Walmart is Adding Automobiles to the Grocery List
With the exception of funeral services and stylish clothing, practically anything can be purchased at your local Walmart. Well, that list now includes automobiles. North America’s largest retailer is edging is way into automotive sales with the help of the nation’s largest new-car dealership franchise, AutoNation.
Launching in April, Walmart’s CarSaver program will make it the perfect middleman for impulse car buyers and local dealerships. CarSaver is designed to allow shoppers to browse, select, finance, and insure a vehicle through its website or at kiosks positioned in outside of the nail salons and vision centers of twenty-five Walmart Supercenters.
At launch, 16 AutoNation stores in Phoenix, Houston, and Dallas will be participating, said AutoNation Chief Marketing Officer Marc Cannon. All of the dealerships are within 15 miles of a Walmart CarSaver kiosk.
“The right location is very valuable. You want to make sure it’s convenient for your customers,” Cannon told Automotive News. “It’s not just the sale. We want to keep them as a customer and continue to develop the service part of our business.”
The kiosks will also be available in Oklahoma City Supercenters, however, those will be unaffiliated with AutoNation.
Walmart and CarSaver, backed by twenty dealerships, launched a trial version of the program in Florida in April 2016. The vast majority of scheduled appointments — 80 percent — resulted in a sale and, on average, customers saved over $3,000 off the sticker price. CarSaver’s founders, Sean Wolfington and Chad Collier, claim the program’s fixed pricing, no-pressure, no-haggle policy is what makes it so successful.
“Before I sold my dealerships, I noticed that the leads we bought were also sold to 10 to 15 other dealers, and this hurt our conversion rate and the customer experience because consumers were bombarded by multiple dealers’ emails and calls,” Collier said. “That is also why we deliver appointments rather than leads.”
Typically, CarSaver receives a $350 fee from dealers every time a sale is made using its appointments. Depending on state law, there could be also subscription fee for the service. The program is highly reminiscent of Costco’s automotive buying services, which was a program Wolfington oversaw during his time managing dealerships. “I was impressed with Costco’s program and how much easier it was for the dealership because consumers trusted Costco and appreciated the haggle-free pricing and hassle-free experience,” he said.
Wolfington claims that Costco Auto sells an average of 1,000 new vehicles a year per for every Costco outlet. The Walmart initiative anticipates similar numbers as it expands the platform into more of its 3,500 Supercenters.
[Image: Walmart]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Oh, great, now people will start trying to pay for their cars at Wal-Mart with EBT cards. Well, that solves the problem of what to do with the still leftover 200s and Darts.
But what WalMart customers want to know is can you trade in your hooptie on a newer ride? And, will they get top dollar on the old one.