Strategic behaviour and performance of internet use by second-hand Spanish car dealers

Resumen

The sale of second-hand vehicles over the Internet is continuously growing not only in European countries but also in the Spanish market. The development of new information technologies allows dealers to extend their services globally, giving customers a wide range of options in the search for information and gathering of resources. Questionnaires submitted to Spanish second-hand car dealers have been used to analyse tendencies, behaviour, resource strategy and performance in the electronic medium. The conclusions reached enable us to show how the differentiation strategy in the Internet channel contributes to a better performance by dealers, with price being a non-relevant variable in the initial stages of the purchase process, only becoming important during the final visit to the actual dealer�s. Furthermore, it is proven that a company�s organizational capabilities predict its commitment to the electronic channel, helping to explain the general performance achieved.