CAR buyers are increasingly opting to use new, intuitive vehicle online search technology rather than traditional dropdown boxes.
Intuitive search is being trialled by iVendi on a number of sites ahead of its launch later this year as part of the company’s new ENGAGE product.
It is designed to use language and terminology that is closer to the way most consumers conceive of their car buying preferences. For example, searches could be made for “German prestige SUVs” or “cheap family car”.
The approach is part of a fundamental rethink of vehicle search by iVendi that majors on the three factors that the online motor retail market leader says drive the majority of car purchasing journeys – vehicle, location and affordability.
Chief Executive James Tew, said: “Current dropdown box search technology is almost entirely centred around making a closely defined vehicle choice. If you know you specifically want to buy a Ford Fiesta, that’s fine, but if you think in terms of ‘small hatchback’ then it is very limiting.
“What we have done is rethink search to deliver relevant results to consumers fa ster in a manner that is, we believe, mould-breaking in its flexibility and ability to meet real world consumer preferences.
“Someone who starts looking for a car knowing that they want a small SUV up to four years old and have budgeted £200 a month for a PCP at a dealer within 15 miles are much likely to find the car they want using our approach than with established vehicle search technology.”
Tew said that some of the innovations included in the search results were simple but produce excellent results – for example, all the models fitting a search are shown on a map.
He added: “We believe that our new personalisation functionality is an automotive world first. Using data from previous customer activity, it produces more appropriate results.
“For some people, a search for a ‘fast car’ means an Abarth 500 but for others, it is a Porsche 911. Our technology can decipher this and much more.”
He added that the iVendi approach to search was much closer to the way online consumers looked for the goods they wanted in other situations.
“If you visit Amazon to order some AA batteries on Prime or Ocado.com to look for muesli, then some people might add ‘Duracell’ or “Alpen” but the vast majority are nowhere near that specific.
“The consumer mindset is the same for cars. If you want a sports saloon, you might like a BMW but are probably also open to a Mercedes, an Audi or a Volvo. Yet conventional search is very much single-model based.
“What our research shows is that, given the choice of a more intuitive approach to search, a large proportion of consumers will go down that route. It shows that really, the established kind of search offered across the industry can be bettered.”
ENGAGE, designed to stimulate initial consumer interest in car purchasing, is part of a new three-product range being launched by iVendi in 2020 alongside CONVERT and TRANSACT. Together, they provide a comprehensive online motor retail journey for everyone from small dealers to multi-national businesses.
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