In an era where everything happens digitally, having e-commerce is one of the best ways to increase a company’s sales. More than simply offering products online, this platform provides a new experience to the user. In this article we’ll tell you how to make this experience better with SAP Commerce solution.
A few years ago, it would be difficult to imagine a customer buying a car on the internet, including the financing process, vehicle trade, and receiving the car at home. But recently, one of the largest automakers in the world, with the support of BRQ, became the first in Brazil to allow the purchase of its entire vehicle lineup 100% online.
Using the SAP Commerce solution and counting on a team of BRQ experts, the automaker built innovative e-commerce, integrating more than 300 car dealerships in the country. With this strategy, the automaker transformed its business in the digital environment and presented a new effective sales channel for Brazilian automotive retail.
In this article, you will better understand the reason behind the success of this partnership. Learn about the role BRQ Digital Solutions played in the entire process and how they overcame the challenge of building a 100% automated sales process.
The automaker’s need: to sell its vehicle lineup 100% online
Until recently, the role of the internet in the car buying experience was almost exclusively focused on advertising vehicles. The websites were seen as channels of information and customization of cars. The consumer could choose the color, model, and even include other items, such as air-conditioning, but could not make the purchase online.
However, digital transformation has brought the challenge of doing business in the automotive industry into a new virtual reality. Seeking to add greater value to the end-user experience while optimizing the processes and gaining efficiency, the car manufacturer launched its e-commerce platform for selling its compact SUV in 2019.
Online sales made the model the automaker’s best-selling car, which made the brand surpass its sales numbers in the past three years. With this positive record, the automaker began the challenge of expanding e-commerce for 100% of its vehicle lineup. However, this strategy would run into some obstacles.
First, the legislation does not allow an automaker to sell its cars directly to the public. The automaker would have to connect e-commerce to the inventory of all partner dealerships to ensure a good shopping experience for the customer. This experience would start in the online environment prepared by the automaker and end with the delivery of the keys and documentation at a point of sale or the customer’s residence.
BRQ Digital Solutions’ role in the project. The SAP Commerce solution
In this context, BRQ took on the challenge of building an integrated solution – which took care of everything from lead management to the selection of the vehicle and the communication with all dealerships, financial companies, and DMV, directing the customer’s order until the final phase.
‘BRQ took on a great challenge. There are several variables behind the purchase of a car. For example, you sell a red car, but there is a different red each year. So, all this information needed to be integrated to ensure there were no surprises to the consumer, no disparity in the vehicle he acquired via e-commerce’, explains Rodolfo Barrionuevo, Executive Manager at BRQ.
For this, BRQ used the SAP commerce platform, a leader in the online commerce market that has been growing for operating in B2B and B2C. SAP commerce is an innovative tool capable of managing the entire marketing and e-commerce within the same software.
After choosing the tool to be used, the development of the SAP solution executed by BRQ was directed to the technical qualification of the platform, integrating all the stages of the purchase, from the choice of the car, inventory check, payment, and the entire purchase cycle to the closing of the sale, including the operations of generating the invoice and monitoring the payment.
BRQ Digital Solutions team also made integrations with the automaker’s bank to access financing options. Thus, it is possible to create simulations and aggregate the cost of the customer’s order in the same operation. Additional connections such as payment options and Salesforce were also needed.
There is also the process of identifying and checking inventories in dealerships, the definition of which cars can be sold, the management of the vehicles’ delivery deadlines, and integration with the ERP.
The platform is also integrated into the DMV, allowing the customer to access the FIPE table and consult any blocks or debits if they want to use their vehicle as part of the payment.
Thus, the visualization of all car models and configurations, product choice, value simulations, and inventory search to find the dealership closest to the customer for delivery required integrations are made through the SAP platform.
All this works fluidly and on a single platform for the end-user. But, behind the scenes, BRQ’s SAP solution was built based on a series of well-orchestrated integrations and operations to ensure the best possible experience for the consumer.
The results and the expansion of the strategy
The automaker has innovated and managed to navigate within this organizational and legislative context to present a car buying experience consistent with the current e-commerce trends.
Jorge Sellmer, SAP Head at BRQ Digital Solutions, says: ‘it is a safe, easy and intuitive process, very innovative and available to be used in all platforms, web or mobile.’ Referring to the measures of isolation and social distancing taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, the professional awarded by SAP in 2018 adds that the automaker’s strategy ‘is a differential, even in the context we live in today. Being prepared to sell online when everybody is remote is to get a head start’.
The 100% automated process allows the automaker to expand its borders and reach cities without dealerships. It can complete its entire sales process within its e-commerce – a foundation for a future expansion in Latina America.
This step could not have come at a better time when segments that have not entered the online market are suffering. Thus, in a context where being digital is almost no longer a differential, the company demonstrates innovation capacity in a traditional market.
The differentials in the implementation of SAP commerce by BRQ
BRQ’s Digital Solutions team connected to the project and built all the necessary integrations. The whole project was developed using the agile methodology for the results to be evolutional and fast when delivering new versions for the automaker.
BRQ’s goal was always to deliver fast and continuous value. To do that, the company counts on professionals specialized in SAP. It is a team with more than 15 years of experience in SAP solutions, focused on the digital transformation of businesses.
Barrionuevo adds, ‘the agility we used to assemble the team that participated in e-commerce was crucial.’ A committed partnership helped BRQ understand the client’s side, gather a multidisciplinary team in record time, and evolve the project consistently.
The SAP solution implemented by BRQ and applied to the automaker’s goals proved it is possible to transform businesses with technology and innovate the user experience with online sales, even in the most challenging and traditional markets.
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