Los Angeles -- Drew Slaven, Chief Marketing Officer at Mercedes-Benz in the U.S., says that Americans are radically changing the way they shop for cars, but actually buying them the way they have for more than a century. At a dinner with me this week during the Los Angeles Auto Show, Slaven pointed out that Mercedes’ budget for the brochures that dealers hand out in showrooms has gone from something like $17 million when he started at the company 16 years ago to $2 million -- “if that” -- now. The reason: Most people shop for cars online, then come in to the dealerships with their minds made up. They know the specs already.
Where once consumers visited four showrooms before making a purchase, now they visit 1.2, Slaven (pictured below) said. That lines up with information from Autotrader that says car buyers start out undecided. When they first begin their search, the company said, six out of 10 are willing to consider a variety of vehicles. But by the time they hit the dealership, they know what they want.
According to digital marketing agency Adtaxi, 86 percent of consumers shop online before buying. The most common pattern is for people to visit a