In order to help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency, while helping consumers solve various pain points of car purchase. The "Autohome Space Station" came into being, and it is planned to cover 50 cities in the next year. The picture shows the "2024 Autohome Space Station Sailing Conference" held at the Beijing Automobile Museum.
As an indispensable part of the traditional automotive sales channel, dealers are facing a severe test. Statistics show that in recent years, due to the high cost of customer acquisition, supply and demand and other reasons, the loss of auto dealers has increased, and some 4S stores have been closed one after another.
These challenges are forcing auto dealers to start thinking about transformation and how to find the best balance between user experience and cost efficiency. Among them, the emergence of the concept of "new retail" has allowed the automobile retail market to find a new "route", and new energy vehicles are regarded as the "best test field".
On the one hand, unlike the mature retail service system of traditional fuel vehicles, the sales channels of new energy vehicles are still improvingOn the other hand, with the intensive introduction of favorable policies to "encourage new energy vehicles to go to the countryside", in order to leverage the huge consumption potential of the sinking market, it is necessary to complete the infrastructure and open up circulation channels. This means that all parties, including autos**, car dealers and car companies, must act as soon as possible.
Recently, at the "2024 Autohome Space Station Sailing Conference", Yang Song, Senior Vice President of Autohome and Chairman of Tiantian Paiche, said that around the service system of new automobile retail, especially new energy vehicles, Autohome hopes to create a win-win ecosystem for consumers, OEMs and dealers, not only to help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency, but also to help consumers solve various pain points of car purchase and optimize the consumer experience.
In his opinion, it is unlikely that cars will be able to solve problems entirely on Internet platforms like other FMCG products. For consumers, it is not only necessary to see all models on one **, but also to see the most objective third-party evaluation, as well as the real interaction and word-of-mouth of car owners. At the same time, when buying a new car, there must also be an offline scene to serve consumers to see the car and test drive the experience offline.
Yang Song believes that it is difficult for any single car brand to meet these demands of consumers, and the offline 4S stores of car dealers also need to complement their online capabilities.
Therefore, we are actively expanding our offline new retail business. Yang Song said that the "Autohome Space Station" is a new platform to solve the above needs for consumers. He said that the "Autohome Space Station" can not only allow OEMs, dealers and consumers to connect seamlessly, but also continuously expand the boundary, integrate more offline resources, and promote the innovation and healthy development of new automotive retail.
Yang Song said frankly that it is precisely in view of the declining profit margins of auto dealers and the continuous tightening of offline outlets of auto platforms that the "car space station" needs to gradually expand its scale.
He said, "In the past three years, there have been more than 5,000 stores of various brands in supermarkets in China, and the profit and loss point of such supermarket experience stores is about 40 new cars sold every month. But in fact, there are not many stores that can achieve this goal, and most of them are still in a state of loss. ”
In the vast number of third- and fourth-tier cities, because of the limited market scale, it is difficult for many single brands to sink into such a market. In fact, local consumers also have the need to buy new energy vehicles, but there is no channel for them to experience and consume. Yang Song took new energy vehicles to the countryside as an example, and said that the landing of the "Autohome Space Station" in the sinking markets such as third- and fourth-tier cities can not only provide local consumers with a one-stop channel to see, choose, buy and change cars, but also help new energy vehicle brands accelerate the development of the sinking market, "This is a win-win measure."
In fact, since the opening of the first store in September 2022, the "Autohome Space Station" has completed the layout in 20 cities in China, and has continuously iterated and optimized from the perspective of user experience, and has achieved a series of remarkable results.
It is understood that in addition to the layout of first-tier and new first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the "Autohome Space Station" is also accelerating the layout in Kunming, Guiyang, Haikou and other provincial capitals, and at the same time, in the sinking markets of Sichuan Leshan, Guangzhou Zhaoqing and other prefecture-level cities, the figure of "Autohome Space Station" has gradually appeared.
Yang Song said: "By continuing to expand our footprint, we hope to explore new opportunities for the ever-changing automotive consumer market. ”
The automobile industry is becoming a pillar industry of the national economy, and Autohome's promotion of new retail business is a positive response to the general trend of economic development and industrial development. Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China National Association, believes that the "Autohome Space Station" is conducive to helping car companies, dealers and other participants accelerate the pace of digital and intelligent transformation and help the high-quality development of the automobile industry.
At the event, representatives of investors from 20 stores expressed their expectations. Sun Yu, an investor in Autohome Space Station Beijing, said: "The new retail model created by Autohome Space Station has achieved a breakthrough in the traditional sales and marketing model. It connects its own resource advantages, amplifies the boundaries of products and services, and creates a flexible and efficient ecosystem for OEMs, dealers and consumers. ”
It is worth mentioning that in order to promote the dissemination of automobile culture and promote the healthy development of the automobile industry, Autohome announced that it has reached a strategic cooperation with Beijing Automobile Museum, and the two sides have decided to jointly build a new energy vehicle science experience base.
The strategic cooperation between Autohome and Beijing Automobile Museum is a good opportunity for the two sides to complement each other's advantages and develop synergistically in terms of culture, popular science, education, public welfare, and innovative technology. Zhou You, vice president of Autohome, said that Beijing's first "Autohome Space Station" will be located on the first floor of the museum.
Qiao Xiaopeng, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of Beijing Automobile Museum, said: "As an industry-leading automotive information platform, Autohome has abundant industry resources. The new retail format model of 'Autohome Space Station' represents the possible future development direction of the automobile consumer market. In the future, based on the commonality of spreading automobile culture, the two sides will better link resources, stimulate each other's innovation inspiration, and explore more possibilities under the strong alliance. ”
This means that whether it is the popularization of automobile culture or the innovation of new automotive retail, the "Autohome Space Station" hopes to start a new journey in 2024.
Yang Song said that the "Autohome Space Station" will continue to expand its layout across the country, and is expected to complete the offline layout covering 50 cities in 2024, gathering innovative resources for the development of more regional industries and helping the regional economy continue to release new vitality. "In addition, Autohome Space Station also plans to further explore overseas business and help Chinese car companies take the first step to go overseas. ”
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network Intern Reporter Wang Zhiyuan Reporter Xu Yajie **China Youth Daily.
*: China Youth Daily Travel Weekly.