Online car buyers live three times closer to dealership than web “window shoppers”

Genuine online car buyers live an average of three times closer to the dealership than those who are just using the web to “window shop”, new research from iVendi shows.

Analysis of car buying patterns from our data reveals that the average online car buyer’s address is 32 miles from the dealership, compared to an average of 99 miles for all visitors who have looked at the same dealer’s stock online.

Rob Severs, VP data and insight, said: “One of the areas in which we are doing a lot of work at the moment is in collecting data about online activity and assessing which parts of it are genuinely useful to dealers.

“This information about distance is a good example. While the online geographical footprint of each dealer will be different, it shows that there is a general catchment area in which casual shoppers are more serious about purchasing.

“In a nutshell, if you know where your geographical sweet spot is, you’ll have a better idea of the propensity to buy. The casual shopper who looks at full page adverts on your website from 200 miles away may still be a serious buyer but it is less likely.”

Rob said that iVendi was building up a range of data indicators such as this that were of genuine use to dealers.

“A lot of the traditional online measurements used by dealers are what you might call ‘vanity metrics – they show that you might be generating a lot of traffic but do not tell you their real business value.

“What we are doing is instead building up a set of metrics that are more useful in business terms – that help dealers sell more cars, more finance and more added value products. It is that simple.”