CARY, N.C. -

It became apparent this spring, through the first wave of a Dealer Impact Study from Roadster and the National Automobile Dealers Association, that when dealerships were largely forced to go digital and sell remotely at the outset of the COVID-pandemic, they often became more efficient.

Part 1 of the study found that a dealership salesperson was averaging 13 sales per month this spring; this after the average for some 35 years had remained around 10 sales per month, according to data from NADA shared by Roadster.

That’s quite a jump – but is it sustainable?

That’s part of what Roadster chief marketing officer Michelle Denogean said Part 2 of the study was looking to uncover.

“And what we found, in fact, was that with a little bit more time using the technology, the units per salesperson grew,” Denogean said in an interview early last month.

Part 2 of the study, released in mid-October, included 320 dealers and a survey of 1,000 consumers. It found that the average salesperson was selling 16 cars per month in September.

Asked if those gains have more to do with fewer salespeople or the dealership having more digital retailing tools at its disposal, Denogean said it’s a bit of both.

One of the things dealers have gathered is that, “even though showrooms are wholly back open, only a little over half of them, 56%, are actually fully staffed. So even though we're open and demand returned, we as an industry didn’t fully return to 100% of our staffing,” Denogean said.

“It's definitely a big piece of it … the average staffing level now versus before the pandemic started is about 92%,” she said. “So, if you think about that, they've actually reduced their sales team by two to two-and-a-half people on average from where they were before.”

Denogean said that when dealers had to close their doors, physically speaking, “we really, as an industry, figured out how to do remote selling and started to recognize that we could handle the demand at hand even as it grew”

And demand has grown. The survey has found that current sales volume is about 104% of what it was a year ago, Denogean said.

“When you layer that up against the fact that they're not fully staffed, you can see it's sort of both,” she said. “We're selling more than we were before slightly, and we're doing it with less.” 

And they’re also being more proactive about getting the consumer to complete more pieces of the car-buying process online ahead of time, which is helping with efficiency, as they have less of the process to finish once they’re at the store, Denogean said.

Interestingly enough, there were also findings that pointed to some more internal, operational gains at the dealership. For instance, in September, 63% of omnichannel dealers said digital retailing allowed them to complete contactless transactions, up from 52% in May.

Seventy percent said digital retail allowed them to have a more efficient sales process, up from 61% who said that in May.

Additionally, 46% said it led to more cars sold per salesperson, up from 24% in May.

Looking at some findings from the consumer side, the survey connected with 1,000 buyers who had purchased in the previous five months. The dealerships those customers were working with fit into a variety of buckets, with some being fully open, some open only online and some by appointment only.

All told, 44% of those buyers had done some piece of their transaction online, Denogean said. And that’s not just shopping, she said — it’s completing an actual transactional step like price negotiation or filling out a credit application.

Compare that to findings from a 2019 Cox Automotive Car Buying Journey study, which found that 10% did so.

The Roadster/NADA study found that 61% completed vehicle selection online, 35% set up financing/lease terms, 34% filled out a credit application, 34% negotiated price and 23% made their F&I selections online.

“They’re not the majority, but (there is) just huge growth in what people are doing online. I think that's really exciting to see that, even though at the end of the day they want to come into the showroom to finish the transaction — and we heard that from dealers when stores were closed,” Denogean said.

“We know they still have a desire to go in person, but what I think is starting to happen is not only are consumers finding that they can do some of these pieces, these time-consuming pieces, online, the dealerships are recognizing that if they promote that activity, if they encourage it, then they actually can be more efficient and keep their cost structure down.”