Changes in buying behaviour driving demand and complexity in vehicle movement
The rise of online selling and the ‘sell us your car’ private buying channel, the shift from ownership to usership, and the disruption of the remarketing sector are just a few of the factors leading to a growing need for vehicle movement.
These trends are not only increasing the number of movements needed, but also the range of movements required. Dealers, OEMs, online retailers, leasing companies and new models such as ‘sell us your car models’ have proliferated and so too has the need for vehicle movement to support new ways of working.
The logistics burden placed on a traditional dealer, for example, has significantly increased in complexity.
To put it simply, 10 years ago, some dealers may well have not had to organise any vehicle movements. Vehicles arrived on bulk transporters from ports or auctions, and 100% of sales were done physically.
To stay competitive, dealers now need to be able to offer home delivery, purchase vehicles one-by-one from the private individuals, and likely support a proliferation of ownership models being pushed by OEM and leasing partners.
This trend is likely to only increase as the online shift continues and the agency model rolls out.
One customer no longer equals one type of movement - rental isn’t just defleeting, and dealerships aren’t just inter-branch transfers. As such, we have spent a lot of time thinking about how we can help bring simplicity to an increasingly complex picture for all of our customers.
Next month, we are introducing a functionality to all clients that allows them to build multiple ‘customisable workflows’. This gives customers form-building capabilities, allowing its delivery drivers to follow complex sets of instructions with ease.
The customer specifies not only the instructions to be followed, but the type of data they want collected, including photos and setting multiple select options. It marks a shift from traditional one-size-fits-all PoDs to truly customisable, digital workflows - the data from which can be integrated straight into customer systems.
The functionality comes with several further advantages. It allows us to better identify, protect and remove personal information, as well as vary pricing to reflect the complexity of different movement types.
This is a really important step forward for Engineius in becoming the one-stop-shop vehicle logistics solution for companies across the automotive industry, however large or complex.