The Emerging Role of AI in Car Retailing in 2024

Enhancing productivity and the customer experience 

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been around for a while now, with tools such as Alexa and Siri and voice command navigation technology in cars used daily by many people. Increasingly, the retail motor industry is looking at the potential of the technology to enhance their proposition and operating models. 

CitNOW Group aims to be at the forefront in leading the use of AI applications and tools. In 2024, dealers can expect to benefit from a series of AI product innovations designed to support sales and aftersales. In fact, many dealers are already using CitNOW Group AI technology through the Group’s Auto Imaging business, where AI imagery, quality control & real-time feedback are well established.   

In 2024, Auto Imaging’s AI capabilities will accelerate further, taking time out of the video process for new and used cars and allowing potential customers to see vehicles in greater detail than ever, with key external and interior features highlighted. Bringing this detail to life will be available to customers 24/7.  

This additional visualisation available through Auto Imaging’s new technology may give some customers everything they need to make a purchase decision. However, for many more, we expect it to be an imaginative addition that will enhance a customer’s journey and dealer perception, helping to take their interest in a car and dealer into affirmative action.  

As well as exploring the potential uses for AI technology, we will continue to de-mystify and share insights on the practical applications we see emerging for car retailing and aftersales in the coming year.  

The immediate opportunities we see across our brand ecosystem are taking time out of repetitive processes, providing an additional communication platform to enhance the customer experience, capturing additional customer data, and improving car inspection and repair experiences. In short, the immediate opportunities lie in improved productivity, greater process consistency and, crucially, the chance to enhance the customer experience and ownership journey. 

The potential for a car to be sold entirely by AI is feasible, but an online-only purchase journey is already possible today. What has been learned through the increase in digital tools for car retailers and buyers is that for many buyers, the omnichannel experience is most valued. AI can help to improve the experience, particularly for buyers most comfortable with technology. However, for many others, it will be a complementary tool that increases the value of face-to-face dialogue. 

Auto Imaging’s new AI capabilities are exciting; the prospect of greater efficiency and an enhanced customer experience available 24/7 is compelling. We welcome the opportunity to discuss its use and positive impact, and as per our belief in an omnichannel, we are still delighted to talk about it face to face.

To find out more about how CitNOW Group can support you in the year ahead, contact us today. 

It’s Time to Discover and Realise the Opportunities in 2024

The realities of the prevailing trading environment cannot be ignored; however, it is every bit as important to identify and realise the opportunities that exist to create success. Into and throughout 2024, CitNOW Group’s growing ecosystem of innovative technology, business culture, people and resources is committed to realising greater success for our retailer and OEM partners. 

In this latest blog, we will explore some of the potential opportunities in 2024 and how CitNOW Group can help.  

Productivity, quality and increased customer engagement – a new role for AI in car sales 

Leading car aggregators highlight the importance of well-shot, clear images that bring every car to life continuously as a way of making a retailer’s stock stand out from the crowd. However, it can be labour–intensive. Our Auto Imaging platform creates compelling still and video imagery, automating many traditional processes and adding new capabilities, including retailer branding and the capacity to populate image slots on car aggregation platforms automatically. All of this can be done with just an app on a mobile device and a tripod, and it is very effective. In the UK, dealers achieved significant success using Auto Imaging – a 74% increase in website visits last year. 

AI has featured significantly as part of the existing intelligent Quality Control (QC) processes within the Auto Imaging platform. 2024 will see a series of exciting new features and innovations that leverage AI to further enhance productivity, quality control and customer engagement. 

New car & van sales – achieving the ZEV mix 

This year, the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate requires that 22% of new sales sold are, as the Mandate name suggests, zero-emission, so in essence, Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). It will see OEMs charged £15,000 per non-compliant car sold for missing the target. For vans, the fine is £9,000 in 2024, rising to £18,000 after that.  

For OEMs who may struggle to achieve the 22% target, it is likely to have a significant impact for them and their retailers, and those OEMs can be expected to control their retailers’ distribution of new stock more carefully. In the spirit of teamwork, retailers can help themselves and their OEM partners by having a greater insight into their sales activity down to sales executive level and embracing stock turn and business pipeline/sales enquiries. 

The granular and benchmarking information RTC Insights provides can help dealer leadership to monitor sales reactively, plan sales tactics proactively, help identify best practices, guide training plans, and support pricing and stock turn management. It is an insight that is likely to be valuable for any OEM brand that may struggle to achieve the 22% threshold.  

Utilising digital communication tools like CitNOW Sales could also be beneficial when engaging with customers and helping to increase their awareness and understanding of BEVs, video explainers, thorough walkarounds and clear explanations of the advantages of a BEV whilst dispelling any initial resistance could have a positive impact on meeting these targets.  

Lead management process and control

With its drive to support retailer efficiency last year, CitNOW Group’s sales and enquiry management solution powered by Dealerweb captured over 2m leads across national and regional retailer groups, single franchise, and independents. 

Last year, retailers using Dealerweb saw 30% more enquiries than in 2022, and 1/3 of all enquiries, new and used, resulted in an order. Effective lead management ensures quality customer experiences. Customers expect swift responses, with a quarter anticipating answers within 30 minutes on the same communication channel they initiated communication with the dealership. Technology such as Dealerweb Showroom streamline sales operations and thus improving efficiency, delivering seamless customer journeys and enhanced experiences. 

Moving into 2024 Dealerweb Showroom customers will be able to take advantage of a new feature, Equicalc. It is an equity calculator enabling retailers to interrogate their DMS and identify when customers who took out finance might be back in the market for their next car. This information allows retailers to target customers with bespoke offers and initiate conversations about changing cars helping to boost prospecting activity and retain customer loyalty. 

Aftersales – Driving Conversions is a Significant Opportunity

70% of retailers believe their aftersales teams miss out on chances to maximise all revenue opportunities. CitNOW Group’s RTC Insight analysts revealed that from missed red work alone, retailers lost £170K pa income per rooftop.  

When converting identified work in aftersales, nothing is more compelling than the power of video. To put this in context, our latest data from CitNOW reveals that 68% of work was authorised in under 30 minutes after the customer saw a video that clearly showed the need for a repair. 

CitNOW’s app-based video solutions for retailers are motor industry-specific and backed up by digital impact dashboards. Last year, UK retailers made 12.9M videos using CitNOW. They are effective because they provide a highly transparent, credible and easily accessed first-person experience. If something dangerous about a car has been identified, the customer can see it for themselves; it is highly compelling. 

Consumer confidence – creating engaged conversations

Building consumer confidence is the most important bridge to cross in creating sales. In today’s omnichannel world, a communication tool that supports and complements the showroom experience can provide dealers with a compelling edge. 

In 2024, CitNOW will launch CitNOW Conversations. Already highly valued by in Europe, CitNOW Conversations will make it even easier for retailers to communicate seamlessly with customers and potential customers on the messaging channels that they prefer from one central platform, 24×7. 

It is already driving more service bookings, streamlining workshop communications and increasing productivity and in sales, it makes it easier for customers to start the conversation, enables leads to be pre-qualified and speeds up the sales process with multichannel communication and automation. In the year ahead, these conversations and their value can only grow. 

Discover the CitNOW Group ecosystem

CitNOW Group is not a single solution. It is an ecosystem that can be tailored to a retailer’s needs, all with the promise of continuous development and improvement.

To find out more about how CitNOW Group can support you in the year ahead, contact us today. 

Keyloop and CitNOW Group have signed a new agreement to broaden and extend their long-term partnership. All CitNOW Group businesses will now become part of the Keyloop international partner ecosystem improving dealers’ access to advanced functionality from both companies, as well as facilitating the exchange of data between systems.  

CitNOW Group has renewed and expanded its partnership so it can continue to deliver its eco-system of innovative digital solutions across Keyloop’s customer network in the UK and Europe, in particular across Northern Europe, Italy and Germany.  

Keyloop and CitNOW Group have an aligned vision to provide the ultimate customer experience, fostering long-term relationships and trust between customers and dealerships, and simplifying processes for retailers. This partnership will enable CitNOW Group to enhance its solutions, with a specific focus on workshop efficiencies.   

Alistair Horsburgh, Group Chief Strategy Officer of CitNOW Group, comments: “Our vision is to provide solutions that drive efficiencies to seamlessly transform the customer experience, which is aligned to Keyloop’s fresh and customer-centric ‘Experience-First’ positioning. The partnership extension underlines our commitment to making the lives of our retailers, and their customers, easier. It also gives us the ability to leverage relationships with, and improve value for, those customers that we share with Keyloop.”  

The Keyloop partner ecosystem has been created to foster collaboration and build an exceptional Experience-First platform for retailers and manufacturers alike. Keyloop has built a globally connected network of innovation for the automotive industry, handpicking partners to co-create distinctive consumer journeys; seamless, best-in-class integration; frictionless interactions for consumers; unified data and enhanced process efficiencies. CitNOW Group’s renewal is a testament to the power and reach of this ecosystem.   

“It is great news that CitNOW Group is continuing as one of the key members of our partner network,” concludes Harvey, Chief Alliances Officer of Keyloop. “Our partners are hugely important to us as they help extend the solutions that we can offer country to country. We truly collaborate with each partner to ensure retailers and OEMs deliver seamless and exceptional experiences to their customers, and they are a key part of Keyloop’s transformation. 

“Extending our partnership with CitNOW Group is especially edifying as our values and ethos are closely aligned. Both companies are focused on harnessing and unlocking technology to help retailers deliver excellent service.”