2011 automotive shopping behavior study

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2011 automotive shopping behavior study

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agenda

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1

2

3

key findings

shopping overview

digital use

search, mobile, video impact

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key findings

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1 research and decide faster

2 use an increasingly diverse set of online tools

3 search to navigate and compare

4 expect dealer sites to be as helpful as OEM sites

5 watch videos to discover and compare brands

6 rely on their mobile devices to research on the go

today’s vehicle shoppers:

key findings

5 5

study methodology

6 6

methodology- compete/ polk Phase 1

–  Survey automotive consumers who purchased a vehicle in the last 12 months and identify attitudes with respect to:

•  The influence of automotive online video, mobile devices/tablets, social networking, etc. with respect to automotive research, shopping and purchase decisions

•  The importance of in-vehicle technology •  How different automotive consumer segment (vehicle, price, etc) conducted

their research and shopping process prior to purchase

Phase 2 –  Compete matched clickstream behavior from its panel of 2 million online

consumers to Polk vehicle registration data from January 2007 through December 2010.

–  Compete used this matched data set to evaluate the impact of online automotive research on consideration and purchasing decisions.

7 7

methodology- compete/ polk phase 1 •  Significance Testing

–  For 2-variable significance testing, two asterisks (**) indicates significance at the 95% level and one asterisk (*) indicates significance at the 90% level

–  For multiple variable significance testing, uppercase letters indicate significance at the 95% level and lowercase letters indicate significance at the 90% level

–  Base sizes under 30 were removed from the study and any base sizes between 30-50 marked as low sample

8 8

methodology- compete/ polk phase 2

Source: R.L. Polk & Co., Compete Inc.

Google, R.L. Polk and Compete created a new dataset to study new vehicle retail registrations

86,241 new vehicle retail car registrations with 6 consecutive months of clickstream

data from January 2007 – December 2010

Internet Browsers New Vehicle Retail Car Registrations

9 9

shopping overview compete/ polk study

10 10

The shopping window has compressed 81% of shoppers decide within 3 months

A new trend of spontaneous shopping is also emerging •  17% of shoppers took less than a week up to decide versus 10% of 2009

purchasers

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. O8 - How much time passed from when you first started researching or shopping online to when you actually made a purchase? Please select one answer only. Base: New purchasers (n=942) versus used purchasers (n=644)

2009 2010

2009 2010

LESS THAN A WEEK

1 WEEK TO <2 WEEKS

2 WEEKS TO <1 MONTH

1 TO <3 MONTHS

3 TO < 6 MONTHS

6 MONTHS OR MORE

11 11

LESS THAN A MONTH 1 TO 3 MONTHS 3 MONTHS OR MORE

The shopping window has compressed 81% of shoppers decide within 3 months

A new trend of spontaneous shopping is also emerging •  17% of shoppers took less than a week up to decide versus 10% of 2009

purchasers

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. O8 - How much time passed from when you first started researching or shopping online to when you actually made a purchase? Please select one answer only. Base: New purchasers (n=942) versus used purchasers (n=644)

2009 2010

2009 2010

12 12

17%24%

6% 7%

13%

16%

12%3%

26%

25%

33%

9%

23%

23%

24%

24%

20%13%

25%

56%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

New Purchasers (n=942) Low-price (n = 559) (A) Mid-luxury (n = 306) (B) High-luxury (n = 77) (C)

Extremely important

Very important

Somewhat important

Not very important

Not at all important

AB

A

C

aC

aC

A

aBC

technology is important to luxury purchasers

Importance of In-Vehicle Technology

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. T1 - In general, how important were in-vehicle technologies (e.g., built in GPS, Bluetooth, parking assist, etc.) to you when researching or shopping for cars/trucks? Base: New purchasers by vehicle purchase price; high-luxury, $50k+ (n=77), mid-luxury, $30-50k (n=306), low-price, <$30k (n=559)

over half of high-luxury purchasers found in-vehicle technology extremely important

13 13

safety, utility, fuel efficiency gain interest

Importance of Specific In-Vehicle Technology Features

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. T3 - How important were each of the following in-vehicle technologies to you while you researched or shopped for cars/trucks? Please select the one response that best applies to each row. Base: New purchasers (n=942)

40%

40%

35%

34%

34%

32%

27%

26%

25%

21%

16%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Automatic service reminders

Voice-activated controls

Hybrid/alternative fuel source technology

Heads-up windshield display

Automatic parking assist/parking alert systems

On-board multi-information display system

Bluetooth capabilities/mp3 device integration

Accident avoidance systems

Live Internet access

GPS/navigation systems

Satellite/HD Radio

14 14

shoppers discover in-vehicle technology on OEM sites

Online Sources Used to Research Technology

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. T5 - Which of the following online sources, if any, did you use to look for information on in-vehicle technologies in the past 12 months? Please select all that apply. Base: New purchasers (n=942)

37%

30%

26%

20%

18%

12%

9%

7%

7%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Car/truck manufacturer websites

Dealership websites

Professional automotive review websites

Search engines

Third-party automotive websites

Consumer generated online reviews

Video sharing websites

Social networking websites

Newspaper/Magazine websites

15 15

role of online research

16 16

digital research behavior has diversified consumers are moving beyond traditional sites

OEM and 3rd Party Site Purchaser Visitation (Clickstream Data; Share of Purchasers 6-Months Prior to Purchase)

84% 84% 76% 71%

16% 16% 24% 29%

2007 2008 2009 2010

other sites

oem and/or 3rd party sites

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. Clickstream data, January 2007-December 2010

17 17


59% 59% 59% 61% 61% 61%

48% 48% 48%42% 42% 42%

12% 12% 7% 7%

9% 9% 14% 14%

13%

13%16%

16%

19%19%

15%

15%

71% 72%

84%

68%77%

84%

57%67%

76%

56% 57%

71%

OEM Sites 3rd Party Automotive

Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites

2007 Purchasers 2008 Purchasers 2009 Purchasers 2010 Purchasers

Shared OEM Sites Only 3rd Party Sites Only

59% 59% 59% 61% 61% 61%

48% 48% 48%42% 42% 42%

12% 12% 7% 7%

9% 9% 14% 14%

13%

13%16%

16%

19%19%

15%

15%

71% 72%

84%

68%77%

84%

57%67%

76%

56% 57%

71%


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites



59% 59% 59% 61% 61% 61%

48% 48% 48%42% 42% 42%

12% 12% 7% 7%

9% 9% 14% 14%

13%

13%16%

16%

19%19%

15%

15%

71% 72%

84%

68%77%

84%

57%67%

76%

56% 57%

71%


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites



59% 59% 59% 61% 61% 61%

48% 48% 48%42% 42% 42%

12% 12% 7% 7%

9% 9% 14% 14%

13%

13%16%

16%

19%19%

15%

15%

71% 72%

84%

68%77%

84%

57%67%

76%

56% 57%

71%


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites



59% 59% 59% 61% 61% 61%

48% 48% 48%42% 42% 42%

12% 12% 7% 7%

9% 9% 14% 14%

13%

13%16%

16%

19%19%

15%

15%

71% 72%

84%

68%77%

84%

57%67%

76%

56% 57%

71%


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites


Sites

3rd Party and/or

OEM Sites



2007 2008 2009 2010

digital research behavior has diversified consumers are moving beyond traditional sites

OEM and 3rd Party Site Purchaser Visitation (Clickstream Data; Share of Purchasers 6-Months Prior to Purchase)

18 18

oem/ 3rd party visitation peaked during purchase month

OEM and 3rd Party Site Visitation by Purchase Month (Clickstream Data; Share of Purchasers 6-Months Prior to Purchase)

13%11%

17% 18%20%

34%

13%

17%

25%

21%22%

39%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

6 months prior 5 months prior 4 months prior 3 months prior 2 months prior Within the month of purchase

OEM Sites 3rd Party Sites


19 19

purchasers looked for offers on OEM sites

OEM KPI Usage (Clickstream Data; Share of Purchasers Anytime During the 6-Months Prior to Purchase)


35% 35%

28%

18%17%

14%13%

6% 6%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Offers BYO Locate a dealer Search inventory

Compare Payment estimator

RAQ Brochure Trade-in

offers, BYO and locate a dealer are used by about a third of purchasers

20 20

YOY Comparison- OEM Site Behavior

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Build Your Own Offers Locate a Dealer Request a Quote Search Inventory Payment Estimator

2009

2010


21 21

search inventory most-used 3rd party tool

3rd Party KPI Usage (Clickstream Data; Share of Purchasers Anytime During the 6-Months Prior to Purchase)


42%

32%

29%

22% 22%

18%15%

13%11%

10%8%

5% 5%4%

2%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Inventory Model information

Trade-in RAQ Reviews BYO Photo gallery

Locate a dealer

Offers Financial Compare Calculator Car finder

Sell your car Blog

a greater portion of shoppers searched inventory on 3rd party sites than OEM sites

22 22

YOY Comparison- 3rd Party Site Behavior

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Inventory Model Info Trade In Request a Quote Reviews

2009

2010


23 23

179

466

17

210

494

25

197

482

34

196

472

35

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

OEM 3rd Party Dealerships

2007 2008 2009 2010

usage has doubled to 35m since 2007 dealer site visitation continues to climb

OEM and 3rd Party Site Overall Visitation (Clickstream Data, Millions of Visitors; January 2007-December 2010)

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. Clickstream data, January 2007-December 2010, Millions of Visitors

24 24

22% 23% 23%

31%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%


nearly 1 in 3 purchasers visited dealership sites

Dealership Site Visitation by Purchase Year (Clickstream Data; Share of Purchasers Anytime During the 6-Months Prior to Purchase)


25 25

5% 5%6% 7%

8%

14%

4% 4%

6% 7%8%

23%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

6 months prior 5 months prior 4 months prior 3 months prior 2 months prior Within the month of purchase

2009 Purchasers 2010 Purchasers

dealership visitation peaked in purchase month

Dealership Site Visitation by Purchase Month (Clickstream Data; Share of Purchasers 6-Months Prior to Purchase)


+64%

26 26

search impact

27 27

purchasers search to navigate to online sources

2009 2010

awareness

interest

consideration

test-drive

purchase

6 Months

share of new buyers referred to OEM sites by search

3 Months

2 Months

1 Month

1 Week

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. Clickstream data, by time periods, discrete months, January 2010-December 2010.

30%

37%

42%

48%

38%

25%

37%

36%

40%

34%

search directs at least a third of traffic within 3 months of purchase

28 28

51%

42%

35%

19%

Helped me obtain general information

Helped me compare features across companies

Helped me understand specif ic features

Helped me decide which company to purchase f rom

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

search helps shoppers discover and compare

How Search Engines Were Helpful

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. RT5 - How did each of the following source(s) help you while you researched or shopped for cars/ trucks? Please select all of the responses that apply for each source. Base: New purchasers that selected search engines in RT1/RT2 that received a rating of 2-5 in RT3 (n=364)

search engines were helpful for upper funnel activities

29 29

16%

11%

14%

19%

40%

Search Converters

1 2 3-4 5-9 10+

purchasers search repeatedly

Number of Automotive Search Queries (Purchasers; Jan-Dec 2010)

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. Converters Total Query Volume: 19.3M; Clickstream data

84% searched more than once

30 30

45%

10%

45%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Branded Non-Branded Both

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. Clickstream data

shoppers use both branded and non-branded terms

Share of Converters by Query Term Type Used (Purchasers; Jan-Dec 2010)

31 31

83%

75%

57%

48%

16%

17%

9%

5%

4%

13%

16%

38%

48%

71%

1

2

3-4

5-9

10+

Branded Only Non-Branded Only Both

as search usage increases, keyword type varies

Branded Versus Non-Branded Search, by Number of Queries (Purchasers; Jan-Dec 2010)

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. Base: Converters from Jan-Dec 2010; total query volume among converters: 19.3M; Clickstream data

17,100

1,340

487

220

156

Query Volum

e (’ 000s)

32 32

mobile impact

33 33

91%76%

76%75%

70%67%67%

52%48%

88%83%

81%77%

75%74%

65%94%

75%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Test drive at a dealershipFamily, friends, and/or colleagues

Salesperson at a dealershipFlyers or brochures received in the mail

MagazinesNewspaper/Magazine websites

RadioNewspapers

TVProfessional automotive review websites

Third- party automotive websitesCar/ truck manufacturer websites

Consumer generated online reviewsSocial networking websites

Search enginesDealership websites

TabletMobile phone

Offl

ine

Onl

ine

Mob

ile

tablets ranked highest in usefulness

Usefulness of Research Tools Used

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. RT3 - Please indicate how useful each of the following sources were while you researched or shopped for cars/trucks? Please select the one response that best applies to each type of source. Base: New purchasers that selected source used in RT1/RT2 (n=942)

34 34

22% 20%

19%34%

27%8%

30% 34%

8% 9%

Mobile phone Tablet

Dont know/Cant recall

Use this source throughout my research

Used this source at the very end of my research

Used this source in the middle of my research

Used this source at the very beginning of my research

mobile and tablet used throughought research

When During the Shopping Process Did You Use Research Tools

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. RT4 - For which parts of your research process did you use each of these in researching or shopping for cars/trucks? Please select all responses that apply for each source. If you used a source throughout your research, please only select that option. Base: New purchasers that selected source used in RT1/RT2 (n=942)

mobile shoppers are more likely to use mobile throughout or in the beginning, than at the end

35 35

mobile phones used to compare models

Types of Research Conducted on Mobile Phone (New Purchasers That Selected Mobile or Tablet in RT1, n=98)

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. M2 - Which of the following did you do on your mobile device while researching or shopping for cars/ trucks? Please select all that apply. Base: Selected mobile phone or tablet (e.g., iPad) in RT1, new purchasers only (n=98)

55%

47%

44%

34%

31%

29%

28%

24%

23%

19%

17%

13%

9%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Compare features

Compare prices

Read general car/truck information

Navigate to a dealership

Call a dealership

Read reviews

Watch an online video

Locate a dealership

Search a dealerships inventory

Build/Conf igure a new car/truck

Make an appointment for a test drive

Look for promotions or coupons

Contact a dealership other than by calling

36 36

video impact

37 37

52%

49%

45%

41%

40%

40%

37%

36%

28%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Online video ad

Sponsored/paid search engine listing

Newspaper ad

Email ad

Radio ad

TV ad

Online website ad

Magazine ad

Billboard or outdoor ad

online video ranked most useful ad format

Usefulness of Advertisements Seen or Heard (New Purchasers That Selected Ads in MI1, Top 2 Box, n=942)

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. MI2 - How useful were each of the following types of advertisements in helping you decide whether to purchase a car/truck? Please select the one response that best applies to each type of advertisement. Base: New purchasers that selected ads in MI1 (n=942)

38 38

video ads drove initial interest

Result of Seeing Online Video Advertisements

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. MI3 - What role did each of the following play while you were researching or shopping for a car/ truck? Please select all of the responses that apply for each type of advertisement. Base: New purchasers that selected Video Ads in MI1, (n=163)

30%

23%

17%

12% 11%9%

Prompted me to start researching

Encouraged me to consider the brand that was advertised

Prompted me to visit the advertisers store

Enticed me to purchase an

automotive part

Prompted me to visit the website of the

advertiser

Prompted me to call the advertiser

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

30% were encouraged to start researching after viewing online video ads

39 39

video influences brand choice

How Automotive Videos Were Helpful

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. RT5 - How did each of the following source(s) help you while you researched or shopped for cars/ trucks? Please select all of the responses that apply for each source. Base: New purchasers that selected video sharing used in RT1/RT2 that received a rating of 2-5 in RT3 (n=90)

40%

30%

24%21%

Helped me decide which company to purchase f rom

Helped me obtain general information

Helped me understand specif ic features

Helped me compare features across companies

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

40% of video viewers indicated that online videos were helpful in deciding which brand to purchase

40 40

youtube leads all auto video research sites

Websites Visited to Watch Online Automotive Videos

Auto Shopper Behavior Study, Google/Compete, 2011. VI1 - Which of the following websites did you use to watch videos while researching or shopping for cars/trucks? Please select all that apply. Base: Selected video sharing websites in RT2, new purchasers only (n=95)

65%

40%

40%

32%

27%

25%

22%

19%

16%

16%

13%

12%

12%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

YouTube

Car/truck manufacturer websites

Professional automotive review websites

Third-party automotive websites

Facebook

Bing Video

Consumer generated online reviews

Newspaper/Magazine websites

Dealership websites

Yahoo! Video

Vimeo

MySpace

Google Video

2 of 3 purchasers who viewed automotive online videos did so on YouTube

41 41

opportunities

42 42

1 follow shoppers through an increasingly complex path to purchase versus relying on traditional online destinations alone

2 reconsider media use for discrete parts of the funnel and explore strategies for each platform by research stage

3 examine dealers’ digital presence and coordination with brand-level strategy based on rise in spontaneous shopping and dealer site use

4 navigation becomes more important as research diversity increases. is search getting the attention it deserves?

5 develop mobile specific strategies to prepare for continued growth and specialization

6 produce and distribute video to compete for early interest

opportunities & considerations

to align to today’s automotive shopping behavior:

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2011 automotive shopping behavior study