DUBAI: Amid dropping automotive sales around the world, INFINITI Middle East launched a new showroom in May 2020 — a virtual showroom.
Launched in 11 markets across the Middle East, the “INFINITI Configurator” is an immersive online experience that allows customers to explore and modify six INFINITI models at the touch of a button, before requesting a quote, booking a test drive, or sharing a personalized configuration with anyone to view.
In addition to viewing the car’s exterior and interior in 3D, users can customize the colors and finishes, hear each car’s sound with an engine start-up, and place the model in a true-to-life background to get the car’s perspective in a realistic scenario.
“We know that customers make up their minds in the digital space when making an automotive purchase,” said Karsten Jankowski, general manager, Marketing & PR, INFINITI International Markets.
“They know very precisely what they want when they come to the physical showroom,” he added.
This user behavior combined with restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) meant that users were spending even more time online, making it the perfect opportunity for INFINITI to launch its digital experience.
Despite low online sales for cars, the company now plans to add e-commerce features to the Configurator platform. Jankowski said: “Customers might tend to purchase online at some point, but the physical experience is still important. It is a hybrid situation, and we foresee that this will remain for the next couple of years.”
The Configurator’s e-commerce features are what Jankowski refers to as a “seamless online-to-offline experience” wherein customers can select the car online and book it right away or reserve it in the stock of a dealership and then proceed to the showroom for a test drive. Even after the test drive, they can choose to complete the purchase at the dealership or take their time to think about it and purchase online at a later stage.
The conversion from a prospect to a sale is typically the core metric of success followed by customer satisfaction for INFINITI. However, it is still early to measure the Configurator’s success based on those metrics. Although reluctant to share specific numbers, Jankowski did say that the time spent and engagement rate on the platform are “huge,” which is a metric in itself. In fact, on average, customers spend 30 percent more time on the Configurator platform than they do on the traditional website.
It is no surprise that the last few months have been difficult for the automotive industry. During this time, INFINITI’s strategy has been to spike and maintain potential interest through initiatives such as the Configurator, virtual walkarounds, and sending cars to a prospective buyer’s home for a test drive. The interest generated during the lockdown has paid off resulting in a “massive increase” in interest and sales post-lockdown, said Jankowski.
“Already over the last three weeks or so, the interest has ramped up and traffic in the showroom was almost at pre-lockdown levels,” he said.
In the next few months, the Configurator will be rolled out to other global markets. Interestingly, the Middle East was the first market for its launch despite the general perception of Western markets being more technologically advanced. Prior to the launch, INFINITI conducted several studies to understand the willingness and interest of consumers in e-commerce and digital utilization.
“The Middle East is extremely advanced and modern when it comes to innovative shopping processes. We see customers who are really open-minded and who appreciate all this innovation. That’s why it made a lot of sense for us to launch the Configurator in the Middle East,” said Jankowski.