{"id":384612,"date":"2020-10-19T13:17:20","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T10:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/signature-it.co.il\/%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%99%d7%a9%d7%aa-%d7%a8%d7%9b%d7%91-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%99%d7%9f\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T12:15:13","slug":"online-car-purchase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/signature-it.co.il\/en\/online-car-purchase\/","title":{"rendered":"Online car purchase"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shopping online has become the norm in almost every area of life and across all types of consumer goods \u2013 books, tourism, food, clothing and footwear, electronics, and more. However, until recently, the vehicle sales sector had not really joined the trend of online shopping. In most cases, anyone who wanted to buy a car had to physically visit a dealership, talk to a sales representative, and “close” the deal. Consumers may have used the internet to learn about and research their next vehicle, but they still went to the dealership to make the purchase.<\/p>\n

Until the pandemic broke out, even the options for buying cars online were limited, with some exceptions like the vehicles of Tesla<\/span>, which currently leads the online car sales market in Europe and North America. Customers who want to purchase electric cars from Tesla<\/span> can order a personalized vehicle online, receive financing, and pay for the cars online. The cars are shipped directly to the customers’ homes. Other companies that offered online car purchases without the option for personalized orders experienced relatively low sales rates.<\/p>\n

The Product Reaches the Customer<\/strong><\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a new reality in which car dealerships were forced to close their doors, and buyers \u2013 secluded in their homes. With the onset of the pandemic, online orders became nearly the only way to purchase any product, and even more than before, customers became accustomed to the idea that products are delivered to their homes, rather than them going to the products. Car manufacturers discovered that cars can and should be sold online, and moreover \u2013 that many consumers expect it.<\/p>\n

Online Car Sales Are Gaining Momentum<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to data<\/a><\/span> recently published by research firm Frost & Sullivan<\/span>, in 2019, around 825,000 vehicles were sold online worldwide. In about 66% of these sales, the full payment for the car was made online, and in 34% of the sales, an order fee was also paid. They estimate that by 2025, around 6 million vehicles will be sold online worldwide.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the United States, according to data from General Motors<\/span>, since the pandemic began, 750 of its dealerships joined the company’s e-commerce<\/span> system, called Shop Click Drive<\/a><\/span>, and today, over 85% of the company’s dealerships are already using the system. The American network Auto Nation<\/a><\/span>, which consists of about 325 car dealerships, also reported a surge in online sales in March and April 2020.<\/p>\n

At the Paragon<\/span> dealership in New York City, which sells Honda vehicles, they reported that until March 2020, only about 70 out of 1,300 cars sold per month were sold online. However, with the outbreak of the pandemic and the lockdown guidelines, the dealership transitioned many of its sales staff to online sales, and by April, nearly 400 cars were sold online, with the upward trend continuing. The advantage of this dealership was that it already had a system in place where customers could schedule repairs, pick up cars, and pay for services, as well as a fleet of experienced drivers who took and returned the cars to the customers.<\/p>\n

The Shift to Online Car Sales \u2013 The Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

The transition from sales primarily based on physical dealerships to online car sales systems that generate significant sales is not simple. Several challenges lie in the path to this transition:<\/p>\n