Marketing 0

#3 “Organic” Quadrant
This quadrant applies to industries that deliver products and services
with a high degree of physical touchpoints. Most of the time, these
industries are also labor-intensive and thus have difficulty managing
their employees remotely. On the other hand, most of the customers
are ready to migrate to go digital. They will become primary drivers,
forcing companies to adopt digital technologies.
The automotive industry is one of the sectors in this quadrant. Most
car buyers are already webrooming. That is, they conduct research
online and eventually buy at the dealers. Google/comScore research
shows that 95% of car buyers use digital as the primary source of
information, but more than 95% of purchases still happen at the
dealership.
But the pandemic has accelerated online car buying. Several car-
buying platforms such as Carvana and Vroom have reported a surge
in online car buying as buyers prefer contactless interaction. Unlike
in the hospitality and healthcare sectors, physical contacts in car
buying are unnecessary and less valuable once potential buyers have
done considerable research.
Moreover, cars have increasingly become high-tech products with
the electric vehicle (EV), autonomous vehicle (AV), and vehicle-to-
vehicle (V2V) connectivity trends on the horizon. As car usage
experience becomes increasingly high-tech, the buying process is the
only major step in the customer journey still traditional.
Yet, the automakers and dealers have just started to build digital
capabilities. Aside from online car buying platforms, most
automakers and dealers have limited online presence. Customer

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expectations toward the automotive industry digitalization are not
only restricted to an e-commerce platform for online test-drive
reservations and purchase but also the adoption of other digital sales
and marketing tools. With virtual reality (VR), for example, potential
buyers can explore car options visually. More importantly, AI can
provide additional features such as predictive vehicle maintenance
and preventive safety monitoring by utilizing connected car data.