Page 10 - GIADA-April2017

TECHNOLOGY

VR, Other Tech Perks may Become Crucial

to Online Car-Buying

BY JOE OVERBY, SENIOR EDITOR, AUTO REMARKETING

Throw on a headset, “test-drive” a car.

In the middle of a convention floor space.
The merging worlds of virtual reality and
automotive allowed visitors to the eBay Mo-
tors booth at January’s NADA Convention &
Expo to do exactly that.

(Well, sort of. It’s all virtual, of course). And
while it’s far from a fixture yet, the rapidly
expanding online automotive retail space
could soon call on such ancillary services as
virtual reality test-drives and other ameni-
ties to offer a more complete buying experi-
ence on the Internet.

“I think all big companies around are look-
ing at artificial intelligence; all of them are This is certainly not lost on dealers. Stanfield “Most of our buyers see the car for the first
looking at virtual reality; what do you do to said many dealerships are looking to see how time when it’s shipped to their front door,”
take this to the next level?” Clayton Stanfield they can offer a completely online purchase, Stanfield said of eBay Motors. “And we know
of eBay Motors said during an interview something that certainly the case 10 years ago. that there’s still a vast number of people who
here at the convention. “Because every- would say, ‘I would never do that’ … and, so,
body’s talked about, ‘how do you complete “I’d go out and do presentations, and they were the virtual reality is going to be that middle
this purchase online’?” like, ‘what are you talking about?’” he said. ground.”
These days, you can buy a car from the com-
And for good reason. An eBay Advertis- fort of your home and have it delivered. Or, go VR might not “conquer everybody” into online
ing study released in February says that 63 pick it up from a “vehicle vending machine,” car-buying fans — some folks will still need to
percent of consumers are either likely or ex- like the ones online retailer Carvana offers. physically touch the car before purchasing —
tremely likely to buy a vehicle online in the but the more complete you can make the on-
future. Meanwhile, 87 percent of folks in the “It just shows what the consumer is ready line experience, the better, he said.
survey were going online to research before for,” Stanfield said. “And now it’s going to
they buy, the same study said. have to go to the next level.” As for online car-buying, it is still in the “mi-
nority,” but as large dealership groups con-
“Technology continues to evolve the auto- That could include things like artificial in- tinue to test the waters, the comfort level will
motive shopping journey,” Josh Wetzel, who telligence, VR or 360-degree vehicle views. go up, he said.
is eBay Advertising’s senior director of sales EBay, for example, offers a “valet” service
and marketing, said in a news release that that will sell your car for you. And although VR test-drives are still “a ways
accompanied the study. away,” Stanfield believes virtual reality will
As for VR, 43 percent of respondents in eventually need to be a part of the online
“Consumers are already executing pre-pur- eBay’s Future of Shopping study said they car-buying equation.
chase activities related to online research were interested in doing virtual test-drives.
with increased interest in online automotive (However, just a tenth were interested in us- The implementation, he said, will likely be
experiences,” Wetzel said. “As more consum- ing augmented reality during car shopping). go from newer cars to older.
ers continue to embrace automotive ecom-
merce for vehicles; enhanced experiences While VR is not part of the services offered “It will take a long time for virtual reality,
and technologies like virtual reality and ar- on eBay Motors at the moment, Stanfield probably, to hit those private-party cars,”
tificial intelligence will continue to drive a sees the potential in what in what it could Stanfield said. However, he adds, “to say it’s
larger shift to online purchasing.” offer online auto retail. not going to happen would be silly.” n
8 | GIADA Independent Auto Dealer APRIL 2017