A new program in development at the world’s largest retailer was recently announced, designed to drive prospective, low-funnel auto shoppers to local participating dealerships.
Walmart has collaborated with CarSaver to create an auto-buying program for the 140 million customers who visit their superstores each week. As part of this program, CarSaver, the retailer’s exclusive auto buying platform partner, will open up car buying centers in the front of Walmart stores, across from the checkout counters, in 250 locations across the country.
CarSaver is the first and only one-stop-shop platform that helps Walmart customers save time and money when they buy, lease, finance and insure all the top brands of new and used cars. CarSaver’s network of certified dealers, banks and insurance companies provide transparent, up-front pricing and the highest level of customer service to Walmart customers and employees.
By skipping the time-intensive car negotiation process, CarSaver is one of the latest ways Walmart is helping their customers save time and money. “We’re constantly looking for innovative services that help us save busy families money and time,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of Walmart Services and Digital Acceleration. “CarSaver’s unique platform helps our customers understand the true cost of ownership, while also helping them save money with buying, financing, leasing and insuring a new or used vehicle.”
CarSaver customers are connected with an “express manager” at their local certified dealership who makes it easy to test drive or pick up their car. Certified dealers agree to provide fair, upfront pricing to Walmart’s customers and, in exchange, they receive exclusive leads and appointments that are only sent to their dealership. Dealers are reporting that these opportunities convert significantly higher than traditional leads that are sent to multiple dealers because CarSaver only sends one customer to one dealer. When customers buy from a certified dealer, they pay a success fee of $350 for every vehicle sold.
Ally Financial is offering gift card incentives to Walmart customers who finance through Ally using the CarSaver site. “We are honored to work with CarSaver to help make it easier for Walmart customers to get the car they want at a payment they can afford,” said Tim Russi, president of auto finance at Ally, one of the largest auto finance providers in the country. “CarSaver is leading the way by providing a simple, transparent and innovative customer experience.” Hyundai is also providing $50 gift cards for consumers who test drive their vehicles and up to $500 in gift card incentives for consumers who buy a Hyundai.
In addition, a vehicle purchase program for Walmart associates will be launched shortly to help Walmart’s 1.5 million U.S. employees save time and money when buying a car. The CarSaver platform will also be available on Walmart.com. “We are excited to work with Walmart to make car buying easier for their customers,” said CarSaver President Chad Collier. “We are leveraging the buying power of Walmart’s 140 million shoppers a week to get them great deals without wasting time negotiating.”
CarSaver is accepting applications for dealers interested in becoming a certified dealer at CarSaverDealers.com. If a territory is not available, dealerships will be added to a wait list and will be notified when their area opens up. The company said that wait list priority is given to earlier applications on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Click here to view more solutions from Susan Givens.
