Car dealerships in shopping centres? It’s happening
Don’t be surprised to see a vehicle dealership popping up in your neighbourhood shopping centre, right next to your favourite fashion store. That’s the word from AutoTrader CEO George Mienie, who explains that this is already happening overseas.
“For instance, Subaru has opened a dealership in a shopping centre in Melbourne, Australia; Hyundai has opened a dealership in a shopping centre in Kent in the United Kingdom; Tesla has a dealership at the Westfield Shopping Centre in London … to name but a few examples. More recently Mercedes-Benz experimented last year with pop-up stores in shopping centres in the American cities of Atlanta and Miami. Now it will open a store in a mall in Chicago,” he reveals.
Mienie says that the relocation of dealerships to shopping centres has been driven by a reduced number of customer walk-ins at conventional dealerships. “This is an international trend that is also being seen in South Africa. In 2015 consumers in South Africa visited three to four dealerships before purchasing a car. Now, in 2018 they only visit one or two before signing on the dotted line,” he reveals.
One of the solutions to this dilemma is moving the dealership to a shopping centre. As Neil Smith, from Imperial Cars in the United Kingdom, noted at a recent AutoTrader Dealer Master Class: “Dealerships located in shopping centres get more walk-ins than anywhere else.”
Mienie reveals that the move to shopping centres is being accompanied by more innovative ways of selling cars. “For instance, the Alibaba Group and Ford recently lifted the lid on a massive car vending machine. Unstaffed and located in Guangzhou, it facilitates the purchase of a car in under 10 minutes…without any human intervention,” he explains.
According to Mienie, it is only a matter of time before we see dealerships in shopping centres and facilities such as the car vending machine in South Africa. “We are a nation of car lovers and, thanks to our limited public transport infrastructure, the demand for a car is predicted to remain high. Coupled with this, we also appreciate convenience – like consumers the world over. So, watch this space … We will soon be seeing developments like these in South Africa,” he concludes.