In the first part of our series on retail innovation, Canadian auto dealer visited the the famed Audi City, in London, England, often cited as the first truly integrated digital dealership.
Like many of our readers, the Canadian auto dealer team had been hearing stories about innovation in the British automotive retail sector with examples such as Audi City, the Hyundai Rockar retail store located in Europe’s largest mall, and other futuristic experiments.
So we hopped across the pond to check it out ourselves.
With real estate prices among the highest in the world, it’s no surprise that automotive retailers in urban settings like London, England are looking to find ways to maximize every square foot of prime retail space, while still running a profitable automotive dealership.
But what exactly are they doing, and how much of it is applicable to Canadian dealers? That’s what we set out to discover.
Audi City
Our journey brought us inside Audi City, which markets itself as “the Showroom of the Future” and “the World’s First Interactive Car Dealership.”
Audi City has indeed been a darling of the media, portrayed as a shining example of the interactive digital experience customers will soon be demanding of their own dealerships.
“The high-tech cyberstore that could be the future of buying cars,” writes Digital Trends.
“It’s a sort of Apple Store for cars, with a nod at the full-screen interfaces beloved by Hollywood blockbusters,” writes Wallpaper.
The Audi City store in London was the first of its kind to open in 2012, but the company has since opened similar stores in Beijing (2013), Berlin (2014), Istanbul (2016), Paris (2016) and Moscow (2016).
Guided tour
When we arrived at Audi City, we were greeted by Romain Nogues, an Audi Sales Specialist with the VInP Programme at Audi City London.
“This is the best place to buy an Audi in the world,” says Nogues. “A lot of customers are amazed by the integration of technology. If you go to a centre with 200 cars on display, there is no chance you can inspect the car the way we can.”
Clearly sold on the power of the Audi City experience, Nogues walked us through the typical process when a potential customer walks through their doors.
With only a handful of Audis in the showroom, most guests are drawn to the high-definition interactive touchscreens mounted on tables. They are technologically advanced vehicle configurators that are updated daily from Audi in Germany with the latest product and accessory information. “The idea of the concept is to have a lovely showroom. As you can see, we only have two cars upstairs and another two cars downstairs,” says Nogues. “Obviously we can’t display our whole lineup here. However, we can use the technology to show it.”
Visitors will first interact with Audi Specialists, who are not commissioned salespeople, and are only there to answer questions and help customers navigate the vehicle configurator technology.
The system lets them custom build their own Audi from among the more than 50 models now available. “More and more customers want to drive their very own, customized Audi, and they want to see it in as much detail as possible right there in the dealership,” says Audi in a press release, explaining the growth in the Audi City model around the world.
Once they select their Audi, guests can spin and rotate views and get a clear sense of what their next Audi could look and sound like.
Those keen to share their configured vehicle with others can simply “swipe” the touchscreen and then the image is projected to one of the giant video powerwalls behind them. From there, they can change views, and really get an “inside” look at their vehicle of choice, opening doors, and scrutinizing every inch. The size of the video walls allows a user to view their configured car on an a scale of 1:1 on the floor to ceiling video screens.
Audi Code: a bridge builder
There are so many different variations of an Audi that you can configure — several hundred million different possible configurations — that saving your progress is really important.
To enable that, Audi has created the “Audi Code” that becomes a useful “bookmark” to record your digital shopping journey. The customer’s unique Audi Code can be entered anytime, whether using the touchscreens at Audi City, or on the customer’s mobile device or desktop computer when they get home. This bridge between the online and in-store experience is perhaps one of the more impressive technological innovations.
It’s particularly important for Audi buyers since the point of the entire virtual journey is to narrow down all the options and get to the final step of ordering their car. There are no “cars on the lot” that can be driven home, so the efficiency and accuracy of the ordering process becomes crucial.
In Europe, almost half of all cars sold are build to order, while that number is less than five per cent in the United States according to figures from the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).
Soft sell approach
It’s only when they get right down to the “money” part of the process that they get handed over to a sales consultant, someone like Nogues, to seal the deal. “We have one specialist team help you figure out what you want. Then they send you to the sales team once you’ve decided. It’s a very smooth process,” says Nogues. “I think Audi City is just an amazing place to work.”
Discussions then often move to private customer consultation suites downstairs where customers can have a tactile experience feeling fabrics and looking at colour swatches.
But it’s more than just a pretty virtual technology showcase.
These cyberstores act as satellite outlets for a conventional dealership, with service located minutes away in a different facility that the customer would never likely have to visit. Customers simply drop off their keys and the vehicles are taken there for servicing.
What about the results?
The technology all sounds cool, but at the end of the day, does it help sell more cars? You bet.
According to Audi, the sales figures compared with the former brand outlet in the same location in London soared by almost 70 per cent.
It turns out that, at least for Audi buyers in London, technology trumps massive showrooms. In fact, most Audi City locations have showrooms that are less than one-third the size of traditional Audi dealerships.
Although viewed as European innovation, ironically Audi City London is actually owned by the U.S.-based Penske Automotive Group. Audi City is owned by Audi UK and the U.K.-based dealership group Sytner, which is owned by Penske.
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