Samsung to Outline the Omnichannel Car Shopping Experience of the Future

Customers have a wide variety of ways to interact with companies today. They can call (from a land line, a mobile phone or a softphone on a computer), they can text, they can Web chat, they can use the mobile app, they can surf the Web site or they can walk into a dealer’s showroom. What’s important to understand is that these support channels don’t exist in isolation. Customers are using a variety of these channels for the same car shopping transaction, and they’re expecting the same unified customer support experience regardless of which channel they choose.

For car dealerships, the in-store visit remains one of the most important selling scenarios, so dealerships need to improve their in-store experiences. In some cases, this means using blended digital channels right on the showroom floor: a customer might scan a barcode with their phone, for example, to get more information and summon a salesperson. The process isn’t going to be easy, as it will require a mix of hardware and software, IT know-how, sales experience and even customer feedback to get it all right.

On April 26, 2018, Samsung will air a Webinar entitled, “Optimize the In-dealership Experience to Drive Sales.” The goal of the event, which will happen at 2:00 pm ET, is to demonstrate to dealers how to build an immersive customer experience at their dealership. In a YouTube video, Samsung provides examples of its vision for how car buying will work in the future.

“With Samsung’s retail solution Nexshop, you can provide a differentiated shopping experience to your customers, as well as operate your showroom more effectively using data analytics,” according to the video. “Customers can register their information on customer identifiers for a seamless in-store experience.”

The system can connect to customers’ phones via Bluetooth and even scan and register when a shopper enters the showroom floor. Depending on the customers’ demographics, ads on the showroom floor can be targeted for maximum appeal to that customer (facial scanning at the large format displays determines the shopper’s age and sex). Customers can connect their phones to cars on the display they like, and the system can generate personalized recommendations. When the shopper does connect with a sales rep, that rep has access to all information the buyer has provided to raise the likelihood of closing a sale.

Car buyers have evolved in recent years, and they know more than ever by the time they step into a dealerships. Logic dictates that car selling must change with these new trends. It helps to start learning what it is car buyers really want from a dealership in 2018. Do you know?