Milan, October 2018 – Car control check, changing tires, overhaul and bodywork are the keywords that drivers use to search online for the best workshop to choose. Once relying on the trusted mechanic was a well-established habit, while nowadays the customer service journey has become much more complex and has moved into the Internet. MotorK (https://www.motork.io) announces the creation of a brand new business unit, GarageK. Designed to meet the needs of the workshops, GarageK is a software-as-a-service platform, allowing professionals to easily manage quotation requests, reservations, promotions and marketing campaigns.
The world of Italian workshops is still far from being digitized: according to its own researches, MotorK estimates that about 30% of after-sales service providers do not have a website and 10% think it is not useful for their business. Furthermore, among those who own a website, 55% have not set up an online booking service yet, while only 29% of the sample has set a budget for the company’s digital strategy.
Considering that online searches for service have increased by 300% from 2015 to date* and that 66% of drivers used the Internet before taking the car to the workshop, with more than half of the searches about spare parts, assistance and mechanical maintenance made from mobile devices*, it is clear that the trend of users is to search, compare and choose the operator to contact directly online, booking their appointment through the web site. Having a responsive web site is key to meet the needs of the users that start their customer journey online and in mobility: more than half of users using mobile devices to search for mechanical assistance call the workshop starting from the results of the search*. Offline and online are not two different worlds anymore, instead they are complementary and part of a single purchasing journey.
Searching for the right workshop, users expect to find elements helping them to choose: prices, simplicity, speed and the quality of the services. It is more and more important for workshops to have an effective online presence, starting from a web site with easily available information and the possibility to quickly book an appointment. This is even more relevant if we consider that more than 40% of requests demand an immediate repair, not a routine check*.
«In the last few years, digital automotive industry made big steps forward – Marco Marlia, MotorK founder and CEO states. – From online configuration to dealerships, the digital revolutionized how cars are sold. Nevertheless, something was still missing: an ad hoc tool for the aftermarket and workshop world, offering a wide range of digital products to not only disrupt the purchasing experience, but also the experience of owning a car itself. For aftermarket services it is crucial to increase visits in the workshops and they can reach this objective only if they are where customers look for them: online».
Hundreds of companies have already chosen GarageK as a support to their digitisation: MotorK aims to reach 1000 GarageK customers by the end of 2018. This new service adds up to the wide range of products of the Italian company, among which there are DriveK – the largest new car marketplace in Europe, DealerK, a SaaS platform for car dealers, and Internet Motors, the biggest digital automotive event network in EMEA. GarageK is already available in Italy and is ready to be launched in French, Spanish, German and British markets.
*Source: 2017 Google/Critical Mix Fixed Ops Study, U.S.
**Source: ICDP, Consumer Survey 2016
