Our October 2018 On-the-Lot report picked up where our July report left off by examining which automotive lots mobile shoppers visited the most; and which ones they cross-shopped the most while they were on someone else’s lot. In October, Toyota was the most visited lot for the non-luxury category — and BMW was the most visited lot for the luxury category.
As we did most recently in July and April 2018, we identified the top five non-luxury and luxury brands with the most lot visits in the month. For each brand, we identified the top lots that Cars.com mobile shoppers also visited – in other words, the most popular lots for cross-shopping. Here’s what we found:
October Shoppers Loved Visiting Toyota and BMW Lots
Toyota retained its hold on the top spot. Chevrolet, CDJR, Ford, and Honda rounded out the top five. The ranking remained unchanged since July. Meanwhile, BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, and Audi were the top five most visited luxury brands. Mercedes-Benz moved up one place, and Lincoln dropped a notch.
The Top 5 have remained fairly consistent from report to report. Back in April (the last time we published this report before July), Chevrolet was the most visited non-luxury brand and Cadillac claimed the honors for the luxury category. Going into 2019, Toyota, Chevrolet, BMW, and Cadillac can all lay claim to most visited based on the consistently high Number One or Two rankings from April through October.
Nissan and Cadillac Stood Out for Cross-Shopping
When we looked at which brands were most cross-shopped, Nissan emerged Number One – a position it has held consistently for the non-luxury category — and Cadillac was Number One for the luxury category.
In fact, Nissan was the only brand that appeared on every other brand’s list. In other words, whether shoppers were visiting Toyota, Chevrolet, CDJR, Ford, Honda, BMW, Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, or Audi, they were all checking out Nissan lots, too.
So why wasn’t Nissan the most visited lot or even in the Top Five most visited? Because although Nissan made the Top 10 for every lot, usually other brands ranked noticeably above Nissan when we examined the data. Nissan held the distinction for the most cross-shopped brand in our July 2018, April 2018, and December 2017 reports. Nissan is getting a lot of looks!
Dealerships, pay close attention to which brands are getting the most cross-shopping attention:
- All dealers should be ready to answer shoppers’ questions on the lot about the brands that are indexing high for cross-shopping with your own brands. For example, our report showed that people who visit Toyota lots visited Honda, Chevrolet, and CDJR lots more than any other. If that pattern holds in coming months, Toyota dealers are going to be going head to head with those brands especially.
- Nissan dealerships might want to consider ways to lure shoppers to their lots as shoppers go the last mile to research before purchase. Nissan is clearly a highly considered brand, but Nissan has an opportunity to do better.
Check out our October On-the-Lot report. And, check out all of our monthly reports.
