Overview
When someone speaks of eCommerce, we generally think of industries like retail, fashion, and food and beverage. However, “commerce” is not limited to these industries and it plays a role in all sectors including the automotive industry.
The automotive industry is putting a huge amount of money into technological advancements like AI, chatbots, connected cars, and the Internet of Things (IoT). This is all the more important as an average driver spends around 50 minutes in a car every day.
Through this blog, we will understand the challenges of automotive industry owners and how commercetools helps you do away with all those issues.
Challenges Encountered by the Automotive Industry
The automotive industry has to keep up with several challenges to survive the competitors, changing customer expectations, and market dynamics.
Here’s a sneak peek into the top 3 issues faced by automobile businesses.
- Certain automobile brands are still using conventional software and processes. These are slow and clumsy.
- Automobile business owners have to struggle with complex organizational structures across B2C and B2B in addition to the relationships involving car dealers and automobile eCommerce marketplaces.
- It is difficult to drive revenue and retain customers amidst the rising digitization expectations like “functions of demand”
If you are battling these challenges, commercetools can be your perfect partner. It is a robust and agile platform that caters to present-day needs and will accommodate future requirements too. Read more on the benefits of commercetools.
Benefits of commercetools as a next-gen eCommerce platform
commercetools plays four crucial roles in propelling profitability for automobile eCommerce businesses. Let’s discuss each one of them.
1. Microservices
If you are in the automobile industry, you are most likely to get confined by combining the work of different
moving parts. commercetools overcomes this issue and allows you quick development and deployment. It will also let automakers differentiate their offerings process flows without having to build basic commerce functionality.
The microservices architecture approach facilitates bringing together loosely coupled, independently deployable small components or “services” to build a single, more complex application. With the help of microservices, the apps become easy to deploy again and again. You can count on them as they deliver prompt responses.
As the teams are formed considering their function instead of technology, microservices give a leg up to innovation and remove bottlenecks. Also, they can focus on functions like cart, checkout, and loyalty, which in turn gives them the autonomy to enhance the customer experience.
2. API-First Technology
commercetools keeps API at the cynosure of the digital operations in any automobile business. The RESTful APIs by this platform are simple to use and improve the discoverability of the features. It leads to an almost flat learning curve for any developer. By choosing commercetools as the base of your eCommerce infrastructure, automakers can easily add commerce functions such as shopping carts and product catalogs into any frontend UI or touchpoint.
It offers 100% GraphQL coverage for APIs that lets client developers access exact data irrespective of the source. If you are looking for a platform that offers the highest GraphQL support for your automobile business, commercetools is the perfect solution.
They have a patented API extensibility that makes it easy to add any functionality to your API and tailor it to match your needs.
3. Cloud-Native Applications
Faster development with better scalability and maintainability are the perquisites of cloud-native applications. Owing to its fully-managed SaaS commerce capabilities, it helps reduce the TCO and expedites the time to market.
It ensures future-proof connectivity and provides the automakers a foundation to adapt to innovation and change. Car manufacturers will be able to produce connected vehicles that impart a responsive mobile experience and transpire futuristic mobility concepts.
4. Headless Commerce
In layman’s language, headless commerce means that the front end is separated from the backend. The headless commerce feature by commercetools enables backend iterations independently. So, automobile industry owners can rest assured that there will be no disruptions in the user experience. It will lower the risk and increase speed even when new features are being added. You can update the content presentation layer or business functional layer, and no functionality will be hampered.
With headless commerce, turning new devices and channels into revenue streams will be a reality. Right from digital signage to voice assistants to in-car interfaces, commercetools makes everything a breeze.
There was a time when you had to wait for weeks to activate a new feature. However, headless commerce allows you to adapt to those market changes within hours, eliminating the need for developers to burn the midnight oil.
To understand how this MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headleass) based platform can help in following the latest innovations taking place in the Automotive industry.
Newer Innovations in the Automotive eCommerce Sector
In-car Payments
The global in-vehicle payment system market size is projected to reach USD 12.50 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 20.9% in the 2021-2028 period. Digital Drive data has revealed that only 16.7% of commuters use in-dash automobile systems, while 56.3% of them prefer smartphones or in-app credit card systems.
With in-car payment systems, you need to figure out whether you want to go for in-car connectivity, smartphone-based connectivity, or a combination of the two.
Here are some use cases for fintech in the automotive industry:
- Pay for fuel at the gas station
- Make payment for connected parking to get a cashless, ticketless, and stress-free experience
- Dispatch timely updates about possible hardware or software malfunctions to vehicle owners with the help of predictive maintenance technology
- Paying tolls by automatically registering the car and securely deducting funds from the driver’s account connected to the vehicle
Voice Control Car Systems
According to a 2022 report, 125 million U.S. drivers utilize voice control technology in cars. This figure is expected to increase even further as in-car voice systems get more advanced and understand natural speech. These voice assistants learn from previous interactions and it is believed that statements like “Sorry, I didn’t get what you’re trying to say” will be passé. In the present times, drivers can fulfill several hands-free tasks with the help of in-car voice assistants.
These tasks include:
- Controlling car systems like in-car temperature, windshield wiper operation, door locks, etc
- Ordering at restaurants, cafes, and consumer-goods stores
- Operating infotainment systems like the radio and audio streaming services
- Placing and receiving hands-free calls
- Setting navigational goals and getting directions on the go
- Retrieving interactive car manuals
- Getting relevant information from voice assistants about everything you need to know
How Volkswagen Group Redefined Centralized Commerce Across Their Multiple Brands, Markets, and Channels: A Case Study by commercetools
The Volkswagen Group was struggling to launch a centralized eCommerce solution. They were looking for a powerful cloud-based platform that could deliver commerce functionality and online channels for the first time.
The Solution by commercetools
commercetools delivered a solution that allowed the customers to buy everything — ranging from vehicles to hubcaps and digital services from any Volkswagen-owned brand like Seat, Audi, Bentley, and Porsche.
It was a huge success because of flexible, composable microservices from commercetools. It enabled the implementation of digital strategies as easily as short-term push notifications and promotions. They also amalgamated AWS cloud technology and commercetools, which in turn helped the company to make changes instantly.
The Outcome
Volkswagen has to add new product data just once, and the solution will automatically update it across every channel. As a result, customers will be able to make purchases from any platform without having to wait.
In a Nutshell
Connected cars are no longer a far-fetched dream. The car industry has gracefully embraced the future of connected mobility. Car manufacturers are striving to render unified experiences throughout the entire customer journey. It will also help in delivering connected carts with D2C mobility services. After all, in-car payments unveil a potential USD 212 billion business opportunity. commercetools will facilitate the usage of built-in voice interfaces like Amazon Echo so that the consumers can easily interact with apps and services, shop online, plan a vacation, or look for a nearby parking spot.
commercetools allows drivers to upgrade lighting, driving assists systems, and engineering capabilities, adding infotainment as subscription service. They will be able to have a tailormade driving experience with functions on demand. The emergence of IoT innovations is paving avenues for smarter, safer cars that help avoid accidents, track vehicles, and make emergency calls.
Brands like Audi, BMW, and Volkswagen have already supercharged innovation with commercetools personalization and composable commerce features. And your brand gotta be next!
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Minal Joshi is a content marketer at Krish with a flair for eCommerce and Digital Commerce aspects. She is a MarTech fanatic with a knack of writing with which, she helps brands to curate, create, & commence digital brand positioning. Sharing insights via articles, case studies, eBooks, Infographics, and other forms of content creation is what she lives for. Being an ardent traveler, when not writing, you'll find her sipping coffee into the mountains or petting a stray.
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