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Jaguar Land Rover and Rockar (who have to date been working with Hyundai) are to launch a new retail website and a store in the Westfield Stratford shopping complex in East London in a move which the carmaker claims makes it the first premium automotive brand to offer fully-online purchasing.

Whilst the store at Westfield staffed by product experts referred to as “Angels” doesn’t open until early October, the website will be up and running on September 7th.

The ‘Angels’ can offer advice, show colour samples and interior leathers, help customers use the in-store Rockar system and show them around the six vehicles on display. Once visitors have gathered all the information they need they can complete their purchase on the Rockar website – either in-store or at home. There is, of course, no need to visit the physical store at all; the online site allows customers to browse models, book test drives, specify their car, arrange finance and even trade in an existing model before hitting the ‘buy’ button.

Explaining what they are doing, Jeremy Hicks, Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover UK, said, “It’s an exciting time for Jaguar Land Rover, we have a range of new models aimed at new customer groups and as such we are looking at how we can best serve our expanding customer base. Our retailers are investing £1bn in the UK network, and our partnership with ROCKAR represents some of the incremental new, innovative solutions that we are introducing to engage and serve our customers.”

‘ROCKAR Jaguar Land Rover Stratford London’ is a unique addition to the network. The first premium car company to extend its network to include a shopping complex location, Jaguar Land Rover has developed and applied its customer-centric ethos to fit this new environment, creating an immersive, brand-led experience.

Sarah Nelmes, Network Development Manager, Jaguar Land Rover UK said, “Customer needs are changing as our lifestyles and the technology available to us evolves. We want to make sure that every customer journey is a truly enjoyable and premium experience representative of our two great British brands. Jaguar and Land Rover customers can now choose from a suite of buying and servicing options that can be tailored to their individual preferences and requirements so that they can start to enjoy the whole ownership experience from the very first moment.”

Using this retail model in the past, ROCKAR has found that more than 54% of its buyers have been women and the average age of customers has been just 39 years old. With the no-pressure approach of the ‘Angels’ in-store, ROCKAR has also found that around 60% of customers will leave the store and complete their purchase online later.

Simon Dixon, Rockar CEO, said: “At Rockar we’ve turned new car buying on its head and created a whole new way to buy a car. Our research has revealed that customers in today’s digital age are looking for an easier way of buying cars, more aligned to how they shop for their clothes, food and gadgets. Rockar’s recent success has proved this research with over 60% of its customers now buying online.”

There will be a dedicated Service Centre based a mile away from Westfield Stratford in Bromley-by-Bow which will be the operation that prepares new cars for delivery, service, maintenance and warranty works.

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