Automakers can read the writing on the wall: Americans now enjoy shopping for new cars on their cellphones or laptops at home in front of the TV. The industry’s question is not how to stop all that — it’s how to embrace it.
Mercedes Benz and its retailers are launching a two-pronged strategy. First, design new-generation showrooms that focus less on pushing inventory and more on assisting shoppers who are already engaged in the digital process. Second, create boutiques where a customer might learn about a model, explore the brand and discover the retailer. Both formats offer a peek into the future, where Mercedes showrooms and dealership lots get smaller and staff members have a new digital-first outlook on retailing autos.
Mercedes has two new retail looks coming into the market. One is the brand’s first store redesign in a decade, called MB EVolution, left. The other is a concept for dealers to display vehicles and explain the brand in off-site high-end retail boutiques.
MB EVolution aims for an atmosphere that evokes a cozy bistro instead of a sales environment.
In suburban Atlanta, RBM of Alpharetta operates a 2,000-square-foot “show and tell” boutique where shoppers will find just two vehicles.
The retail boutique is about driving engagement and telling the brand’s story, rather than making a hard sell.
Part of the new retail philosophy is to discover not just a vehicle, but the mystique of the brand.
The boutique concept dispenses with space for big service and finance operations.