Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/243961
xx 30 • January 27, 2014 • Powersports Business SOLUTIONS www.PowersportsBusiness.com THE DEALERSHIP OF TOMORROW A changing consumer shopping experience When you opened the dealership doors on Jan. Most often, I don't hear mobile retail solu1 to a new year, did you pause to consider the tions, just oodles of crabbiness about it. Like, change? The change that has swept this indus- "I can't believe I just spent 30 minutes with try — not to mention every other retail sector that guy, and I leave to get him some coffee, — compared to just two short years ago? and I come back he's price-shopping us." It wasn't the product in your Well of course he's price-shopping you! shop. Oh sure, there has been After all, you didn't give him an alternative. change there, but not dramatiWhy not text him a link to a magazine's cally so. review on that unit so he can browse that It wasn't the people enterwhile you're getting him some coffee? ing your store to check out that Please understand — thinking someproduct. We're primarily the body is not going to use his or her same demographic we were two smartphone in a shopping experience years ago — middle-aged males. is simply crazy. You might as well No, the major difference ask a kid not to touch anything in from two years ago isn't your a toy store! They're going to. The shopper or your invenquestion is: Can we shape that NEIL PASCALE tory. It's how the two come experience for them? together. It's how one discovers the other. The answer is: Yes we can, but only if And it is massively different. you're proactive. Only if you expect the smartMobile technology is redefining the retail phone — not cringe at it! — at some point in shopping experience. Heck, it's redefining the conversation. everything. It's convenience wrapped up in a Get this: Two years ago, of the millions of box that fits in our pocket. It's instant inforpage views experienced on the powersports mation. Instant gratification. Sorry pet lovers, industry's largest classified listing site, Cyclebut man's best friend no longer comes with a Trader.com, only about 10 percent came from flea collar. mobile devices. Today, it's exceeding 40 perThe question is: What are you doing about cent! Can you imagine what it will be by the it? How are you changing the dealership to end of 2014? reflect this mobile infatuation of ours? Mobile usage is simply astounding. Were "Please understand — thinking somebody is not going to use his or her smartphone in a shopping experience is simply crazy." you aware we now spend more time per day on our mobile device than our TV? Truly. (Check this out — http://bit.ly/16R8LMU — if you don't believe me.) All of which means mobile now needs to be considered and accounted for. Yes, in your sales process on the showroom floor. And definitely in your online marketing. Remember the last time you were shopping for a store website and the mobile version of the site was addressed as a benefit? Like an add-on, i.e. an aftermarket accessory to a new unit. With more than 40 percent of our online views now coming on mobile devices, mobile capabilities are a heck of a lot more than just an add-on now. A number of technology heavyweights in different retail sectors are now using "responsive web design," a fancy tech term that speaks to an improved mobile experience. Responsive technology adjusts a website to the size of a device, making sites on a smartphone or a tablet easy to navigate. The finger gymnastics of shrinking or stretching a website on a mobile device will be a thing of the past with this technology, which is now reaching the powersports industry. Open your dealership doors this year and consider the change that's upon you: Mobile is as much of the shopping experience as the wallet is. Understand that. Understand that this change in the shopping experience is not going away. It's just building, and doing so at an astonishing speed. Consider: It took 13 years for TV to reach 50 million people. Facebook did that in 3½ years. How long did it take a game application to reach 50 million users on mobile devices? Fifty days. PSB Neil Pascale is the Business Development Manager for Dominion Powersports Solutions, a dealer service company that includes Power Sports Network, Cycle Trader, Traffic Log Pro, Ziios and Dominion Insights. He can be reached at neil.pascale@dominionpowersports.com. ww D Th ma rie on Au of d im on on gra Ch I al in t ma kee spo So foo per pla the for gam pas ate low lea we ha fin to ran def Th lite gru sat tio ho cu per wh Au No ing etc bel of to oth slip tha thi Bec wa adv tha um Ha its res ten ber rel cle Ya It w P30x32-PSB2-Solutions.indd 30 1/15/14 12:13 PM