OUR lives have increasingly moved to the online sphere, making it so that nearly anything needed can be purchased with just a few clicks. With the growth of Internet and mobile penetration, and the overwhelming adoption of E-commerce in the Middle East, the customer consideration and purchasing journey in the Middle East and, particularly Saudi Arabia, is focused on heading online, mainly for car purchases. Carmudi (www.carmudi.com.sa), the leading car classifieds in the Middle East, held a seminar on April 22 on trends in the consumer purchasing and consideration journey in the automotive marketplace as well as strategies and benefits of being present in the online space. During the discussion it was revealed that the journey a consumer takes from brand awareness to brand consumption has changed drastically. he time period a potential car buyer is in the market has been halved from an average of six months to an average of three months, making car sales highly competitive. Saudi Arabia has an Internet penetration of 83% according to Google Insight 2014, and ranks third in the world when it comes to smartphone penetration (73%). The country witnessed the fastest Internet service spread rates worldwide, with an Internet population of 12.3 million. With so many customers online, businesses are understanding that there are several new windows opening up to reach their audiences, especially since it's getting harder to reach younger consumers with traditional models. With higher computer literacy and a growing trust in online purchasing, consumer behaviors are all pointing online. Car dealerships are falling behind the times by focusing on the showroom instead of the webroom. The evolution of New Media has truly changed the behavior and the purchasing journey of consumers, where they no longer need to physically be at a certain store or rely on word-of-mouth reviews from others. Since 2013, more than 60% of car consumers used a mobile device for research before stepping into a showroom. With people spending more than half of their time online, the online encounter a consumer has with a brand determines the final purchasing decision. Websites, social media, and online forums magnify ‘word-of-mouth' product reviews, putting extreme pressure on brands to maintain high quality at all times. Sixty five percent of global online consumers plan to buy a new or used car in the next two years, according to a new study by Nielsen, and auto demand will be strongest at 75% in the Middle East. Carmudi, the leading car classifieds in the Middle East, is ushering dealers into the digital age by revolutionizing how cars are sold. In addition to offering access to an enormous audience of buyers, Carmudi enables car dealers to grow by helping them become more data driven, launching their web presence, providing a robust inventory management system and facilitating a superior user experience that focuses on trust and ease. The outcome is a win/win for both dealers and consumers. “Taking a business's branding and marketing online has now become imperative for success,” said Elias Aad, Managing Director of Carmudi KSA. “It is no longer a linear journey from introducing the brand to the market until confirmed consumption. It's a conversation.” “Samaco Automotive, the exclusive distributors of Porsche Saudi Arabia, are one of our leading customers in adopting and excelling at online branding. They are differentiating their online presence by publishing well designed and edited pictures of cars on both their website and ours, as they understand the importance of being present on more than one online platform. Be where the customers are, where the traffic is,” said Aad. — SG
