Ahh, the dreaded sticker. The ubiquitous white piece of paper affixed to the inside of the windows of most new vehicles sitting on dealership lots. It has coined numerous turns of phrase, such as sticker shock and sticker price.
Little has changed with regards to a car’s price tag in decades. Look at the two images on the left. The top one is from a 1987 Chevrolet Camaro. The bottom one is from a 2011 Ford Mustang. I pulled both of these images from the Internet, but it’s so interesting to see how little has changed on the sticker in the past quarter-century.
Fast forward to the age of the tablet and smartphones, and you wonder why manufacturers and finance companies are still relying on a piece of paper to provide details about cars. Think of what could be done if there was a tablet attached to the window. You could see more about the car, but for financiers, you could start to provide details about payment options, lease rates, and even allow customers to start applying for credit right there. There are dozens of opportunities and possibilities for auto lenders to innovate the sticker into something resembling a 21st-century product.
More and more retailers are incorporating interactive displays into their locations as a means of promoting their brands and utilizing technology to share information and turn browsers into customers.
Adidas, for example, allows customers to use touchscreens to view, in 3-D, images of more than 8,000 styles of shoes.
For finance companies, a showroom and a sticker price are the best place to start a relationship with a potential customer. Allowing consumers to input information and obtain quotes, rates, or monthly payment estimates establishes a bond right from the point of inquiry. Using tablets or touchscreens to further empower customers to start applying for financing right there only solidifies that bond.
It’s time for the car sticker to be revolutionized and for finance companies to seize this important customer acquisition point.
