Major spikes in website traffic, social media activity and enquiries for new and used cars over the festive season can be effectively managed by digital tools, according to digital marketing specialist Marketing Delivery after evaluating consumer activity at the end of 2022.

It identified a 26.7% increase in traffic, month-on-month, during the final week of 2022 with a further 23.1% jump in traffic on retailers’ sites during the first week of January compared to the previous week.

Marketing Delivery also identified that enquiries for new and used cars increased sharply – on average by 60.4% – during the first week of January 2023 compared to the final week of December 2022, suggesting many of the website visits at the end of the year translated into tangible enquiries.

“This spike in traffic is an indicator of increases in activity on social media platforms, not just visits to websites,” said Charlotte Murray, commercial director at Marketing Delivery. “We always see improvements in the performance of the social media ads that we place on behalf of retailer clients over the festive season and into the New Year.

"For example, from November to December 2022, one of our dealer clients saw a doubling in the volume of website traffic that resulted directly from the dynamic social media ads generated by our SocialStock tool. It’s easy for retailers to set spending limits and quickly drive visibility among a highly engaged, ready-to-buy audience.”

Most motor retailers scale back their staffing levels over the festive period and some will think it is a time for digital marketing to take a break too, but that fails to account for the sharp rise in online activity and the evident uptick in purchase intent, argues Murray.

“It’s clear that motor retailers need to make adequate provision for a significant increase in digital activity over the festive period when many consumers are away from the workplace and spend more time online, and also during the first week of January when a ‘New Year Sale’ mindset proliferates and consumers are on the hunt for offers and incentives.

“With fewer sales and marketing personnel available, digital tools can shoulder the burden of engaging with prospects proactively and reactively, fostering leads and channelling keener prospects into the sales funnel,” said Murray.