Spoticar, one label to replace them all
Following the announcement that PSA Groupe will replace seven of its eight used car labels by the new brand “Spoticar”, Fleet Europe spoke with Marc Lechantre, Director of the Used Car Business Unit at PSA.
What exactly is Spoticar?
Spoticar is the second-hand vehicle channel that will cover all PSA brands except DS. It has already been launched in France and ten other European countries will follow later this year.
Within the framework of PSA’s Push to Pass-plan, we decided to replace seven of our eight existing second-hand car labels by one new brand. So, Peugeot Occasions du Lion, Citroën Select, Opel Sélection, Vauxhall NetworkQ, Cardays, Eurorepar Car Service Occasions and Occasion Garantie are all replaced by the new label. Only DS Certified, the second-hand label of our premium brand will remain alongside Spoticar.
Why did you change your strategy?
The first reason for the launch of one B2C-multibrand label is that it will enlarge our customer base with people interested in other used cars than those of the PSA brands. The second reason is simplification for our dealers, who often represent several of our group’s brands and had to invest in different labels with all the obligations that came with it. The Spoticar label makes their organisation less complex. The third reason is that replacing eight different labels by only two, helps us to effectively concentrate our marketing efforts.
What are the criteria for a car to be listed on Spoticar?
There are numerous criteria in order to be eligible for the different types of warranty that are associated with the Spoticar label. They can differ from one market to another but mileage and age will always be taken into account.
One of Spoticar’s special features is the “Satisfied or money back”-offer that allows customers to trade in their car within 5 days or 1.000 kilometres. Is that sustainable?
That offer is limited to France for the time being. We will decide about it market by market. We chose to propose it because we invested in Aramisauto, the biggest car distributor in France, which we use as a benchmark. It is sustainable and we want to have an offer that goes beyond what others do.
Is Spoticar a multibrand-label, or will it only offer the PSA brands?
Spoticar absolutely is a multibrand offer. We already offer other makes than the PSA brands on the French website. Even if the focus today is mainly on our own brands, the cars on Spoticar can be of any brand as long as they are eligible in terms of age, mileage and general condition.
Spoticar is launched in France, and by the end of this year ten other European countries should follow. Which ones will come first and will your label also be used outside of Europe?
The first countries outside France will be Spain and probably Italy. We work on a country by country basis. Setting up a website is easy, but Spoticar goes further than that. Each country has a specific roadmap but the goal effectively is to have launched Spoticar in 11 European countries by the end of the year so we can concentrate our key communication efforts in 2020.
For our expansion plans outside of Europe, we are investigating a launch in Latin America and other non-European countries, but it is too early to communicate on that matter.
PSA Groupe already sells about 800,000 second hand cars on a yearly basis. What is the ambition for Spoticar?
The ambition is to help the group reach 1,000,000 transactions, and we are confident that we can reach that goal by the end of the Push to Pass Plan in 2021.
Do you think that more cars will be sold through the website or mostly through the dealer network?
Our first priority is to have an efficient tool to help our dealers sell their cars. Having the possibility to buy online is important, but often a part of the sales process is done online and is then completed at the dealership. That is what we experienced with Aramisauto, where people can buy online, but that accounts for only about 10% of their sales. Most customers will still see someone before closing the buy.
Consumer-to-Consumer business or C2C is becoming more important, with consumers selling their car directly to another consumer through a platform. Is C2C remarketing something that you and your team are investigating?
The move from B2C to C2C is growing. We choose not to ignore these customers and will also offer services to them. Consumers are often unsure about the price they can ask for their car, they don’t want to handle the test drives, the phone calls or the sale itself. That’s why we are experimenting with these services through Carventura, a start-up that we launched last year.
Image: Marc Lechantre, Director of the Used Car Business Unit at PSA
