April 2020 will go down into the history books as the first full month in which COVID-19 had its full grip on the United States Economy. The automotive industry has taken some blows but the fight isn’t over.
As a customer journey focused automotive digital marketing agency, we at ArcMinute Marketing wanted to shed some light on how automotive sales were affected in the Midwest during April 2020.
What We Are Measuring and Where We Are Looking
Using the latest data provided by Lotlinx’s Market Update tool, let’s analyze 3 major automotive sales economic KPI’s:
- Shopper Volume
- Shopper Engagement
- Sales Volume
COVID-19 has impacted individual States in different ways and State-level responses have varied around the Country. Let’s analyze our Major Automotive Sales Economic KPI’s for:
- The United States
- Michigan
- Ohio
- Indiana
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Automobile Sales April 2020 – United States
Nationally, shopper volume is healthy, indicating that the amount of car buyers in the market has increased 4% from last year. There has been a 20.8% increase in Shopper Engagement, indicating shoppers are taking the actions normally taken prior to pulling the trigger on a purchase. Finally, the actual sales volume decreased by 14.3%.
Trends show that car buyers have bottlenecked in the buying process and towards the end of the month, sales volume has begun to rise.
Automobile Sales April 2020 – Michigan
Shopper volume in Michigan decreased by 1.3% year over year. Shopper Engagement decreased by 4.7%. Total Sales Volume decreased by 47.2%.
Michigan has been one of the hardest-hit states affected by COVID-19. In response, a statewide shelter-in-place order kept many dealers from being able to sell for most of the month. As restrictions have recently begun to lift, the market has responded in Michigan and we have seen a recent surge in car sales as pent up demand begins to flow through.
Automobile Sales | April 2020 – Ohio
In Ohio, Shopper Volume has decreased by 2% compared to the same period in 2019. Shopper engagement has increased by 3.5%, while sales volume has increased by 1.7%.
Ohio’s response to COVID-19 differed from that of Michigan’s, allowing for the automotive sales process to play out through the month.
Automotive Sales | April 2020 – Indiana
Out of the three states, we compared, Indiana, performed the greatest. Shopper Volume increased 8%, Shopper Engagement increased by 42.7%, and Sales Volume increased by 4.8% – compared to the same period in 2019.
While Indiana performed the best when analyzing our 3 major automotive economic KPI’s, it is clear that each state, and the nation, experienced the same cadence of an initial dip at the beginning of the month, and then a rise in the metrics as pent up demand worked its way through the sales process.
How Does This Relate to Automotive Dealership Digital Marketing?
The COVID-19 pandemic has broken the rules that once were. As each state is dealing with how to maintain a functional economy, while maintaining public safety, dealerships that serve a localized community should adjust their digital marketing strategy to fit their specific, local conditions.
Dealership marketing teams should be discussing their process and messaging with their digital marketing agency, to be implemented into digital marketing efforts moving forward.
Stay agile with your strategy by having frequent communication with your digital marketing agency. As we saw in April, dealerships should be ready for frequent changes in market demand and be ready to adjust marketing efforts. This can go both ways and marketers should know when to be more conservative and when they should be more aggressive.
Working with an agency that approaches marketing from a localized level, communicates well, and provides up-to-date analytics, is highly valuable.
Automotive Digital Marketing Solutions | ArcMinute Marketing
We launched in 2017 with the mission to bring the power of industry-level digital marketing, to the level of local businesses. Our founding team hails from the world of automotive digital marketing, having worked with hundreds of new car dealerships nationwide. Focusing on the psychological steps taken through their journey, customers connect with our clients’ brands through timely SEO, Paid Search, and Programmatic messaging.
ArcMinute Marketing has recently helped automotive dealerships pivot their strategies in a variety of ways, including:
- Marketing health & safety procedures
- Creating SEO Friendly Content for websites
- Managing Display Ad Campaigns featuring updated messaging
- Analyzing and adjusting Paid Search budgets for the current conditions
- Updating local online directories with updated hours of operation
Need an A-Game digital marketing strategy for your dealership. Schedule a Discovery Call today.
