Opel Launches New Mall Sales Strategy in Stuttgart

Opel is piloting a new retail format that offers German customers the opportunity to purchase a new car while shopping in a mall, mimicking a concept first developed by the UK’s Rockar dealership group for Hyundai.

Dubbed CAYU, short for Car for You, the store is the latest attempt -- and the first in Germany -- at trying to link virtual and physical stores to create a complementary customer experience, according to Automotive News Europe.

At the same time, CAYU also reflects a growing trend in Europe among carmakers that wish to make their brands more prevalent in consumers’ daily lives.

 “People in metropolitan areas are used to doing everything close to the city center,” Opel Germany sales boss Juergen Keller said in a statement.

Starting in September, customers in Stuttgart can order a preconfigured Astra, Corsa, Adam or one of Opel’s crossover models and finalize the purchase contract in a few clicks via an “eSigning” option.

Test-drives are also possible with the vehicles available right outside the mall.

Prospective buyers can also begin the process virtually and complete it at the physical CAYU store, or vice-versa in a recent retail development referred as online-to-offline, or O2O. Delivery requires only about two weeks, and customers have a 30-day return guarantee.

While auto brands have experimented with temporary “pop-up stores” in malls, the CAYU concept comes the closest to Hyundai Rockar’s mall outlet at the Bluewater Shopping Center in Kent, England.

A spokesman for the company said customers in other parts of Germany would be able to order cars online via the CAYU website and have them delivered.

When asked whether the pilot store concept would be introduced elsewhere in the country, he declined to comment.