24 March 2019

Earlier this week I tuned into a webinar during which two themes in particular caught my attention, one highlighting a gap in the market and the second being the corollary of that, a good opportunity for any retailer willing to plug it.

The gap focused on the confidence gap between people reading about hybrids and EVs and their growing interest in them but holding back from buying because they’re not quite sure how they work, how much they cost, et cetera.

The second followed on and emphasised once again that on this issue above all buyers look to what the speakers termed a ‘trusted advisor’ to guide them. The point was made that many of us give more credence to someone on YouTube than what we read in adverts. Years ago I used to video my road tests (very badly but at least I was way ahead of the rest!) and many viewers said they would rather watch and listen to what I said than read what I wrote in the newspaper I worked for. It’s more immediate, the information easier to digest and they were more receptive to it.

So I did a little exercise this week. If it is indeed true that electrics and hybrids are the next big thing – they are – how many retailers have an explanatory video or any other kind of online resource explaining what they are, how they work, what they cost and how they might fit into people’s motoring lives. In other words, are there any retailers putting themselves in the place of their customers and providing the guidance they so badly need and want?

Confining myself to the big names in our industry and looking as someone interested in an EV but not certain if they want to buy might do, I visited some websites.

I thought the Sytner videos on the topic were okay, Pendragon’s awful even on the section reserved for the Hyundai Kona and Jaguar I-pace (both EVs), Lookers has an easy navigable route to these cars but no videos that I could find and Vertu has no clear signposting to anything specifically on hybrids/EVs. Arnold Clark’s site has 152 studio-shot clips of various models they sell but nothing that I could see on the next gen cars.

Apologies if other retailers do have some slick films and I missed them, but if they do exist surely they should be obvious?

Come on, it’s not that hard to get someone to do a walkround explaining the details and a short presentation of the ins and outs of hybrid/EV ownership. Make yourself a ‘trusted advisor’ before someone else does and gets your business.

John Swift

Editor

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Tags: EV, video