A panel of experts discussed the innovations currently reshaping the UK’s motor retail industry – including AI-powered customer engagement and digital retailing, automation, data analytics and smarter aftersales processes.
Speaking during AM Innovation Week, panellists offered insights and strategies to help dealer groups adapt, compete and thrive in an increasingly digital marketplace.
The webinar – available to watch now – featured:
- Chris Porter, CEO and founder of Nexbotix.
- David Hawksworth, customer engagement director at Auto Trader.
- Jacqui Barker, VP global strategy and engagement at Keyloop.
- Nicholas Malcolm, CEO and partner at Autoflows.
- Thomas Orthgiess, chief product officer at Cazoo.
The views of the panellists were their own at time of recording and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of their respective organisations.
Useful innovations
Panellists defined the most useful innovations for today’s motor retailers.
Barker noted that the most useful innovations aren’t necessarily the newest, saying: “When you start to look at where things are sticky or broken in terms of customer experience, there are three that stand out.
“One is how to bring AI to power customer engagement and bring in relevant data to help retailers respond more quickly across that customer journey.
“The second is how you can automate routine processes – whether it’s online booking or how to manage leads and service bookings – and the third is how to use data to create a more connected view of your customers.
“Retailers that utilise technology they already have and make the most of that to remove the friction and make better decisions will be more successful in this space.”
Porter highlighted the innovations that can contribute to back-office success, adding: “Using AI and automation technology to transform and automate some of those back-office processes. It might be finance processes, sales admin or CRM processes – any process that’s data and document heavy.
“Automation allows dealership groups to standardise the processes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.”
Overlooked opportunities
The conversation touched on areas where dealers are underusing technology and opportunities that are available.
Hawksworth said: “Video is the one of the most unused because it scales the human relationship opportunity, and also de-risks what is a low-trust setting, especially in marketplaces because it’s your first point of call, and not a lot of retailers use video very well.
“Having a video about the actual car that you’re trying to sell, make sure that at 9 o’clock on a Sunday night – when everybody’s shut – that you’re answering the questions.”
Porter added: “There’s a missed opportunity in how OEMs and dealer groups are working together and integrating their information.
“A simple issue I see from dealers around delivery dates for new vehicles – someone’s got to go and check a portal, they’ve got to update a system and ring the customer. That’s very disconnected.
“If that information could flow automatically from the manufacturer to the dealer to the customer, and everyone has the same date at the same time. It’s much better experience for the buyer.”
Orthgiess said: “We’re at a point where generations that have grown up with WhatsApp increasingly become car buyers.
“Sometimes as an industry, we’re not good at adapting our communication channels to new behaviours.
“I think many car dealers will prefer calls, we’re all used to email now, but I think we need to open up to new messaging systems, specifically WhatsApp.”
Innovation in the showroom
With significant innovation directly on display in the showroom thanks to the new cars available, panellists noted the challenges and opportunities involved.
Hawksworth noted that consumers today are more informed than ever but are not always understanding information about new vehicles and technologies at the same level as people in the industry.
He said: “People have EV landing pages for vans and cars and build EV showrooms where they can talk about charging, power tariffs, everything that would affect the consumer’s day-to-day in the wallet.
“They’re addressing it and being able to answer those questions in the dealership experience.”
Keeping pace with developments
Remaining informed about developments across the sector – whether technological innovations or how fundamental needs are shifting – is crucial in automotive, and attention was given to best practice for keeping up with sector developments.
Porter said: “Work out as a dealership group who your most trusted and valuable suppliers are and set up a quarterly meeting around innovation.
“You’ll find that those suppliers probably know each other quite well, they know what else is happening in the marketplace, so can talk to you about what other innovations are coming along.”
“Technology changes,” observed Malcolm.
“So, remain focused on how we can improve.
Fostering a culture of innovation
How automotive businesses can foster a culture of innovation among their workforce was given focus. Hawksworth noted the importance of people when driving change, while Barker highlighted the value of enabling curiosity.
“System solutions don’t drive change, people do,” said Hawksworth.
“The people selling or servicing cars, that are meeting or greeting customers, they’ll know the friction points.
“It would be good to make sure they’re involved in and driving change – helping them do their job better each day – rather than trying to apply it because it’s the latest, greatest, shiny solution.”
Barker added: “Having a culture of curiosity is a really good way to enable how you start to look for the opportunities to be more innovative.
“It has to be an open culture where you can start to really go: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could just do this?’
“That’s where you can start to innovate.”
The dealership of 2030
The panel concluded with a look at what dealerships are likely to look like in 2030, and the technology and innovations likely to have the biggest impact.
Orthgiess noted that he believes car buying and dealerships will remain a predominantly human business.
He said: “I believe that car buying and dealerships will remain a human business but much more of the preparation will become digital, so customers will arrive even more informed as they do today.
“On the other end of the table, you’ve got a salesperson that has the data, the customer information – having received all of that beforehand – and is not caught up in admin or cumbersome work, so is able to explain clearly.”
Malcolm made the case for more proactive dealerships, saying: “Hopefully we’re not locked in and are more open.
“The data is connected in a way where we can better sit with our Claude or Copilot and have the answers that we need, and be more proactive in the driver’s seat of our business.”
Barker articulated the benefits of more connected dealerships, noting that technology and AI will hopefully be able to automate administrative burdens for retailers.
“If we can reduce that burden, we can create space for retailers to give customers a better experience and better service.
“The leadership of 2030 won’t be less human. It’s going to be supported by smarter technology that allows you to create that better experience.”
While Porter maintained that dealerships will remain a human business, he posited a future for dealerships once the public is used to humanoid robots.
“They’re going to be in train stations, in supermarkets, and all over the place. So, it’s not unrealistic to think in this timeframe that a dealership could be run by humanoid robots. Imagine the information they could have at their fingertips for you about any vehicle changes happening in the future.”
The full webinar is available to watch on the AM website, along with more information on AM Innovation Week.