AM Awards 2016 - Digital Initiative of the Year

After making headlines across the industry and beyond with its one-stop online new car sales system, BMW Group UK has secured this year’s overall Digital Initiative of the Year award.

While the premise of BMW Retail Online is to offer customers the option of completing the entire car-buying process online, the system also promises to efficiently harness ready-made leads for dealerships.

In its AM Awards entry, the BMW Group said: “The establishment of a full online retail channel for new cars, together with the retail network, clearly changes the way we do business on both national and retailer level.”

The streamlining of the sales process and increasing customer satisfaction through the convenience of 24/7 availability were earmarked as objectives of the project.

Equally, it is hoped that many buyers will take advantage of the BMW Retail Online system’s 3D virtual car viewing area, configurator and BMW Financial Services finance calculator before heading to a retailer for a test drive or to complete the deal.

BMW Group UK said: “BMW Retail Online is a convenient and comprehensive digital sales solution with strong integration of the dealer network.”

Part of the site’s function is to provide details of where the closest match to a customer’s configured car is located and every step of the process can be completed with the assistance, via live chat, of a BMW ‘genius’ or a sales executive at a BMW retailer.

The AM Awards judges said BMW Retail Online “represents a part of the future”.