What Does Apple Do?
There is much speculation about Apple getting into the vehicle industry. Will they only make an iOS for cars that others can integrate? Will they produce an electric passenger car for the public? Will they instead turn to autonomous vehicles right away? According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s next breakthrough product will be an automobile, and it won’t be available until at least 2025. According to Reuters, Apple might start making products in 2024.
For the time being, put the car aside and consider the kind of store Apple might design. A hypothetical thought experiment that forecasts how Apple will sell autos may be advantageous to franchise auto dealers. What can we infer from this hypothetical situation? What can we start doing right away?
It begins online.
It is simple to envision an Apple Car website. It would be lively, sleek, and product-focused. Pop-ups? Obviously not. Do all pages have lead forms? Highly unlikely. Pricing that is clear? Without conditional rebates and complicated “math boxes,” pricing would undoubtedly be clear and straightforward. My prediction is that Apple will place more of an emphasis on encouraging customers to place pre-orders (yeah, it is good to be Apple) and then visit a physical showroom than on digital retail. The device will be the focus of an Apple automobile website, which offers customers two straightforward options: learn more or buy. A website for Apple’s automobiles will be visually appealing to pique our interest and have straightforward language about innovation to pique the interest of potential customers.
How can dealers help?
Clean up your website, then clean it up some more. To find out where customers are spending their time, use Google Analytics. Remove your site material if consumers don’t appreciate it. Be brutal. The majority of dealer websites have grown in size. Customers ask, “Do you have it?” The amount? Where is your dealership located? If you look at your Google Analytics page views data, you’ll likely be surprised by how few pages really receive any traffic at all.
Observe the pictures. Take lovely shots of your cars. If you can, install a studio. Hire a specialist to snap photos of your workplace and employees.
Be mindful of graphic design. Hire a freelancer to create each page so that it is attractive, professional, and consistent with your dealership and OEM brand if you don’t have the capacity in-house. Do not forget that you purchased a website based on a template. To set your dealership apart from the competition, you must merchandise that template. Project-based design services are offered at extremely affordable prices on websites like Fiverr and 99 Designs.
Customers’ perceptions of your dealership will be shaped by the visual appeal of your website and how simple it is to do a car search. The recipe is simple and beautiful.
Finally, discuss prices and payments as the obvious next step in the process rather than just as a way to generate leads or as a way to exchange payment information for customer personal information. Customers want to receive enough information to make an informed decision about their purchases, not feel compelled to trade their personal data for the next bit of transaction price. This is challenging because to manufacturer MAAP pricing, but we can improve and stop putting a “digital bear trap” in front of every single essential piece of information.
in-store encounter
Consider the possibility that an iPhone is the easiest thing to sell online. Apple has nevertheless constructed 510 retail locations because they realize this is where the most potent brand experiences are produced. The combination of a lovely setting, amiable product specialists, and the opportunity to learn about the items firsthand has sped up sales and increased customer loyalty.
We can picture a car becoming the center of attention at an Apple auto showroom. The vehicle will have lots of space for pedestrian movement, and dramatic lighting will be used. On iPads carried by geniuses or at kiosks, technology will be displayed.
The salespeople for Apple products will be kind and sympathetic. They will have a tidy appearance and wear a laid-back uniform. There won’t be any evident hierarchy or managers wearing suits. Everyone is there to assist a client. Apple staff members don’t appear like they work at a bank; instead, they advertise an exciting lifestyle product.
The cleanliness is one of the first things you notice when you enter an Apple shop. These shops are well-organized and immaculate. Everything has a place, and everything is in its place. In other words, Apple has a marketing strategy. In an Apple store, the showroom doubles as a theater where a daily engaging show showcasing the Apple brand is presented. The performers are clothed, the stage is arranged, the props are in place, and they are familiar with their lines. In an Apple Car shop, there are very few accidents since retail is so meticulous.
The backroom is where backroom operations and the clutter associated with running a retail shop are maintained. Apple experts don’t set up personal workstations on the showfloor (theatre) sitting sections with post-it notes, cat images, yellow pads, and water bottles. Keep in mind that we are performing for everyone who attends since this is a theater.
Using an iPad or a MacBook, Apple specialists will be able to conduct a vehicle transaction. If the financing is complicated, they could occasionally require help from an Apple Ownership Genius. Experts will advise purchasing AppleCare. Their options will be straightforward: an AppleCare VSC, an AppleCare + VSC plus paint and fabric bundle, and an Apple ProService maintenance plan that includes free telematic updates and physical examinations of the tires, suspension, and other components. An exterior and interior detail will be provided by ProService. They won’t offer to engrave the VIN number on your car’s windshield or charge $395 to nitrate your tires.
What else are dealers capable of?
Continue to purge the floor of clutter. The largest change is in the workspaces for salespeople. Remove everything off the work table except for what is required to execute the transaction, which is often simply an electronic device, whether you have designated workstations or open seating areas. Keep in mind that this is a theater, not a boiler room for back-room sales. The automobile is the center of attention, and any messaging should represent the OEM and dealer brands rather than the salesperson’s private life.
Be mindful of the lights. Look at the illumination in a high-end jewelry or clothes store. The atmosphere that is produced makes the space more welcoming and the item more appealing. There may not be a greater method to boost the atmosphere in your showroom than lighting. Lighting builds suspense and sharpens the eye in this type of car theater.
Give salespeople (specialists) training in empathy and product expertise. Customers want to speak with product experts who genuinely care. Yes, we will urge them to make a commitment to buying and taking it home today, but only after we have fully grasped their situation and given them professional guidance. Although an ancient hypothesis, it is still valid. Instead of recruiting salespeople and training them to be polite, hire lovely people and educate them on how to sell vehicles.
The most common issue nowadays among automobile buyers is “Why does it take me so long to give you my money after I have said yes?” Give the expert control of the cash register. We’ve all seen firsthand how quickly an Apple Specialist can close a deal while carrying the gadget around. This is what SimpSocial Autotech has produced. A Surface Pro, iPad, or laptop running SimpSocial, a financial management system (FMS), allows one person to handle an entire transaction from beginning to end. It is adaptable. Your consumer benefits from keeping on one screen from online or in-store engagement through e-signing paperwork if you choose a conventional sales approach with finance managers. When the numbers are consistent and shown on the same app from start to finish, trust is increased. Our goal is to provide every salesperson with a mobile point-of-sale device so they can conduct transactions and offer information quickly, correctly, and effectively.
Resources for Future Retail Thought
Doug Stephens: Doug Stephens will make you reevaluate how you now think about retail. Buy his books and read his blog. Doug is more forward-thinking than the majority of us.
Larry Light is a LinkedIn follower. Check him out in Forbes. Read his books on brand rejuvenation and branding. Building powerful brands is Larry’s single-minded goal in order to generate long-term, profitable growth. All marketers should study his work on developing meaningful brand promises.
Mr. Scott Monty Scott is a powerful advocate for empathy, humanism, and integrity that ought to guide business decisions both now and in the future. To keep on the correct track, read his blog, Timeless and Timely.
Since the release of his debut book, In Search of Greatness, Tom Peters has dedicated 43 years to the pursuit of greatness. Read Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism, his latest book on leadership, and download his decks and talks.
The only retail environment I’ve seen that could be a sign of what Apple will produce in the future is at Echo Park. They serve as an example.
Training for Apple store employees – Take a look at the attention to detail and concentration that Apple put into staff development when their stores first opened in 2012. They have the greatest sales per square foot of any shop in the world because to this.
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