Nissan’s DTC ecommerce is shifting the gears of the automotive industry

When you think of buying a car, you’re most likely not picturing yourself configuring, ordering and paying for it online while you sip your morning coffee. But thanks to the pioneering work of Nissan Brazil and its virtual direct-to-consumer (DTC) store with a 100% digital shopping journey, you can now do exactly that.

Here’s some automotive industry wisdom for you: when it comes to actually selling cars, that job is usually left to the dealerships, not to the manufacturer. In order to buy a car, the customer needs to travel to the nearest dealership, where it configures the model, negotiates the price and signs all documentation papers. Rarely do those dealerships have an ecommerce channel and, if they do, important steps of the shopping journey remain to be made on physical premises, meaning the process is a time-consuming hassle for the customer. 

Nissan Brazil recognized that the automotive status quo needed to adapt to today’s digital imperative, no matter how challenging it may be. Thus, it started to entertain the idea of direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce, aware that such an initiative was just a step forward from the institutional tools that it already possessed, like digital information on the car model.

“If the dealerships don’t offer an ecommerce channel, we as the manufacturing company should do it, for the customer needs someone, anyone, to do it. The customer doesn’t wait.”