Look around any coffee shop nowadays and you’ll notice patrons fixated on the small screen of their smartphones. With Filipino’s leading the world in terms of social-media usage and average amount of time spent online, it’s hardly surprising that car buyers using their smartphones in the Philippines are increasing.
It should therefore come as no great shock that according to data from the last eighteen (18) months, more car-buyers than ever are using their smartphone as their primary online shopping tool, massively displacing "traditional" desktop browsing.
Between January 2015 and July 2016, AutoDeal has seen a 13.27% increase in the breakdown of users accessing AutoDeal on their smartphone. These numbers contrast perfectly with an 8.9% decrease in users accessing on Desktop. In July 2016, 720,546 visits to the AutoDeal website were made on a mobile device.
In terms of behavior, mobile shows the strongest engagement thanks to it’s low bounce rate and number of pages visited. Desktop users typically spend more time on-site, although most buying-intent interactions (such as requesting a quote or booking a test drive) occur on mobile devices. In particular around 65% of AutoDeal's daily inquiries are generated from mobile devices, with another 10% occurring on tablets.
Mobile usage remains consistently higher than desktop throughout the working day but surges between the hours of 5pm to 10pm when most Filipino’s are either commuting home from work or engaging in social activities.
For Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), mobile usage accounts for 51% of total visits, while desktop makes up 38% and tablet 11%.
So what can we learn from this? First, a mobile-marketing strategy is an absolute must for Philippine automotive brands and dealership groups. Second, the best time to engage customers and have them engage in a purchase decision is typically after hours in the working day. Critically, it’s no longer just a matter of being online, make sure your website and digital marketing efforts are mobile-friendly.
If Telco's make good on their commitment to improve data, mobile browsing can be expected to eat up a greater share of online engagement.
