Posted on September 05, 2012
Technology is a driving factor in our
lives today, and the menu market is no different. Consumers have access
to it in their personal lives, and use it to research everything from
the food they eat to the big-ticket purchases – like cars – that they
make. Many of them are getting to a point where they even make those
purchases online, via companies like Peapod.com, or from dealerships
that offer Internet purchasing.
What that means to the average dealer – and agent – is that consumers today live on their technology. They trust it, they purchase on it, and they are getting to a point where they are more comfortable with it than they are with older, paper systems. They will gravitate and trust dealerships and products that are presented to them in a format they are already comfortable with, making the process smoother, and putting them in a less defensive, more open to buying state of mind.
To facilitate this transition to the new mobile menu world, we invited several players in the mobile menu software business to give us a little information about their products, and some insight into where they see the market going. While they range in opinion as to whether dealerships should hand an iPad over to the customer to walk themselves through a presentation, or whether the F&I manager should keep control of the process, they all agree that the platform itself is the future of the business.
Digital is shaping the future of almost every industry, and ours, in particular, is starting to see the beginnings of a revolution in what consumers want out of a vehicle, but more than that, they want the process of purchasing it to feel like it belongs in the age of Internet shopping and digital downloading. By providing agents, and through them dealerships, with the tools to meet this consumer need head on, the whole industry will win with happier customers and increased sales.
To read about each product, and how each of these companies sees the future of F&I menus, click on their name below.
By: Toni McQuilken
Technology is a driving factor in our
lives today, and the menu market is no different. Consumers have access
to it in their personal lives, and use it to research everything from
the food they eat to the big-ticket purchases – like cars – that they
make. Many of them are getting to a point where they even make those
purchases online, via companies like Peapod.com, or from dealerships
that offer Internet purchasing. What that means to the average dealer – and agent – is that consumers today live on their technology. They trust it, they purchase on it, and they are getting to a point where they are more comfortable with it than they are with older, paper systems. They will gravitate and trust dealerships and products that are presented to them in a format they are already comfortable with, making the process smoother, and putting them in a less defensive, more open to buying state of mind.
To facilitate this transition to the new mobile menu world, we invited several players in the mobile menu software business to give us a little information about their products, and some insight into where they see the market going. While they range in opinion as to whether dealerships should hand an iPad over to the customer to walk themselves through a presentation, or whether the F&I manager should keep control of the process, they all agree that the platform itself is the future of the business.
Digital is shaping the future of almost every industry, and ours, in particular, is starting to see the beginnings of a revolution in what consumers want out of a vehicle, but more than that, they want the process of purchasing it to feel like it belongs in the age of Internet shopping and digital downloading. By providing agents, and through them dealerships, with the tools to meet this consumer need head on, the whole industry will win with happier customers and increased sales.
To read about each product, and how each of these companies sees the future of F&I menus, click on their name below.
Mobile Menu Roundup
This article was written by: Toni McQuilken - has written 292 posts on Agent Entrepreneur.
Toni McQuilken is the managing editor for AE Magazine and P&A Magazine. She has a decade of editorial experience in the trade publishing world, across several industries, including print and graphics, as well as hospitality and technology. To contact her, e-mail tmcquilken@mgigmedia.com.
The original article can be found here.
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