I hesitated to use the D word here. So much of digital is normal, healthy evolution, that saying “disruption” is like crying wolf. So, I will digress briefly into that discussion before presenting my thesis, which is: traditional dealer-system providers are about to be whipsawed bigly by digital retail.
According to Gartner, digital disruption is “an effect that changes the fundamental expectations and behaviors … through digital capabilities.” This idea of changing expectations is echoed by Aaron Levie, to the effect that businesses “evolve based on assumptions that eventually become outdated.”
If your UI even vaguely resembles an airline cockpit, you’re doing it wrong – John Gruber
Another common theme in studies of digital disruption is that people will come from outside the industry, bringing new attitudes and techniques that incumbents can’t match – something I like to call “advanced alien technology.”
Modal’s Aaron Krane came from online sports betting, and famously wondered why there is no “buy now” button on the Mercedes-Benz web site. Andy Moss of Roadster came from online fashion retail. I think I am on solid ground arguing that DR pioneers bring something fundamentally different.
In fact, I can identify the baseline assumption which is now outdated. In olden times, the user of auto retail software was an auto retail employee. These were experts, executing an esoteric process, and they could be trained to deal with crappy user experience and disjointed workflow.
Today’s user is, of course, the car buyer. A few years ago, I wrote that each of the six canonical tasks in DR would need a “buddy” on the dealer side, with which to share information. For example, the website may disclose prices for protection products, and it would be nice to pull retail markup from the menu system.
It’s hard to believe how quickly DR has evolved. Roadster had just launched Express Storefront when I wrote that article, and already the buddy system is dead. If a car buyer can desk her own deal, at home in her pajamas, why use a different system in the dealership?
The advantages to using the same system in store and at home include trust, transparency, cost savings, and reduced demands on the salespeople. The new generation of in-store DR means that salespeople can be experts in customer service (and cars) instead of complicated software.
This marks the culmination of important trends in auto retail, from “one experience” at Sonic to “single point of contact” at Schomp, and it should serve as a wakeup call to old-school software vendors. Digital retail will drive a gradual shift in dealer process, but a rapid one in software.
Virag Consulting 