A study into how car shoppers perceive their visit to a car dealership has found that almost half of women rate it the most boring type of shopping experiences, compared to only one in five men who said car shopping is boring.
When asked to compare it with trips to supermarkets, electrical goods stories, clothing stores, fast-food outlets and pharmacies, 44% of women picked out car shopping as the least engaging, as opposed to 19% of men.
The research of 1,500 UK adults who had experience of visiting a showroom also discovered that two thirds do not have a favoured dealer where they would begin their search for their next car. Most people think dealerships or showrooms all look or act alike and are indifferent about which they go to.
A study into how car shoppers perceive their visit to a car dealership has found that almost half of women rate it the most boring type of shopping experiences, compared to only one in five men who said car shopping is boring.
When asked to compare it with trips to supermarkets, electrical goods stories, clothing stores, fast-food outlets and pharmacies, 44% of women picked out car shopping as the least engaging, as opposed to 19% of men.
The research of 1,500 UK adults who had experience of visiting a showroom also discovered that two thirds do not have a favoured dealer where they would begin their search for their next car. Most people think dealerships or showrooms all look or act alike and are indifferent about which they go to.
The results showed that women are much less likely to enjoy the process of car shopping, with 93% of female respondents indicating that they didn’t like learning about different types of car technology. Almost all females (95%) felt they were given too much information by car dealership sales staff.
In fact across all the men and women surveyed, one in five said they feel self-conscious about not understanding technical terms which salespeople use.
Nevertheless, one in four people (27%) said they enjoy checking out different types of cars, and 13% answered that they enjoy learning about different features and different types of car technology.
Matthew Drury (pictured left), director and co-owner of Saturn Visual Solutions, which commissioned the consumer research, said: “We were shocked that the vast majority of people couldn’t name a dealership or car showroom that they preferred and that so many found car shopping to be boring.
“The automotive industry is having a tough time at the moment. Demand from private car buyers has weakened, particularly in the EV market. The rising cost of living means that car purchases represent a significant investment.
“As such, the industry can’t ignore things like delivering a positive, memorable customer experience which enthuses car buyers. Something our research has shown that a lot of dealerships aren’t succeeding at.”
Saturn Visual Solutions is a digital signage consultancy and works with automotive retail businesses to help them make their on-site shopping experience more engaging and positive to increase profitability.
The research also looked at the experiences of people in different age groups and found that middle-aged people (35-54 yrs) are the most likely to think car shopping is ‘boring’ (27%), the least likely to enjoy learning about car technology (11%), and the most likely to be dealership neutral (74%).
Younger people (18-34 yrs) are the most likely to likely to enjoy learning about different cars (29%), but the most likely to feel overloaded with information (16%). They are the most likely to feel self-conscious if they don’t understand terminology used by salespeople (23%).
Drury added: “The experience of going car shopping at a dealership or showroom has hardly changed in the last 50 years, so it’s hardly surprising that so many people are saying it’s their least favourite shopping trip. Car dealerships and showrooms need to work harder at differentiating themselves by delivering a better customer experience.
“Our research shows that everyone has different preferences when it comes to car buying. Younger people tend to want more information, middle-aged people tend to want less.
“The more digital natives that join the UK’s car owners/buyers, the more out of date the current process of car buying at a showroom/dealership is going to feel very soon.”
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