The number of people working in the car sales industry is decreasing… ‘Sales King’ may disappear

2024-04-27 10:28:05

[위클리 리포트] Meet the four ‘gods of automobile sales’
In the era of online car sales, what is the future of salespeople?
Expansion of online sales, including in the imported car market… Domestically, we are still passive, but we cannot avoid it.
Salesperson jobs – finding a balance in company competitiveness

“Computers can’t even visit congratulations or condolences or make phone calls to say hello. “I can’t tell you the truth.” Song Woong, senior auto consultant at Kia, who has sold over 4,000 cars, said. However, it is unclear whether we will continue to hear the news of the birth of the ‘Sales King’, which has been consistently heard.

This is because the number of people working in the automobile sales industry, including salespeople, is decreasing as the trend of online sales is expanding in the automobile industry. According to statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 26th, the number of people working in the automobile sales industry decreased from 37,626 in December 2018 to 33,376 as of December 2023. In five years, about 11.3% have left the industry. The Busan Nampo branch where Song belongs has not been able to recruit new salespeople, so the youngest member is 21 years old.

Some imported car companies, led by Tesla, are already selling 100% online. Tesla has converted all of its sales channels to online since 2019. Honda Korea officially opened the ‘Honda Online Platform’ in April last year and converted domestic car sales to 100% online sales. Swedish electric car brand Polestar also sells all of its vehicles online. Hyundai Motor Company also appears to be taking advantage of the trend of expanding online sales by deciding to sell 100% online sales of its Casper internal combustion engine model, a light sports utility vehicle (SUV).

This change in the automobile industry can be interpreted as a strategy to reduce costs by reducing the distribution process. This is because switching to online sales can save on labor costs and offline store operating costs. In addition, there is the advantage of securing price transparency and benefiting consumers. In the existing imported car market, competition for discounts was frequent, resulting in price differences of millions of won for the same vehicle depending on the branch and dealer.

However, the domestic automobile industry is not yet actively pursuing the transition to online sales. This is because the union’s opposition is strong due to the decrease in work for salespeople. Among some consumers who are not familiar with online platforms, there still remains a desire to receive explanations face-to-face when purchasing a car worth tens of millions of won. This is contrary to the fact that Hyundai Motors and Kia are pursuing active online sales strategies overseas, such as operating the online sales platform ‘Click to Buy’ in the United States and Europe.

The strategy of seeking coexistence through partial expansion of online sales stands out. A representative example is BMW, which has a system that connects you to an offline dealer when you reserve a vehicle purchase at an online shop. Sales through ‘BMW Shop Online’ are steadily growing from 500 units in 2020 to 5,251 units in 2021 and 6,891 units in 2022. In 2023, online sales exceeded 10,000 units for the first time, selling 15,853 units, up 130% from the previous year. Industry officials explained that it is a win-win strategy that ensures transparency in the transaction process while also preserving dealer jobs.

Experts agree that efforts are needed to find an appropriate balance between preserving jobs for dealers and improving the company’s competitiveness.

Lee Ho-geun, a professor at the Department of Future Automotive at Daedeok University, said, “In terms of the company’s competitiveness, we have no choice but to move towards online sales in the long run.” He added, “We need to support existing salespeople so that they can smoothly transition to jobs such as after-sales service (AS) or advisor work.” “I do it,” he said.

Reporter Jong-ho Han [e-mail]

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2024-04-27 10:28:05