Bangkok--26 Nov--4D Communications
iCar Asia, ASEANS No. 1 network of automotive portals, today releasednew findings from its iCar Digital Shift Studyindicating that more than 9 out of 10 car buyers in Thailandconducted all their car buying researcheven before stepping foot in a dealership.
For years, the automotiveindustry believed in the metaphor of “The Sales Funnel”, a six month timeline starting with the customer seeing an advert down to them buying a car. However,the iCar Asia Digital Shift Study (“Study”), a research project commissioned by iCar Asia and carried out by Frost & Sullivan, reveals a very different story.
The Study finds that car buyers start and end their purchase journeyin a very short space of time with 78% of Thai car buyers starting and completing their purchase process within 3 months with an average length of purchase at2.8months whileIndonesian car buyers take an average of1.9 months andMalaysian car buyers 2.4 months.
Of the 96% survey respondents in Thailand who say they researched their car purchases online before buying a vehicle, online sources were visited on an average of 9.05 times in comparison with only 3.14 visits to the dealerships. In addition, more car buyers visited non-official websites (90%) rather than official car manufactureror dealership websites (77%). “The role of the digital space with regards to car buying especially in Thailand is staggering! There’s definitely a big shift in the way people look for information when looking to buy a car. The Study also indicates that car buyers are building their consideration sets online and deciding on what they want to buy before they event step into a dealership. It’s clear that marketers need to be moving their focus online, attracting and engaging the buyers where the buyers are, andproviding them with the information and support they need to make the right decisions.” said Damon Rielly, CEO of iCar Asia.
However, the Study clearly indicates that there isn’t one definitive place where car buyers in Thailand go to for all their car buying / research needs. Buyer reviews, more accurate car model information, latest pictures of new models and ease of navigation were some of the key responses when asked about what car buyers’ expectationsfrom online resources.