A friend of mine recently bought a car without ever stepping into the dealership. It’s being delivered to his door. He conducted the entire purchase over the phone and Internet.
When he walks out of his front door Monday morning there will be a new BMW sitting in his driveway. He’ll hand over the keys of his old car for the driver to take back to the dealership. He’ll drive off to work in his new car without wasting a minute of time at the dealership.
The old days of spending hours at a dealership while the salesman went back and forth to “check” with his manager are over. No more wasted Saturdays.
Car buying isn’t the only experience that’s changed. Think about your last purchase, did you spend more time online, on in the store? If you’re like most of us, you do your research online; the store is for picking things up.
The internet has permanently changed buyer behavior and the implications are huge. We’ve made a paradigm shift that will affect the way we live and work, how organizations are structured and which skills are important in the modern workplace. Here are two big changes that are here to stay: