According to J.D. Power’s 2014 Canadian Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study, Canadians shopping for vehicles online tended to rate OEM website performance lower than their counterparts in the U.S. The study, which ranked all OEM automotive websites on a 1000 point scale, measured four key criteria related to the usefulness of these websites among consumers. These were:
• Information/content;
• Appearance;
• Navigation;
• Speed.
In order to learn more about the findings, Canadian auto dealer interviewed J.D. Ney, Manager, Automotive Research and Consulting at J.D. Power in Canada.
Ney says that some of the differentiation was down to website investment. “A U.S. site might showcase 40 different interior images of a vehicle, whereas the Canadian equivalent might show 10,” says Ney.
However, despite the findings, J.D. Power noted that in some cases, Canadian OEM websites outperformed their U.S. counterparts and a good example was Toyota.ca. Ney says a lot of that comes down to site functionality. “We found that the Canadian site was a lot cleaner and more intuitive. It is much easier to find what you are looking for and to navigate the site.”
He notes that when it comes to Canadian consumers, the most important factors when using OEM automotive websites relate to finding the particular model the shopper is looking for, the ability to build and specify it to their needs and where to find a dealership to shop for it. “Those are critical functions and the websites that make finding and using those functions as easily as possible will be the ones that perform better.”
If we can’t have all the images and videos, we should at least be able to build the car easily.”
