ONLINE UK multi-brand car retailer Rockar – which challenged convention with its shopping centre-based outlets staffed by non-sales “angels” – has stepped up its successful automotive marketing concept.

Fresh from signing a deal with Mitsubishi to apply its systems in shopping centre dealerships, Rockar is now going to sell cars alongside clothing and homewares at Next stores.

Next, a major British clothing and home products retailer founded in 1864 and now with 538 outlets in Britain, is collaborating with Rockar. Its first project is to be opened in Next’s Manchester Arndale shopping centre.

AM-Online reports that Rockar and Next’s collaboration will see visitors to Manchester’s busy city centre shopping attraction walk through a car showroom-style retail space.

The project will start at the end of March but Rockar is not saying which car brand will be on display.

Rockar started in 2014 with collaboration with Hyundai, selling the brand’s vehicles from the Bluewater shopping centre close to London. It added a second Hyundai store in 2015 and then a Jaguar Land Rover retail showroom and adjoining service facility last year.

Mitsubishi Motors is the latest to sign up and will open its store and digital platform at the end of March this year.

Rockar has signed yet another, but unnamed,car brand to partner with it in its Next stores initiative.

Rockar founder Simon Dixon told AM-Online that Rockar’s move to align with Next continues the company’s aim to bring car retail to high pedestrian traffic shopping locations.

Mr Dixon said in a statement issued to GoAutoNews Premium that the Next collaboration would generate a far higher traffic than its existing car store sites, which see an annual passing footfall of 89 million.

Rockar not only has space within the Next store, it will also have a high visual impact from outside the store with a full-length glass frontage. Everyone who enters the Arndale Centre through Next from the bus or train station will do so right through the Rockar retail space.

“While our area of the store will have the distinct look and branding of our new manufacturer partner there is no more to separate it from the rest of the Next store as there is dividing menswear from women’s wear,” Mr Dixon said.

Mr Dixon said Rockar’s two existing shopping centre sites generate 180,000 to 250,000 visitors for its partner car manufacturers each year.

However, he said the Next store at the Arndale Centre “is many multiples of that”.

“So we are positioning ourselves and our new car manufacturer partner in front of many, many more people,” he said.

“60 per cent of Rockar customers complete their car purchase at home via our online platform. Soon, they’ll be able to begin their journey while on a shopping trip to Next, and we think that’s really compelling.”

 

Mr  Dixon said he saw the Next collaboration as an opportunity to realise a plan to have 12 stores at top shopping centres across the UK, but added: “Next has 500 stores across the UK, so the opportunity for us is huge.”

He said major retailers around the world were experiencing similar problems to traditional car retailers with high operating costs as customers increasingly turn to online shopping.

“I know the Next business has been speaking to many like-minded retailers with an eye to widen the appeal of their high street stores and offer another attraction for consumers,” he said.

“I’m proud that we have been acknowledged as one of those businesses and can bring automotive retail right into the high street as a result.”

Rockar’s latest venture will follow its existing model of teaming up with a car manufacturer.

However, Mr Dixon said that the site is being developed to integrate with the as yet unnamed brand’s local retail network.

Although able to sell cars, Rockar’s main purpose is to generate leads for nearby dealer sites. It does not have an aftersales function and will arrange test drives from the Arndale Centre’s nearby multi-storey car park.

By Neil Dowling