FCA hurries its shift to digital retailing

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles planned to roll out a digital retailing platform that allows the buying process to take place online late this summer.

But the coronavirus outbreak forced the automaker to hurriedly pull up the release date to the spring as millions of consumers suddenly became confined to their homes. A tool that was envisioned as a convenient perk before the pandemic suddenly became a necessity for shoppers who still need to buy vehicles during a disruptive crisis.

Even though FCA started running commercials on April 1 promoting "the ability to shop and buy from the safety of your home," only some of its dealers were ready for such a monumental shift.

Jeff Kommor, FCA's head of U.S. sales, told Automotive News on Tuesday, April 14, that almost 20 percent of dealers were on the platform and that he expects more than 30 percent to be by the end of the month.

Kommor, in an email, said FCA began a pilot of the online buying system during the fourth quarter of 2019 through Alfa Romeo brand and dealer websites "to collect information and make changes to improve consumer engagement and understand what was needed to improve the lead-to-sales close rates."

FCA's Online Retail Experience enables shoppers to handle vehicle trade-ins, apply for credit, receive price and payment estimates, and review service protection plan options before having a vehicle delivered to them. It was created by Carzato, a California-based software company.

"We believe a large segment of all shoppers will do at least one component of the car buying process online," Kommor said. "And it will continue to grow as consumers become more comfortable, the online process continues to evolve and dealers adapt their sales processes to these next-generation shoppers. We also believe that dealers are a key component of the sales process and that the sale of the vehicle and continued service will remain with their dealership."

With the earlier-than-anticipated rollout, dealership employees are having to familiarize themselves with the new technology in the midst of adapting to a retail market that has been hamstrung by the pandemic. That might sound like a difficult proposition, but the dropoff in showroom traffic also frees up staffers to get comfortable with the platform.

"Our staff will have more uninterrupted time to learn about it and, with lower activity levels, will be able to spend more time with each transaction as we work through the idiosyncrasies," Brian Heney, COO of Kelly Automotive Group, said in an email.

The Danvers, Mass., group has some digital retailing experience at its other stores but doesn't have the FCA system up and running yet. When the system goes live, Heney said, it will "fulfill a good portion of the deal and supporting efforts online, [but] our state is different as we do need a real signature and do not offer temporary plates, so we cannot do a deal 100 [percent] online as of yet."

Heney said the virus has changed the way consumers buy items and interact with others. He said digital retailing will be expected "by our customers, and very few dealers will resist." Making deliveries when things get busy could present a challenge down the road.

"That is a sticky point as the radius in comparison to the dealership needs to be established and proper protocol in place for dealing with areas such as trade-ins and plates," Heney said. "As far as staffing levels go, we are nimble and can adjust quickly to the need."

Garrett Guest, vice president of South Oak Jeep-Dodge-Chrysler-Ram in suburban Chicago, said his store has been selling one or two vehicles a day through the Online Retail Experience since making it available a few weeks ago.

Due to state restrictions, Guest said, his showroom is closed to walk-in traffic. Consumers who want to buy vehicles the old-fashioned way have to make appointments.

The types of vehicles people are buying online from the store span the lineup, Guest said, including several Pacificas, a Ram pickup, a ProMaster van and a Jeep Cherokee. The store had been making occasional deliveries since last year, so that part of the process wasn't entirely new.

Launching the online portal during the coronavirus crisis has made the debut easier because, with few alternatives to complete a deal, "you have to learn how to operate a process like this when you don't have a natural flow of traffic walking into your store," Guest said. "I would say the rollout of this probably would have been harder if there were other ways around using something like this."

Getting staff to learn the system isn't difficult, Guest said. It's "just a matter of letting go of habits and preconceived notions of the way deals should be worked."