Shifting Gears: 70% of Auto Sales Will Be Digitally Driven By 2020 [Infographic]

Is your automotive marketing strategy optimized for how consumers research and purchase cars today?

New research has made it clear that social media and search engines are expected to influence the majority of auto sales in India over the next few years. However, even if you're an OEM in anywhere across the world, you'd be wise to see these trends aren't just exclusive to India—in fact, they're reflective of a global state.

In this report, Facebook and Bain & Company revealed OEMs in India are spending 10-11% of their marketing budget on digital promotions, despite the fact that more than 50% of current auto sales are being influenced by digital. By 2020, that number is expected to increase to 70%, or about $40B USD.

Other key implications of the data:

• Change your investment mix meet the consumer on their preferred channel: 80% of pre-purchase phase time is spent on mobile.
• Explore new retail formats to differentiate offline & online brand experience: 72% consumers decide brand, 49% decide model before visiting a dealership.
• Make your product offerings digital to enable deeper ongoing customer relationships: In two short years, about 40% of consumers will use digital channels for vehicle service booking.
• Evolve business models tap into shifting profit: More than 40% of leads use app-based taxi services at least 4 times a week.

"By providing a single view of the customer’s online persona, digital can accurately help target micro-segments and segments of one with tailored marketing content, therefore predicting purchase patterns based on their persona," writes Indian business paper Livemint.

Take a look at other ways digital can unlock opportunities for your marketing team in the infographic below.