2025年在线汽车销售基准分析白皮书：转化的驱动及阻碍因素

What is driving conversion and what is slowing it down Content 03Introduction 06Executive summary 07Mini encyclopedia online car sales 08Why do customers buy? 11The automotive customer journey 14Results of the online car salesbenchmark analysis 24Voices from the field 28Solutions for conversion optimization 31Conclusion More and more peopleare purchasing their carsby digital means – butdigital sales channelsare being slowed down. Buying a car at the dealership? This situationcould soon be a thing of the past, as car pur-chases are becoming increasingly digital. Accord-ing to MHP’s online car sales study publishedin 2023, 22% of those surveyed said they havealready purchased a car online. That representsa 144% increase compared to 2020.1And thosewho are still a bit hesitant to purchase a carcompletely online still tend to do research onthe internet before making a purchase in orderto be well informed when they show up at thedealership. That should be reason enough for dealerships,OEMs, sales platforms, and websites to take acloser look at customer journeys for their onlinecar sales solutions.2Low sales figures, especiallyin the electric segment, as well as fierce compe-tition from China and dwindling profits3createmore pressure to configure the online car buy-ing experience to be as intuitive, informative, andeffective as possible. How should an online auto-motive customer journey be designed in order toturn vague interest into a prompt willingness tomake a purchase? What relevant conversion driv-ers exist and what stands in the way of a possibleconversion? There has never been a better time for new digitalsales strategies on the automotive market. Accord-ing to a survey from summer of 2024, 28% ofGermans intend to purchase a new car by mid-2026. This represents an increase of 5 percentagepoints compared to the previous year.4 With this whitepaper, MHP presents a holistic anal-ysis of the topic throughout six crucial phases ofthe automotive customer journey. The outcome isunambiguous. Many providers have demonstratedconsiderable room for improvement in their digitalofferings throughout all phases of the customerjourney. For this survey, which constitutes a representa-tive example of the German automotive market,both qualitative and quantitative results and expertopinions have been gathered, interpreted, andformatted in a way that reflects the status quo ofOEMs, dealers, and platforms. It gets straight tothe point. MHP builds on its expertise from theonline car sale study series, which has been captur-ing shifting consumer expectations and develop-ments in online car sales for many years. In order to be successful in digital sales,car manufacturers and dealers will have toadapt to modern sales practices and focuson their customers’ needs. But don’t be disheartened: from consultation tothe purchase transaction and even following up onleads, there are many ways to boost efficiency. The classic customer journeyas we know it from the areaof e-commerce only somewhatworks for the (online) sales ofcars as they are products withspecific requirements that aresubject to high expectationsand involve a highly complexconsultation process. Executive summary Qualitatively speaking, online platforms stand in stark contrast to thewebsites of car manufacturers, which can be technically inadequate. 01 Information and purchase opportunity Simple and intuitive process design One of the most important conversion drivers istransparency in terms of not only the equipmentand financing options available, but also theexact flow of complex processes. Many of theproviders surveyed fall short in this regard, whileplatforms stand out positively. One thing is clear:the better the customers understand everythingthat goes into the process of buying a car bydigital means, the better they feel about theirdecision to buy their new car completely online. Cars are a high-involvement product, and buy-ers do thorough research and consider alterna-tives before making a purchase. Nevertheless,more and more customers are willing to pur-chase their new car completely online. Until nowmanufacturer websites were used primarily asa digital marketing measure, but the focus hasnow shifted to direct sales via online channels(omnichannel). 02 05 Focus on conversion gates The integration of an online sales solution aloneis not enough. This has to be optimized for con-version in order to keep the option to purchasea vehicle online as streamlined and intuitive forusers as possible. This is possible by minimizingconversion blockers and deliberately integrating(additional) conversion drivers. MHP has identifiedvarious potential for each phase of the automotivecustomer journey. Focus on customer groups and communities Industry experts ascribe higher complexity tosales to B2C customers than to B2B customers.They see greater technological challenges withB2C customers, noting that they generally expectfeatures such as a real-time configu