lack of a mature business model that can be used as a reference.
In recent years, there are more than 5,000 brand stores in supermarkets in China, and the profit and loss point of such supermarket experience stores is about 40 units per month.
Because of the limited market scale, it is difficult for many single brands to sink into the third- and fourth-tier markets. And local consumers do not buy new energy vehicles, but they suffer from the lack of "doors". In Yang Song's view, "the landing of Autohome Space Station in the third- and fourth-tier markets can not only facilitate local consumers to see, select, buy and replace new energy vehicles in one stop, but also help many new energy vehicle brands sink into these markets, which is a win-win measure." ”
Regarding the differentiated layout strategy of the space station in different markets, Yang Song emphasized that in the first and second tier cities, the role of the space station is more inclined to connect consumers and OEMs, focusing on sales and order processing, while in the third and fourth tier cities, the space station assumes the important responsibility of delivery and after-sales service, and plays a role in helping OEMs to sink.
In addition, the space station will strengthen the second-hand car service in third- and fourth-tier cities, and can also regulate the local second-hand car market to a certain extent.
In addition, the growth of the platform also benefits from the cooperation with partner institutions such as Ping An Insurance, Tiantian Paiche, and real estate, which can maintain a steady supply of sales leads across the country. From the perspective of operational efficiency, although no specific data has been released, according to internal sources, the monthly operating data of the space station is already 5-10 times the industry average.
Regarding future expansion plans, Yang Song said that the site selection criteria for the space station will comprehensively consider the market penetration rate of new energy vehicles, market size, and local population and economic data. This data-driven and market-oriented layout strategy is conducive to improving the market adaptability and business efficiency of each store.
Car purchase has always been a complex and sensitive consumer behavior, involving consumers' economic strength, taste orientation and practical needs. Nowadays, with the development of Internet technology and the wave of digitalization, the landscape facing the automobile sales industry has undergone major changes. In the midst of this change, how to provide consumers with a more transparent and fair price experience in the competition of price wars, while protecting the interests of all investors, has become a thorny problem that many companies in the industry must face.
In response to this problem, in Yang Song's statement, we can see a series of strategies and ideas adopted by Autohome Space Station. First of all, the space station avoids being directly involved in the price war, and instead chooses to establish mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation with OEMs. This not only protects the interests of consumers, but also creates value for investors, and also helps OEMs reduce the transaction cost of a single unit and reduce their economic pressure.
On the other hand, the Autohome space station uses a large amount of real invoice price data to provide consumers with a more objective and real price reference. These data are located in various cities across the country and can provide consumers with actual guide prices, which is undoubtedly effective information after screening. In the past, consumers often had to run around to inquire about a reasonable price for a car, but now Autohome can provide a one-stop solution.
As we all know, in the traditional automotive market, the relationship between dealers and consumers is often in a zero-sum game. But in the business philosophy of the space station, both are expected to be a win-win situation.
In Yang Song's view, all this is due to the strategy of the space station to disclose information to consumers and recommend 4S stores with the best sales plan. This transparent working mechanism is conducive to consumers to obtain a lower purchase price, and at the same time to ensure reasonable profits for dealers and consumers. And in this way, the space station also realizes the manifestation of its own interests.
Consumers can intuitively see almost all new energy vehicles in the space station and have the opportunity to conduct on-site comparative test drives, which have significantly increased consumers' confidence in buying cars and expanded the market share of new energy vehicles.
It can be seen that Autohome wants to change the original car sales model through its own advantages to improve profits and reduce costs. At present, the space station between cars has been explored for more than a year, and through communication with Yang Song, as well as the continuous opening of new space stations, we have also seen Autohome's ambition in "selling cars".
This is a new attempt at new automotive retail, and with the layout of more and more space stations between cars, the impact on consumers and the automobile market may gradually appear.
(This article was first published on the Titanium Media App, author | Chang Xiao, editor - Zhang Min)