RFID Steers Arnold Clark Motorstore
The technology was integral to the design of a new showroom, helping the auto dealer to manage all of its cars and ensure the quality of its customer service.
By Bob Violino
Jan. 11, 2010—Arnold Clark Automobiles, Europe's largest independent car dealer, operates 145 dealerships throughout the United Kingdom. The company, based in Glasgow, Scotland, represents 21 new car franchises, and promotes used car sales at large "car supermarket" sites that are branded as Arnold Clark Motorstores.
These sites, which house more than 500 vehicles, are generally custom-built. But plans for the company's flagship store in Stafford, England—a 12-acre site with a 74,000-square-foot showroom and more than 1,000 vehicles—were more challenging. The firm needed to address the customer service issues associated with operating such a vast site, says Conal Furie, Arnold Clark's group IT manager. "If you line up all the cars in the site, they stretch over four miles, and you cannot have customers or staff manually searching for cars," Furie says. "It would take all day."
Arnold Clark wanted to ensure that its sales process was as seamless as possible. Market research conducted by the company, Furie says, showed that when a customer is left waiting for more than 10 minutes while salespeople locate a car, he or she is more likely to move on to another dealership.
Jan. 11, 2010—Arnold Clark Automobiles, Europe's largest independent car dealer, operates 145 dealerships throughout the United Kingdom. The company, based in Glasgow, Scotland, represents 21 new car franchises, and promotes used car sales at large "car supermarket" sites that are branded as Arnold Clark Motorstores.
These sites, which house more than 500 vehicles, are generally custom-built. But plans for the company's flagship store in Stafford, England—a 12-acre site with a 74,000-square-foot showroom and more than 1,000 vehicles—were more challenging. The firm needed to address the customer service issues associated with operating such a vast site, says Conal Furie, Arnold Clark's group IT manager. "If you line up all the cars in the site, they stretch over four miles, and you cannot have customers or staff manually searching for cars," Furie says. "It would take all day."
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| The Arnold Clark Motorstore in Stafford, England |
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