SALT LAKE CITY -

Friendemic analyzed more than 52,000 reviews posted online by CarMax and Carvana customers, with the goal of understanding how consumers rate and describe their experience when engaging with these retailers.

The online reputation solution provider built specifically for the needs of the automotive and powersports industries discovered many customers greatly enjoyed their experience with CarMax and Carvana. However, Friendemic discovered some issues that can afflict both online retailers as well as traditional bricks-and-mortar stores.

In the study highlighted through a news release distributed on Friday, Friendemic found that while both CarMax and Carvana have a strong number of positive reviews, the average star ratings on Google for these retailers are lower than the star ratings of other publicly traded automotive retailers.

In addition to analyzing star ratings, Friendemic explained that it applied topic modeling and word cloud techniques to uncover both positive and negative sentiments of CarMax and Carvana reviewers.

“CarMax and Carvana have been exciting stocks to watch. They have done a great job of persuading both consumers and investors that they offer a customer experience superior to traditional dealerships,” Friendemic chief executive officer Steve Pearson said in the news release. “We wanted to see if that perception played out in what their customers say in public, online reviews.

“Since Friendemic already analyzes the online reviews for nearly every franchise dealership in the country, we could easily compare the online reviews for these Wall Street darlings to those of other major automotive retailers,” Pearson continued.

Friendemic said its study confirms what might be expected: many consumers enjoy the ease of shopping online, from home, having a vehicle delivered, and perceive they spend less time on paperwork when working with CarMax and Carvana.

Friendemic pointed out that the positive comments the provider uncovered that aren’t as widely known include the consumer’s frequent comparison of their experience to the “old dealership way.” Many consumers became “self-proclaimed dealership avoiders” after buying from CarMax or Carvana, according to the study.

However, Friendemic noted that the study also generated what it dubbed some “surprising” results.

One popular topic among consumers who expressed a negative experience with CarMax and Carvana was their disappointment with the quality of the vehicle they purchased.

Specific to Carvana, Friendemic discovered consumers identified issues with the actual purchase process — from financing to titling.

“With Carvana, we did see a portion of unhappy consumers identify issues with the purchase process itself, and those who had difficulty in using a third-party lender and in obtaining the car title often provided among the longest reviews, in terms of word count, as well as the lowest ratings for Carvana,” Pearson said.

The complete report can be downloaded via this website.

For more information on how Friendemic’s software solutions can help your dealership, visit www.friendemic.com.