The new retail of automobile is a new starting point in the cold wave of automobile market, but what is the correct way to open it?

There is no doubt that China's automobile market has entered a period of adjustment, and it is time for everyone involved, whether car companies, dealers or consumers, to readjust and understand. Especially after the epidemic test at the beginning of this year, how potential consumers buy their favorite models and how car companies deliver their products to the audience need to be carefully considered.

Based on the current market environment, the concept of new automobile retail has once again become a hot spot sought after by everyone. It is not difficult to see that more and more powerful car companies and e-commerce platforms have joined the army of new car retailing, and the types are becoming more and more complicated.

From the perspective of car companies, new car retailing is a brand-new business model in parallel with traditional 4S stores. Through the integration of online and offline, it can not only reduce the burden on dealers, but also expand the sales coverage. From the consumer's point of view, the new retail model using the Internet can also bring a more convenient and transparent consumer experience.

Therefore, no matter from that point of view, the value of new automobile retail is worthy of recognition. However, the rise of any new things will be controversial, and the new retail of automobiles has also encountered many criticisms in the actual operation process. For example, the recent "refusal" incident between Tesla and Pinduoduo is a typical example.

Car companies and platforms still need a running-in period.

Presumably, everyone knows the cause of this incident, and even entered the Baidu Encyclopedia entry, which also reflects that everyone's attention to the new retail of automobiles is still quite high. So far, Tesla and Pinduoduo are still in a state of "hard resistance". The two sides hold their own words and do not give in to each other. They all express their support for consumers to protect their rights according to law.

In fact, no matter who is right or wrong, the continuous fermentation of this incident has undoubtedly caused the new retail of automobiles to fall into a crisis of trust. Behind the controversy, it also reveals that there are still many unresolved problems in the new retail of automobiles.

The first is information asymmetry, which is usually divided into two aspects. On the one hand, the model information released by the platform is inconsistent with the actual vehicles, which induces consumers to fall into the consumption trap, which is more common in some used car platforms and car rental platforms. The other is like Tesla and Pinduoduo. Tesla said that it never authorized Pinduoduo to sell, but Pinduoduo didn't make a clear statement on this before, which led consumers to mistakenly think that it was a cooperative marketing with Tesla, which eventually led to disputes.

Secondly, it can be seen from this incident that there is still a running-in process between car companies and platforms, and the deeper level is the channel dispute. In fact, it is not the first time that Pinduoduo has launched the vehicle sales business. Group buying activities such as Wuling and Cadillac have not been authorized by the original manufacturers, mainly because there are dealers between traditional car companies and platforms.

For car companies, the original terminal discount for dealers will also be subsidized to a certain extent, while Pinduoduo is willing to subsidize consumers out of his own pocket, which can also play the role of brand promotion and online customer collection. Why not?

However, Tesla adopts direct selling mode, and there is no traditional 4S shop. In Tesla's view, Pinduoduo's group buying has hurt its own interests, destroyed the brand image of transparent and unified price, and is unfair to the owners who bought Tesla.

Obviously, for new automobile retailing, besides perfecting more rules and regulations as soon as possible to protect consumers' rights and interests, how to balance the interests with the traditional sales channels of automobile enterprises is also a difficult problem.

The new retail strategy of automobile should be steady and steady.

In fact, from another perspective, Tesla's approach is more about protecting its own sales channels, which is also worth learning and learning from other car companies. The purpose of promoting new automobile retail is not only to buy a car, but to further empower the brand value through this innovative model.

Especially for traditional car companies, how to maintain their original advantages in after-sales service and user experience when transplanting Internet thinking to the traditional sales model?

Of course, there are also many practices and layouts of automobile brands on the market at present, which provide us with some reference. Taking Link Auto as an example, based on the traditional dealer model, Link created a collaborative sales model of offline Link Center, Link Space, online Link Mall and Link APP.

Like Link Center, it not only has all the functions of display, sales and after-sales service of traditional car shops, but also provides consumers with convenient online sales service and unique in-store experience service. In addition to allowing users to communicate and interact with each other, Linked APP can also give timely feedback to manufacturers and distributors on relevant improvement opinions on products and services.

It is this online+offline integrated business model that truly connects people, cars, shops and factories, forming an "ecological closed loop" that can accumulate and expand itself.

From this point of view, the new automobile retail is indeed a powerful "grasping hand" in the cold wave of the automobile market, but it is not "simple and rude" as we imagined, nor is it an urgent matter. At least in the short term, it cannot replace the traditional 4S shop sales model.

Perhaps with the gradual solution of the problem, it will bring different surprise experiences to consumers in the future, but at this stage, new retail and traditional channels are the most suitable car sales models and the best consumption and service experience that consumers can get.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.