Future of Car Dealerships: Omnichannel Sales in the Experience Economy, The

As the demographics of the car-buying population begin to undergo dramatic shifts, the dealership model is facing unprecedented challenges to adapt to the new experience economy. Currently, only 17% of polled participants like the current car-buying model, which has negative implications for multiple industries directly and complementarily associated with dealerships. With industry disruptors, such as Tesla, challenging the quo socially, technologically, and legislatively while hedging at leaders and garnering market share, the car salesman concept (that has been in place since the inception of automobiles) is under attack. The goal of this project was to analyze the dealership model and the consumer market, and to ultimately determine the future of the car-buying process. This was accomplished by investigating consumer preferences, trends in the automobile and transportation industries, international comparisons, and the history of the dealership. All of this was taken into account to develop a sustainable, omnichannel prototype of the dealership model that benefits both the industry firms and consumers.