AutoTrader​.com Users, Car Shoppers Willing to Buy from Phones

BY Courtney Huckabay

A new survey finds one third of consumers would consider buying a house or a car directly from their smartphones. Findings point to how men and women perceive purchasing big-​ticket items on mobile devices and debunk the myth that smartphone shopping is limited to daily items.

Roadster, an eCommerce solution for car buying and leasing, announced the results of a survey examining consumer perception around shopping for big-​ticket items on mobile devices. While there seems to be a pervasive belief that consumers will only use their smartphones to shop for daily items, Roadster's survey, conducted in partnership with Survata, revealed the opposite, with almost one-​third of people stating that they would consider buying a house or car directly from their mobile devices.

Car shoppers who are willing to buy vehicles on their phones are likely perusing AutoTrader​.com on their phones too. According to AudienceSCAN figures, 6.7% of U.S. adults used AutoTrader​.com to research or purchase a specific product or service in the past 6 months.

The Roadster survey, which polled 1185 consumers, found men to be particularly amenable to the idea, with 41 percent of male respondents stating they would consider purchasing a big-​ticket item directly from their phones versus 21 percent of women.

It also found that consumers who fell within income brackets of $150,000 or more would be more likely to transact online.

In addition, the survey furthered that geographic location had no bearing on consumer perception, with people outside of tech specific cities stating that they too would be open to purchasing a big-​ticket item directly from their mobile devices.

Try reaching these mobile-​centric car shoppers with ads in sponsored search results (like on Google, Yahoo or Bing). According to AudienceSCAN research, 46.5% of AutoTrader​.com Users took action after seeing them in the past month.

"It's clear from the results of our survey that consumers are open to new ways of shopping for big ticket items," said Andy Moss, CEO of Roadster.

According to the survey, consumers have been clamoring for the automotive industry to adopt a variety of features of online shopping into the car buying experience; with 45 percent of consumers wishing the industry would introduce free delivery, followed by 45 percent wanting free returns and 44 percent wanting fixed pricing.

Consumers also stated that they would consider bringing even further aspects of the car buying process online, and cited their warranty selection (31 percent), price negotiation (31 percent) and service plans (27 percent) as being top areas of interest.

Advertise all aspects of buying a car via mobile device in newspapers. And definitely on a newspaper's website, mobile app, and social media channels. AudienceSCAN results showed 38.7% of AutoTrader​.com Users took action after reading ads in newspapers (print, online, mobile or tablet) in the past month.

Even those consumers who were not instantly on board with purchasing a big-​ticket item from their smartphones said they would reconsider if they knew that there were significant savings involved. According to respondents, 43 percent of consumers expected to save $2,000 dollars or more by purchasing a car on their smartphone versus going to the dealership and 31 percent believed they would save three to four hours by conducting the transaction online.

Although the findings of the survey showcase consumer willingness to purchase big-​ticket items on their smartphones, it still points to the importance of a test-​drive, with 86 percent of consumers stating that they still want to test-​drive a car before purchase.

AudienceSCAN data is available as part of a subscription to AdMall for Agencies, or with the SalesFuel API. Media companies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.


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