The automotive industry is on the edge of a new digital era and Mazda Motor Europe desires to be at the forefront of this change. Aiming to help dealerships and modern customers, the second largest regional unit of Mazda is planning to set up digital marketplaces in all its 22 European operating countries with the help of VTEX. For the first time in the Mazda ecosystem, nearly 1,600 dealerships will be able to sell new and used vehicles online, attuning their business to new customer demands and trends. The implementation and roll-out will follow a phased approach, supported by the Transaction Experience Partner (TXP) diva-e Digital Value Excellence GmbH.
Mazda’s digital vision
In the future, Mazda sees “cars, the earth and society existing in harmony”. But the society of the future is not the society of yesterday or even today; the society of the future will rely even more heavily on digital. And for cars and society to live harmoniously in those digital times, people will need to be able to buy cars – where else than? – online.
Mazda Motor Europe recognized the path we’re on and decided to spearhead the move towards automotive ecommerce through a bold plan that spans across 22 European countries. A so-called Mazda Vehicle Stock Locator, localized to each country, will allow shoppers to easily buy new and eventually used Mazda vehicles through three steps:
- Identify the desired models at the dealerships nearest to their location;
- Reserve the selected vehicle by making an online down-payment or use a financing approval stream working together with a banking partner;
- Close the purchase at the chosen dealership.
On top of being quite a rarity in the wider auto industry, this is a premiere in the Mazda ecosystem. Even though Mazda dealerships sometimes had their proprietary, disparate platforms, those did not possess a transactional component. In other words, customers could not actually reserve cars online, just merely gain information about models, view offers, locate dealers or book test drives.
Mazda’s upcoming digital marketplaces would not only bridge this gap, but they would also significantly improve the customer journey through a centralized platform compiling all dealerships, not to mention a superior, seamless shopping experience in perfect and consistent sync with the Mazda brand. The website design, done in conjunction with diva-e, aims to offer an easy and intuitive way to browse vehicles in every customer’s specific geography. Further down the road, the goal is to see these websites offer a completely digital car shopping experience, with additional features such as vehicle configuration, financing calculation and approval and test drive booking.
But that’s not all. On top of coming to the aid of sellers and buyers alike, another extremely valuable asset gained thanks to this initiative is customer insights. Indeed, Mazda will no longer be a faraway entity for its end-consumers and will instead step closer to those that truly do “celebrate driving”. By having direct access to the way they shop, Mazda can then optimize processes and offers. Customer-centricity reigns supreme.
Why VTEX?
After analyzing and comparing over 400 technological solutions, Mazda Motor Europe finally selected a technological partner for its grand digital endeavor – VTEX. Let’s take a look at the main reasons why exactly that happened.
1. Expertise in automotive ecommerce
VTEX is no stranger to the automotive industry. It is already powering numerous other automotive ecommerce projects, varying from direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce to marketplaces for auto parts. Coincidentally, one project in VTEX’s robust automotive portfolio is Mazda Colombia, where customers could pre-order their Mazda cars online. In just a month, over 800 car reservations had been made successfully, blowing away all campaign forecasts.
All that prior experience in the industry gave Mazda Motor Europe the peace of mind that VTEX has the ecommerce solutions, mindset and people to see such a massive project through.
2. Native marketplace capabilities
At the core of Mazda Motor Europe’s project lies the desire to bring together all dealerships under one digital roof in order to present a comprehensive stock overview to the customer and support its dealers across Europe. But that’s easier said than done for most ecommerce platform-providers. For VTEX, though, it’s simple.
VTEX’s native marketplace capabilities will enable Mazda Motor Europe to easily and quickly onboard local dealerships onto its digital marketplaces while also equipping them with the autonomy to manage their own digital operations.
3. Composable and agile architecture
For Mazda, a seamless customer experience was imperative, one that permits the shopper to be assisted from end-to-end of the automotive ecommerce experience. Additionally, Mazda wanted all digital touch points to maintain brand consistency, an aspect that requires the front-end to be easily customizable and replicable.
VTEX IO, with its composable front-end and back-end architecture, fit the bill. It offered a secure, GDPR-compliant solution that supports numerous integrations and tailor-made components to be built on top of it, in addition to functionalities such as multi-language, multi-currency, intelligent search and a first-rate Site Editor. Plus, with servers hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS), stability and scalability would never pose a problem.
4. Fast time-to-revenue
VTEX has demonstrated time and time again how quickly it can reach time-to-revenue for its enterprise customers and Mazda expects the same. The goal is now to set up Mazda Motor Europe’s first digital marketplace in the United Kingdom in a matter of just a few months. Afterwards, VTEX will be preparing for the long run: launching all remaining digital marketplaces throughout 2022.
5. Commitment to Mazda’s success
Last but not least, VTEX has differentiated itself from the beginning of this selection process through its commitment to Mazda’s vision and wishes. It went above and beyond to ensure all of Mazda’s demands are met and it will continue to do so throughout a partnership bound to be fruitful.
“We are excited to shape the digital future of the automotive industry through a bold initiative that serves both customers and dealerships and, after careful consideration, we have handpicked VTEX to accompany us on this transformation journey. Since early on in the process, VTEX has shown incredible commitment to turn our vision into reality, acting as a true long-term partner.”
Matthias Sileghem, VP Communications & Public Affairs of Mazda Motor Europe
For more information on Mazda Motor Europe’s project and how VTEX is powering it, please read the full PR here.
