The online used-car retailer, Vroom, decided to execute an innovative marketing strategy. They opened a brand new set of showrooms across four cities, as a way of displaying their auto options to interested buyers.
Far from the traditional solution of simply visiting a showroom and sitting inside a physical car that you might decide to buy later on, these Vroom showrooms use VR headsets that allow consumers to learn everything they want about a car – without ever seeing it in person.
According to Get Data Sheet, Vroom plans to open the VR showrooms in Houston, and Grand Prairie, as well as in pop-up stores in Phoenix and Austin. Customers visiting these locations will have the chance to wear VR headsets and check out fifteen different car models worth anywhere between $25,000 and $60,000.
The Future for Vroom
If the showrooms that are opening across Texas are able to gain enough traction with the Vroom audience, then the company plans to open additional VR showrooms throughout America.
The software and interface for the showrooms was built by a Dallas-based firm known as 900lbs of Creative, and Vroom also chose to partner the project with HTC – a famous smartphone company known for building the Vive headset that Vroom are currently using within its showrooms.
The VR Experience
To get the full experience, customers will be able to simply wear a headset and look around the stunning showroom in detail, checking out cars in a virtual world that includes a huge black corridor with various 3D representations of the cars available to purchase.
And all thanks to an innovative marketing strategy.
Moving through the car lot requires users to stare at bright circles on the ground for a few seconds – an action that prompts them to travel further down the aisle. On the other hand, for closer looks at the cars, people must stare at the vehicle for a few seconds in order to open a list of real-time information about that car, including its price, and stock number.
Users can open car doors and get inside for a look at the interior, and test-drives can even be accessed from a virtual reality perspective.
Of course, these driving tests will only last a few minutes, and lack the physical sensation of road bumps and other factors, meaning that it might be more difficult for consumers to determine how smoothly a car will perform when driving down an actual road.
But it remains to be seen whether this kind of marketing strategy catches on.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442, or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk.
