The Internet has made many tasks much easier. From communication to entertainment, having access to the web has not only brought the world to our fingertips, but has also allowed that information to arrive more quickly than ever before.
As a result, many tasks that were previously time consuming and frustrating have become simple tasks to complete. One of the best examples of one of these simplified processes is that of purchasing a new car. What used to be a lottery of ‘right place at the right time’ deals, has become a systematic and information-rich search. Whittling down a mountain of potential vehicles on user criteria, buyers can now find vehicles in a fraction of the time with twice the results and an endless amount of options.
For example, take a well-oiled dealership website – it’s likely that you’ll be able to sort vehicles based on price, location, year, amenities, warranty, and much more. If you don’t like what you see, you simply move onto another website. Before dealerships went online, you would have spent half your day looking at that volume of cars, only to realize that none of the vehicles on the lot would work for you. The next step would be moving on to the next dealership only to start all over from square one again.
The changes aren’t just on the buyer side, though. The Internet has also created a way for car manufacturers to tailor their ad campaigns to certain demographics. With the magnitude of data collected on the web, car companies place a hefty weight on Internet user data. They’re not wrong, either. A recent data study explored just how much car searches and buyer preferences shift over time and even illustrates how ad campaigns affect the cars being searched that year. With concrete data like that of the data study, it’s easy to see why car companies care about Internet users and their data.
The internet has changed the way that cars are bought and sold, and in both arenas, the changes have arguably been beneficial. Buyers get more choices more easily, and sellers get better data about their buyers. So, the next time you hop online to search for your dream car, remember that it wasn’t always that easy! Thanks, Internet!
