Annlyn motors dealer principal John Dunn said although the store has only been trading for a week, he is optimistic about its success to not only boost car sales, but to expose his business and the Volvo brand to the wider community.
“We’ve tried a few things before, like having cars in the shopping complex centre court,” he said.
“We wanted to take that further, so we opened the shop one week ago and immediately, we were selling cars out of it.
“We’ve been in the area for 19 years – and 13 of those on the same site – in Penrith and we thought we had done a pretty good job of letting people know we were here. The pop-up has certainly improved our exposure.”
Mr Dunn – who admits his dealership isn’t typical and is always keen to try new ideas – said the pop-up concept was discussed for about 18 months with shopping centre owner Westfield.
“We have a good site in the shopping centre, so that helps,” he said.
“It’s a high-traffic site, next door to Rebel Sport and opposite the cinema entrance. It’s a fair size at 180 square metres, so it’s more like a mini showroom.
“It’s not what most people would expect and I have to say that with the TV sets on the wall and the two cars and the colour swabs, it looks pretty good.”
Mr Dunn said he was amazed at the inquiry rate.
“It’s huge. Westfield said 17.4 million people visited the Penrith shopping centre last year. That’s about 335,000 visitors a week. These are huge numbers.
“A lot of people comment that they’re surprised to see a car in the shopping centre.
“I notice that the people who come in and talk to us are relaxed and more casual than those in the showroom.
“I would say that’s because of the shopping centre surrounds and the fact that these people are in their comfort zone, without any stress and just looking at things for sale.
“At the shopping centre, customers are easy to engage and always happy to have a conversation.”
But Mr Dunn said there were some considerations.
“Here you can only get four of the six steps of selling. That is, the meet, greet, establishment of needs and static demonstration,” he said.
“The rest you have to do in the dealership.”
There is also the cost of the shop lease and the fit-out of the shop.
“But the biggest and most important is the staff,” he said.
“It is a seven day a week operation, so we have a hostess there most of the time, and then the sales staff are on ‘road days’ – and they really like coming down and working from the centre.
“It’s completely different to working from the dealership.
“What the pop-up does for us and the Volvo brand is exposes us to our community.”
Mr Dunn said his business has taken the lease until September.
“I think that would be long enough for us to gauge how people react to the shop and for us to get an idea of the potential of pop-ups,” he said.
It also should prove the potential for sales.
“We generally sell 14 new Volvo cars a month at the dealership,” he said.
“We have only been at Westfield for a week so it’s too early to tell. But if we sell two to three cars, or 25 per cent of the dealership sales, then I’d be delighted. That’s what I’m hoping for.
“But we have to give it time. I think that by about six weeks we will be able to see the trend and the possibilities.
“We can talk about an extension to the lease if it’s favourable.
“We’ve got a successful dealership on York Road, but we’re always keen to try something new. Maybe this is the future.”
By Neil Dowling
Read More: Related articles
