February 2019 Used Car superstores

Used car superstores: despite their current growth, do tough times lie ahead?

There are many signs that competition in the used car business is further intensifying across the main European markets, with different types of player looking to exploit opportunities and gain market share, and investing more resources and technology.  

This webinar explored the future role of the used car superstores, the largest independent players who are focused strongly on retail (even if many of them also have wholesale activities).  Since our last full update in 2014, a number of these players across Europe have achieved impressive growth and financial performance.  Indeed, the best-performing superstores now have an online and offline presence, and a customer offer, that is very much a match for the OEMs’ approved used car schemes.  You might conclude that they are here to stay …

However, competition for the superstores from other types of player, especially leasing companies and large dealer groups, is growing rapidly.  The superstores are increasingly finding themselves competing in the same market (nearly new cars and young cars up to 4 years old), they are seeing their retail format being copied, and now they are starting to face a squeeze in the available supply of used cars thanks to the remarketing activities of both OEMs and leasing companies, a situation that can only worsen as the penetration of ‘managed fleets’ of cars offered to customers on monthly payments grows..

We are already seeing the progressive consolidation of the medium-sized operators in particular as a result of the growing importance of economies of scale to success, but will this consolidation accelerate in the future? What can the superstores do to protect their supply chains and retail offer in the face of a changing market? Or are the days of the large superstore format numbered?