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majority of car buyers, who were increasingly turning to the Internet for information, found the websites of automobile manufacturers and dealers unsatisfactory in terms of providing the services they needed prior to and after making purchases, a study recently has revealed.

The global study, published by Accenture, involved 13,000 respondents from 11 developed and emerging economies, including Indonesia, in which 1,000 car buyers were surveyed.

According to the survey, 75 percent of respondents said that dealers' websites influenced their car purchase decisions, while another 77 percent said manufacturers' websites had the same effect. The Indonesian results closely matched the global findings. Globally, 76 percent of respondents said dealers' websites affected their purchase decisions.

However, Soohoo Choi, the managing director at PT Accenture Indonesia, said that 85 percent of respondents agreed that car dealers and 84 percent referring to car manufacturers had 'failed to exploit the full potential of online digital marketing'.

'The websites of manufacturers and dealers in Indonesia are not yet very advanced,' he said.

He added that 90 percent of respondents wanted websites to provide purchase and detailing offers tailored to their individual needs, while 89 percent said they wanted websites to show their prices in a clearer way.

'Another 86 percent wanted websites to be able to provide comparisons between competitive models,' he said.

He further pointed out that 64 percent of respondents said that being able to 'chat' with dealers online would aid them in their online search for new cars.

He added that the desire of customers for better information online stretched to after-sales service.

The study found that 91 percent of current vehicle owners wanted to receive news on special offers, while another 81 percent wished to be informed about special maintenance offers.

According to Choi, the increase in consumers scouring the Internet for information prior to purchasing a car was because such purchases had become 'transaction activities', in which people only visited dealerships to do a final 'touch and feel' before closing the transactions.

'There is a willingness among Indonesian buyers to circumvent dealerships but this does not mean that dealerships will disappear. People still want to touch and get the feel [of the vehicle] but they want a more streamlined purchase process,' he said.

The study found that 83 percent of respondents believed that better digital media would considerably reduce car-purchase time.

He added that beyond merely seeking information that affected their purchase decisions, consumers also wanted to be able to purchase cars online.

As many as 86 percent of respondents said they could envisage themselves buying a car online without visiting a dealership in the near future, while another 75 percent thought that changes in online automotive marketing, communications and purchase processes had to take place first.

Choi said a streamlined process enabled by an online platform would not only benefit customers but also manufacturers and dealers, who could collect and analyze digital data on consumer preferences and demand.

'The streamlining of buying processes and content provision that helps with purchase decisions and interacting with customers would help brand building among manufacturers and dealers,' he said, adding that achieving this would provide a competitive advantage to dealers and manufacturers.

He added, however, that the challenges involved, besides Internet infrastructure, included the building of an integrated information technology (IT) system to be the backbone of online services.