Nissan will unveil a sweeping overhaul of its 3-year-old digital shopping platform this month as part of a $200 million investment in elevating the Japanese brand’s consumer experience.
About two-thirds of the brand’s 1,079 U.S. dealers have signed on for the at-home buying tool that allows consumers to shop for a vehicle, schedule a test drive, complete the paperwork for purchase and take delivery without stepping inside a brick-and-mortar store.
Dan Mohnke, Nissan U.S. vice president of eCommerce and Customer Experience, told Automotive News the revised Nissan@Home platform seeks to reduce customer “friction” in the car-buying process while offering a more powerful business tool for dealerships that has greater customization and more control over the customer relationship.
Nissan@Home faced early pushback from retailers, many of whom see digital retailing tools as an attempt by the factory to wrest control of that relationship.
Nissan National Dealer Advisory Board Chairman Tyler Slade said the online platform aims for a standardized shopping experience across national and dealership websites.
“We see the benefit in that rather than having every dealer using their own technology, which can be very confusing for a customer,” said Slade, operating partner at Tim Dahle Nissan Southtowne in suburban Salt Lake City.
And dealers also want the tools and software integrations to help them sell more cars.
“Nissan@Home 2.0 pushes that along,” Slade said.
Nissan@Home 2.0 features a new interface and user experience to make it more intuitive and capable.
“We completely redid the software engine so it’s much faster to navigate,” Mohnke said.
Nissan has simplified account creation, allowing consumers to use their Google or Apple account credentials. While consumers can still enroll by using an email and creating a password, Mohnke said “most customers just want to use their Google or Apple ID.”
Applying for financing on the platform is now quicker and requires about 30 percent less information.
“The form is much shorter than what it was before,” Mohnke said. “We want to make it easier for the consumer so we have higher engagement.”
Nissan has been working on the upgrade for the past six months in consultation with a key stakeholder — its retailers.
“We’ve focused as much on the dealer experience as on the consumer experience,” Mohnke said.
A dealer subcommittee provides Nissan feedback on what is and isn’t working with the shopping platform and meets regularly with the software provider to address bugs and brainstorm on improvements, Slade said.
“Nissan is listening and implementing, through much expense of their own, ideas to expand Nissan@Home capability and improve the dealer and customer experience,” he said.
The upgraded platform better integrates with dealerships’ customer relationship management systems, giving stores greater visibility into the consumer’s online shopping journey.
Dealership sales consultants can see which models the shopper browsed on the platform or that they were interested in a 60-month loan.
“It gives [retailers] the information they need to pick up the phone and reach out to try to continue the sale,” Mohnke said.
Most consumers choose to come into the store to finish the transaction, which “facilitates the online to in-store” transition, Mohnke said.
Dealers can also sweeten the trade-in offer made on the platform.
For instance, if demand for used Rogue compact crossovers is high in a given market, the dealer can now offer an additional $500 to capture the trade and close the deal.
Mohnke said Nissan@Home is part of an “ecosystem of products” the brand is developing, including a customer loyalty program, “so our dealers can provide the best experience to the consumer.”