English
JapaneseHow Salesforce is Redefining Dealer Experience with the Automotive Cloud
Learn how Salesforce Automotive Cloud empowers OEMs and dealers to deliver connected, AI-driven, and customer-centric automotive retail experiences. 1:1 Introduction The automotive retail industry is experiencing one of the biggest transformations in decades. The change in consumer behaviour is increasing rapidly due to the digitization. It has now reshaped how customers discover, evaluate, and purchase vehicles, giving rise to digital automotive retail. In Today’s age of technology, the buyer expects a seamless, customized and transparent experience of e-commerce whether it’s online configuration or a doorstep delivery. At the same time, OEMs demand tighter integration and real-time visibility across their dealer networks to ensure consistent automotive retail experiences. However, many dealers remain constrained by legacy Dealer Management Systems (DMS) that operate in silos, limiting agility and insight. The journey of automotive dealer transformation is being enhanced by Salesforce Automotive Cloud. Built on the trusted Salesforce platform, it unifies data, processes, and interactions across OEMs, dealers, and customers. It enables automotive companies to provide connected, data-driven, and customer-centric retail experiences for the modern era by centralizing all vehicle, customer, and service records and facilitating real-time collaboration. 1:2 From Transactional to Relationship-Driven Retail Traditionally, the automotive retail industry used to be a one-time transaction. One a sale closed, you moved on to the next customer. However, today’s market rewards relationships, not just deals. Nowadays, buyers expect to receive personalized attention, consistent follow-ups and seamless engagement every step of the way. Dealers who can nurture these long-term connections are seeing higher loyalty, improved service retention, and stronger profitability. Here’s where Salesforce automative cloud comes in to make your work easy in the digital automotive retail industry. This DMS modernization is made possible by the Salesforce Automotive Cloud, which offers a 360° customer view by combining information from inquiries, test drives, purchases, financing agreements, and service records. The Salesforce Automotive Cloud enables this DMS modernization that provides a 360° customer view, consolidating data from inquiries, test drives, purchases, finance agreements, and service history. Each interaction adds to a single, constantly updated customer profile that enables cross-departmental teams to work together. With this unified intelligence, dealers can: Instantly recognize returning customers across channels Tailor offers and communications to individual needs and vehicle lifecycle stages Create proactive loyalty and retention programs that build genuine lifetime value 1:3 Seamless OEM–Dealer–Customer Connectivity The gap between OEMs, dealers, and consumers has long been an important issue in the automotive value chain for ages. Information often flows in silos: vehicle production data sits with manufacturers, sales performance resides with dealers, and customer engagement happens across fragmented channels. In addition to slowing down operations, this lack of visibility gives end users inconsistent experiences. Salesforce Automotive Cloud bridges this divide by integrating OEM data, dealer operations, and customer interactions into one unified platform, setting the foundation for a seamless digital automotive retail experience. It enables real-time sharing of inventory, vehicle status, and lead data across the ecosystem, ensuring every stakeholder operates with the same, up-to-date information. With this alignment that drives DMS modernization, OEMs can execute campaigns and allocate vehicles faster Dealers can manage inventory and respond to leads more efficiently Customers enjoy a consistent, transparent automotive retail experience regardless of where or how they interact with the brand 1:4 Intelligent Workflows and Automation Modern dealerships manage a wide range of activities that vary from lead tracking, test drive scheduling to service bookings and warranty claims. Without intelligent automation, these processes can become complicated and error prone. Salesforce Automotive Cloud simplifies this complexity through Salesforce Flow, Einstein AI, and advanced automation tools that streamline operations end-to-end. To ensure quicker response times and higher conversion rates, leads are automatically scored and directed to the appropriate salesperson based on geography, vehicle interest, or buying intent. Dealers can remain proactive in their after-sales engagement by using connected vehicle data to generate timely service reminders. By directing sales and service advisors toward the most pertinent offers, follow-ups, or service upsells, Einstein AI further empowers them with next-best-action recommendations. 1:5 Empowering Service Excellence Aftersales operations are the lifeblood of a dealership that often accounts for most of the long-term profitability and customer loyalty. Yet, many dealers struggle with fragmented service processes, manual scheduling, and inconsistent communication. Salesforce Automotive Cloud transforms this by integrating service management, parts availability, and customer communication into a single, connected workflow. Lead tracking, test drive scheduling, service reservations, and warranty claims are just a few of the many tasks that modern dealerships handle. These procedures may become complicated and prone to mistakes in the absence of intelligent automation. Dealers can provide digital service scheduling that is easily in sync with technician calendars, guaranteeing increased customer convenience and efficiency. By forecasting parts demand using predictive insights from connected vehicle data and past service patterns, downtime is decreased, and first-time fix rates are increased. Automated alerts and real-time status updates uphold open communication throughout the service journey, boosting client trust and satisfaction. 1:6 Insights that Drive Continuous Improvement In today’s world, Data is the driving force behind improved decision-making in the cutthroat automotive industry. Dealers and OEMs generate vast amounts of information every day ranging from leads, vehicle sales, and service transactions to customer feedback and inventory movements. However, this data usually remains underutilized in the absence of proper tools. By utilizing Salesforce Data Cloud and Analytics to transform raw data into real-time, actionable intelligence, Salesforce Automotive Cloud transforms that into a new customer experience in automotive retail. Dealers and OEMs can visualize key performance metrics such as lead conversion rates, campaign ROI, service turnaround times, and CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index) through interactive dashboards. Inventory health, parts movement, and vehicle turnover trends can also be monitored to identify inefficiencies or emerging opportunities. These insights motivate every level of the organization to make data-driven and proactive decisions that guarantee continuous improvement, optimized performance, and a consistent focus on the digital automotive retail experience, raising customer satisfaction and profitability to a new level. 1:7 Conclusion The automotive world is rapidly transitioning from a product-centric model to one that
