In September 2020, Swedish car manufacturer Volvo (owned by Zhejiang Geely) announced its acquisition of Upplands Motor, a major multi-brand reseller with a number of outlets in the greater Stockholm area. By 2025 Volvo Car aims to sell 50 percent of its global volume online.
First, we asked, formerly Online Manager with Upplands Motor, now with Volvo Car Retail.
What do you want to achieve?
One fundamental idea is to offer our customers a smooth, seamless buying experience, moving freely and smoothly between online and offline. Customers behave in different ways, and we must make sure to adapt to their individual habits, needs, and preferences.
A growing number of car buyers prefer to get the information they want via video, others still feel more at home with traditional media, still images, and text. It’s not about age, most senior people are online today and many of them also like to see the cars come alive on video.
You introduced Phyron’s video solution last year before Upplands Motor was acquired by Volvo. Why video?
First and foremost because we wanted to present our cars in the most attractive and interesting way. Today, video is a natural and increasingly popular part of people’s online experiences, and many car buyers obviously like it.
people’s online experience”
Are you considering any further developments?
Since we started we have added new functionality to highlight special features and accessories. Looking forward, we could definitely do more in the area of services and local activities.
You are selling several different car brands besides Volvo. Do you use the same software solution for all cars? All brands?
We sell new Volvo, Renault, and Dacia cars and vans, plus a wide range of used vehicles. Yes, we use the same solution with the same functionality for all cars, but we apply different styles or design templates for each brand.
People stay longer on our site, watching more cars in more detail, which is great. We have updated our site and our sales efforts in several ways, so I cannot pinpoint the exact effects of each activity in terms of sales. But the combined result of video and other activities is that we have been able to shorten the buying journey considerably. And better presentations of the cars is, of course, a vital part of our ongoing branding work.
the buying journey considerably”
How much time do you spend running the video solution?
Once we were up and running we really don’t spend any extra time at all. We take a few pictures of the car and enter them together with the essential facts into our own car database. Just like we did before introducing the video. And that’s it really. Phyron automatically retrieves all information from there and turns it into video ready for use on our site and elsewhere, including social media.
extra time at all”
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