Social media usage during car shopping rises

Social media usage during car shopping rises

Consumers who use the Internet during their new-vehicle shopping process are increasingly turning to social media websites as a source of information, according to the J.D. Power 2016 New Autoshopper Study.

Among automotive Internet shoppers, 22 percent use social media as a source while shopping for their new vehicles, up from 16 percent in 2015. The most popular social media sites used by auto shoppers are YouTube, DealerRater and Facebook. All are used by 13 percent of shoppers or less.

Among these shoppers, only 13 percent said that the information on social media influenced their purchase decision.

–Social media platforms arenêt as useful as automotive shopping websites for automotive information, but they do serve the needs of consumers for unbiased dealer reviews, affirmations from other vehicle owners, accessing automotive-related videos and exchanging ideas and opinions with friends and family members,” said Mike Battaglia, vice president, automotive retail at J.D. Power.

The study found that more than 90 percent of automotive Internet shoppers visit at least one automakerês site during the shopping process, 84 percent visit a dealer site and 79 percent visit a third-party site. The average Internet shopper visits four automaker websites, three dealership sites and three third-party sites. They find dealer websites to be most useful for inventory searches.

More than half of automotive Internet shoppers used a mobile device, and in 2016 smartphone usage (37 percent) surpassed tablet usage (33 percent).