The Internet and the Automotive Industry

A look at some possible directions for automotive Internet marketing to move toward an assessment of the likelihood of success.

This paper examines how, worldwide, from the U.S. to China, automotive buyers are looking for luxury and ease in their automobiles and how those with high-end incomes, especially, prefer getting information and also shopping via the Internet. It attempts to determine if the Internet-user automotive market is sufficiently large and financially able to purchase additional automotive products/services over the Internet and also what sort of service or product might best fill a current market need or, alternatively, popularize a new technology area.

Outline
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Appendices
Introduction
Methodology
Results
Market Research
Literature Review
Discussion
Summary
References
Appendices
“Chatterjee, Jauchius, Kaas, and Satpathy looked at branding, especially in automotive. They noted that Mercedes, in 2000, had the best conversion rate in the industry. That is, of those buyers who had narrowed brands down to two or three, 93 percent bought the Mercedes. In other words, Mercedes must attract only 107,000 prospects for every 100,000 cars sold. In contrast, of those who bought an Oldsmobile or a Mercury, more than 500,000 had to be persuaded to look at the car in order for 100,000 to buy it. Isuzu performed worst; it needed 1,300,000 prospects to sell 100,000 cars. The authors concluded that these inefficiencies reside in the marketing budget with up to 90 percent devoted to mass advertising, or the first stage in a purchase process.”