In 2019, Cadillac Canada launched the service Cadillac Live, a virtual showroom where consumers could explore the automaker’s various models and chat with a representative from the comfort of their living room. With no pressure and no sales intent, Cadillac Live was trying to transform the way Canadian consumers shop for a new vehicle. Three years later, the service is proving more popular than ever and even allows Cadillac to sell more vehicles.
If Cadillac Live was only a pilot project when it was inaugurated, today it is an important link in the consumer’s shopping chain. According to Philippe-André Bisson, head of communications for General Motors of Canada, the service recorded 100,000 individual sessions across North America in 2020.
The pandemic has helped
In fact, Cadillac Live statistics show that the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly favorable for this service. Indeed, there is a 15% increase in sessions between 2020 and 2021. In addition, Cadillac prides itself on the fact that its virtual service has seen a 22% increase in test drives generated by Cadillac Live during the same period.
“Basically, the numbers are increasing year over year for the number of calls and test drives since opening in 2019. This tells us that more and more consumers prefer a platform like Cadillac Live for the purchase of their vehicle,” Mr. Bisson told us in an email exchange.
See the future before others?
Did Cadillac see a trend coming before others with this service? When it was inaugurated, the automotive industry was already trying to revolutionize the way people buy a vehicle on several fronts.
For example, Genesis and Tesla offered corporate business models, ie the purchase was made through an online transaction with home delivery of the vehicle. Volvo and Porsche even offered the option of purchasing a vehicle by virtue of a monthly subscription, and certain groups of dealerships in the greater Montreal area had already begun the principle of a showroom used solely for consultation and in road tests.
It was difficult at the time to predict whether these new trends would bear fruit. In the case of Cadillac, it is obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic has worked in its favor. Today more than ever, our civilization operates virtually and transacts almost everything online. A virtual, free and pressure-free car shopping service like Cadillac’s makes perfect sense today.
