WOMENÂ are 71% more likely to buy a car online than men, according to a new analysis of visitor behaviour in the traditional and internet car retail environments.
The latest sales figures crunched by analysts at the online motor retail specialist BuyaCar show that not only are women who visit BuyaCar.co.uk more decisive buyers than men, they are also significantly more likely to order a car than women who visit a traditional dealership.
This latest data may help to explain why the online motor retail market is continuing to grow even as traditional dealers face another year of falling sales.
Last year the traditional market saw a sales downturn of 6.8% while online sales continued to grow for the third year running. To date, in 2019, the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ market is down again by almost three per cent while sales on BuyaCar.co.uk are up by 12 per cent.
As well as demonstrating more purchase intent than men, when visiting an internet car sales provider, women are also evidently more comfortable to place an order online than in an ordinary dealership.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, women account for about 34% of all car purchases in the traditional dealer environment, despite forming around half of all showroom traffic. But at BuyaCar.co.uk just over 40% of car orders come from women even though almost three times as many men visit the site.
And although men are still buying more cars than women online overall, the likelihood of a woman who visits the site making a firm purchase decision is 71% greater than for a man. Analysts at BuyaCar.co.uk arrived at the figure by comparing the number of men and women visiting the site during 2019 and breaking them down into the rate at which they place firm orders.
As well as confirming many previous studies suggesting that women are less comfortable than men in the traditional dealer environment, this latest analysis also suggests that women browse for cars online in a more purposeful or practical way than men, with more intent to make a purchase decision.
Austin Collins, Managing Director of BuyaCar.co.uk, said: “We have long been aware that our female customers are driving sales growth faster than men but this is the first time we have put a figure on how much more likely women are than men to place an order.
“With women forming 28% of our website visitors but consistently accounting for 40% of our sales, it’s clear that women are generally the most purposeful and decisive visitors.
“It’s yet more evidence that offering the no-pressure transparency of an ‘Amazon-like’ car buying experience, complete with home delivery, is especially welcomed by the section of the population that consistently reports feeling less happy taking the traditional approach to buying cars.”
