Digital influence study
Understanding the role and influence of various sites across stages in the car shopping process.
new vehicle shoppers are undecided on a vehicle
new vehicle shoppers cross-shop with used vehicles
The average new vehicle shopper spends 105 days in market.
Explore - 50 Days
Initial exploration of brands and vehicles available in the market and just starting to think about next vehicle purchase.
Consider - 28 Days
Actively building a list of brands and vehicles to consider for next vehicle purchase and researching those of interest.
Select - 19 Days
Selected the brand(s) or vehicle(s) on consideration list, visited a dealership to look at vehicles, but have not started the buying process
Buy - 8 Days
Ready to engage with a dealership in negotiations or conversations about sales price, trade-in, and financing.
New vehicle shoppers spend most time in explore & consider stages because they don't have an exact vehicle in mind
% Auto ads are helpful in decisions
% Researched a brand / vehicle after seeing an advertisement
Recall of auto ads highest on third party sites.
top websites that shoppers recall seeing advertising online:
THIRD PARTY SITES
DEALER WEBSITES
OEM SITES
SOCIAL MEDIA
NEWS AND MEDIA WEBSITES
of new vehicle shoppers in the consider stage have already changed their consideration set
![](https://b2b.autotrader.com/wp-content/themes/b2bautotrader/legacy/dist/img/digital-influence/arrow-300x300.png)
THIRD PARTY SITE
DEALER SITE
OEM SITES
SEARCH SITES
SOCIAL MEDIA
New vehicles shoppers prefer third party sites over all others
28%
OEM SITE
19%
Dealer Site
12%
Search Site
3%
SOCIAL MEDIA
Third Party Sites are viewed as trusted and unbiased
Top benefits for each site
Third Party
- Unbiased
- Trustworthy
- Reliable
- Knowledgeable
OEM
- Knowledgeable
- Detailed Information
- Accurate Information
- Comprehensive
Dealer
- Accurate Information
Search
- Easy to find content
Social
- Not a top site for any benefits
Third Party
- Unbiased
- Trustworthy
- Reliable
- Knowledgeable
OEM
- Knowledgeable
- Detailed Information
- Accurate Information
- Comprehensive
Dealer
- Accurate Information
Search
- Easy to find content
Social
- Not a top site for any benefits
63% of shoppers interact with us before purchasing their new vehicle. Cut through the clutter and reach more shoppers when it matters most in their journey.
Digital influence study
- This online study was conducted during June 2019 among 1,800 new vehicle shoppers AND recent new vehicle purchasers.
- Ages 18-70 years old
- Shoppers: plan to purchase within next 6 months
- Buyers: recently purchased in the past 6 months
- Research completed by KS&R, an independent market research firm headquartered in Syracuse, NY.
They have an unbiased opinion and have a larger amount of information and different types of cars and brands.
Every brand is at your fingertips. You don’t have to go from site to site which is tedious.