A worker at Volvo of Orange County in Santa Ana, Calif., sanitizes a car to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
Photo: Volvo Car U.S.A.Infiniti, a luxury-car division of Nissan Motor Co., prides itself on its showrooms. Complete with gourmet coffee and free Wi-Fi, they can briefly double as a living room or office for visiting customers, said Matthew Wilson, the company’s director of client experience and training.
But these sales lounges are largely empty as social-distancing measures designed to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus get in the way of leisurely afternoons at the local dealership.
Infiniti isn’t alone. Pandemic-related lockdown orders have emptied showrooms of foot traffic across the U.S. in recent months, and vehicle sales have plummeted as much as 59% below the level expected before the health crisis, according to research firm J.D. Power.
This has prompted car companies to develop or bring forward digitization plans that allow customers to buy cars remotely, said Christophe Castagnera of experience marketing agency Imagination Group Ltd. The downtime afforded by the drop in customer numbers makes this a good time for firms to improve their digital sales plans, Mr. Castagnera said.
Infiniti’s dealers have turned to presenting cars through videoconferencing software. They have been offered training on how to produce virtual walk-throughs, with tips on lighting, sound and backdrops. Customers who want a test drive can take the trial-run solo.
“We explain the things that they should be looking for, and maybe plan out a route and suggest the types of driving they should do,” Mr. Wilson said. Roughly 60% of Infiniti sellers are bringing test-drive cars—fully sanitized—to the customer’s front door, he said. Contracts can be signed via email.
Infiniti will keep offering its virtual retail experience even after customers return to the showrooms, Mr. Wilson said. Company research has found 70% of Infiniti customers who are aware of the remote offering want it to continue past the pandemic, according to Mr. Wilson. “We need to continue to find ways to make the automotive purchase easier and more convenient for our clients,” he said.
“ “We need to continue to find ways to make the automotive purchase easier and more convenient for our clients.” ”
The pandemic has spurred Infiniti and a number of other car makers to speed up digital initiatives that were already in the works. Some car makers had held new technologies in beta status, or introduced them in select markets, because they believed most people weren’t ready to consider buying a car without a visit to a showroom, Mr. Castagnera said.
“Now, there’s been this unearthing and acceleration of all those products,” he said. “It’s like their time has come.”
The U.S. arm of Volvo AB, for instance, has been leaning on sales tools such as 360-degree online car views, virtual walkarounds and a service that connects interested buyers to sales advisers via a chat room, and plans to improve them after the lockdown, according to Anders Gustafsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Car USA. These services were in more limited use before the pandemic, while another called Volvo Valet—a contact-free service and repair option launched last month—had been in pilot mode.
Volvo Car USA saw the number of digital retail leads more than double from March until May, according to a company spokesman. May saw the largest increase, despite the gradual reopening of retail showrooms that month, he said.
Alongside training its dealers on changing consumer expectations at what it calls its Volvo Car University based in Connecticut and South Carolina, the car maker is improving the user experience design of its websites, Mr. Gustafsson said. Highly informative websites reduce customers’ need to touch and feel vehicles, he said.
The auto makers’ recent moves mirror tactics that online car retailers have used for years.
Carvana Co. has offered high-definition, 360-degree photography since its 2013 launch, said Ryan Keeton, chief brand officer and co-founder. It has implemented social-distancing measures at its Car Vending Machines, where customers who have bought a car online can collect it from a tower with a novelty coin. The vending machines were always designed to work in conjunction with a remote retail experience.
Customers are drawn to Carvana’s showroom-free model because of its efficiency and price, Mr. Keeton said. “We have lower overheads—we don’t have to recoup all those expenses like the salaries of salespeople,” he said.
Traditional dealers see digitization as a way to improve profit margins and meet customers’ demand for a more efficient retail experience, said Randall J. Miller, global advanced manufacturing and mobility leader at EY.
That doesn’t mean the showroom will die out altogether. Mercedes-Benz AG in Germany found 80% of customers still want to receive personal advice and take test drives, a company spokeswoman said. The in-person element of Automobili Lamborghini SpA’s retail experience—including test drives, key handovers and after-sales—won’t materially change after lockdown, according to a company spokeswoman.
But the showroom likely will evolve, said Mr. Castagnera of Imagination Group. He predicts a rise in city- or mall-based car-free showrooms and direct-to-home services. Both would reduce the footprint of the store itself, he said, pointing to Tesla’s petite gallery stores, which are designed for marketing rather than sales.
Mercedes-Benz USA is already questioning how its dealerships will look postpandemic, said Robert Moran, the company’s director of communications.
“For example, do they need big retail spaces?” he said. “Do vehicle showrooms and service facilities have to be shared in the same location? We are looking at many areas which invite the natural questions of what to keep, what to cut and what to amplify.”
Write to Katie Deighton at katie.deighton@wsj.com
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