A report from BCA (British Car Auctions) with the catchy monniker ‘Recession, Residuals and Used Vehicle Operations’ and by Professor Peter Cooke at the University of Buckingham questions whether used car retailers are addressing the female market who account for almost 50% of that market (following a significant gender buying shift in the last decade).
Take it from me that the answer is no, with very few exceptions.
There is little evidence in my everyday experience that new or nearly new car sales staff have got their head around gender buying differences at all – very few dealers are strategically aiming to be female friendly or able to market themselves as such.
Sadly many male and female employees in the UK retail motor industry don’t get it either – they seem to think that men and women should be treated in the same way and like it or lump it. What an opportunity for those businesses to get it right ahead of others!
They don’t understand the decision making differences when it comes to big ticket shopping like cars.
What I do hear of, however, is a reluctance to tell women (and probably this happens to men too) about their rights should they experience a problem with a used car within 6 months of buying this from a dealer. We have many instances recorded of supposedly reputable dealers trying to fob off females with a month’s warranty when they return with a problem after 3-4 months. They do have rights in law but the dealer doesn’t always make this clear. If they aren’t a member of FOXY Lady Drivers Club they probably believe the dealer too.
Certainly there are many car dealers that consider themselves to be female friendly and are happy to sign our FOXY Promise. It’s easy to see that they have raised their standards to cater for women and they are often apoplectic about the shoddy services that they know many women endure elsewhere.
For starters, women are less into torque and more into talk. We do our homework online and compare notes with our family and friends. We don’t like haggling yet we suspect we will get charged more than a man should we dare to go shopping alone. Despite being the more experienced domestic shopper we often dread the car showroom and garage experience.
This is outrageous and the industry can so easily be seen to be more female friendly by intent.
For example, FOXY offers leading businesses the opportunity to do something about this. They can sign up to the FOXY Promise and promote themselves to women online at the FOXY Choice website whether it’s for new, nearly new, used car sales or aftersales.
Too many dealers neglect aftersales when this can be the means to develop a relationship of trust; she’ll visit more often and may even ask for advice when she comes to buy her next car.
What FOXY does is unique so perhaps we’re simply ahead of the game and businesses have yet to see the business logic. For example, we can offer used car sales businesses low cost online membership of FOXY Lady Drivers Club as a value extra and to demonstrate their female friendly service, compared to lesser neighbours.
All this is called relationship marketing and it works but you have to understand your customer to get it right.
I am amazed at how many businesses think that men and women should be offered the same customer service when it is so easy to promote decision buttons that appeal more to one gender than the other.
Is this because businesses are wary of being seen to favour females (after so many years you might argue that’s fair enough…).
Yet another reason to work with a female friendly brand like FOXY – please the females by being foxy but leave the business brand as it is so the men don’t see the business going soft!
However I suspect that when the men read the FOXY Promise they’ll choose a female friendly garage or dealership too because they’ll be able to see quality standards that they can enjoy too.
Being a female friendly business means you have lifted the quality bar – I have been surprised at the businesses that can’t meet what should be a best practice commitment for all today.
Onwards and upwards…
FOXY Steph
