Annata takes the virtual road with digital retailing at CES2023  

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Annata participated in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 5-8, 2023. We demonstrated, through a virtual dealership application how annata365 can be used as a backbone on which digital retailing solutions are engineered for automotive businesses to deliver engaging digital retailing experiences.  

Built on Microsoft Azure Cloud, the demonstration together with Touchcast, shared how the combined solution offers a complete end-to-end approach for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), national sales and marketing companies, importers, distributors, and dealer groups, enabling them to engage with customers in a hybrid digital and physical space.    

As consumers increasingly spend most of their purchasing journey online, automotive enterprises are shifting their focus to digital retailing solutions to maintain their competitive edge. While the physical showroom will continue to exist, its format is changing. Dealers are exploring effective and differentiated retail models in order to strike a hybrid balance.  

annata365 helps power a more enhanced, personalized, and seamless vehicle purchasing experience for consumers through virtual dealerships, creating a compelling and interactive digital retailing journey.  Annata’s solution for the automotive industry offers an agile, cloud-based, and scalable platform for automotive import, distribution, retail, and after-sales activities.    

Coupled together with Touchcast’s virtual experience solution, Annata shared at CES 2023 how automotive brands can elevate the entire customer experience journey in the metaverse. Annata also displayed how we are able to support activities across the automotive value chain and reimagine transactions via e-commerce with a robust and integrated back-end solution. 

Related reading: Annata partners with Sitecore and Touchcast to power automotive digital retailing at CES 2023

Annata is continuing to take active steps to further develop and bring to market industry-specific solutions that will augment the customer’s journey and create an ideal digital retailing experience for modern consumers. We will also drive the transformation of automotive distribution with next-generation retail and mobility services.   

Magnus Guðjónsson from our automotive industry pre-sales team together with Tim Ferrone, sales director at Touchcast, takes us on a walkthrough to share how automotive companies can create a compelling and interactive digital retailing journey using Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Azure as the foundational layer. 

Watch the full demonstration below:  

Digital Retailing Road 1

The demonstration narrates how both the solutions, when coupled together, enable automotive companies to engage with customers in a hybrid digital and physical space, driving enhanced, personalized, and seamless vehicle purchasing experiences for consumers through virtual dealerships. 

In this demonstration, Magnus, who has had a leased vehicle and is looking for an upgrade, narrates the customer’s journey and how they can lock in an order for their desired vehicle with just a few clicks of a button from the comfort of their own homes. Magnus, who was looking at a 2023 model of the brand, was able to experience interactive and realistic vehicle customizations, viewing the vehicle in different color options and with different accessories added.  

Magnus was able to make an instant decision through the vehicle configurator and 3D visualizations using augmented reality (AR), bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds. He also then had the ability to select service packages, view financing options, and make feature customizations which allowed him to design his own vehicle and tailor his after-sales plan, putting him in the driver’s seat as it provided transparency at every touchpoint.  

The digital customer journey concludes with Magnus being presented with the option of a trade-in and being able to select the model and make of his existing vehicle with a market price derived immediately for him to make an informed decision. Magnus then submits his form and enters his personal information, uploads the necessary documents, and states the vehicle delivery point. He then has to merely wait for the vehicle to be delivered to him.  

Watch the video below to understand how the customers’ journey has been elevated with digital retailing:

Digital Retailing Road 2

Through annata365, Annata is able to equip automotive businesses with the necessary capabilities to leverage the full power and open up new possibilities in all aspects of digital retailing, helping them digitally transform their operations and processes.  

Acting as a platform for automotive businesses looking to infuse digital retailing experiences into their customers’ purchasing journeys, annata365 helps harness future-fit infrastructure to support the application of additional technologies. The solution suite helps with enhancing existing digital capabilities to drive an end-to-end, e-commerce journey that consumers increasingly expect and that allows the business to remain relevant in today’s landscape.  

annata365 puts in place all the necessary building blocks that will allow for a more cohesive, convenient, and smoother digital retailing solution application to create optimized digital interactions, experiences, and transactions.  

Against the backdrop of swiftly changing consumer behaviors, automotive businesses must seek to meet this changing demand by harnessing new technologies using innovative applications and prioritizing operational efficiencies organization-wide, all while simultaneously ensuring smooth supply chain orchestration using critical and optimized infrastructure. 

Digital Retailing Road 3

Connect with us to find out how Annata can help you power a more digital retailing experience for your automotive dealership. Learn how you can drive digital-first retailing experiences with this interactive e-book. 

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