The Road to Purchase: How Car Buyers Research, Discover and Decide

About this episode

The episode discusses the evolving car buying journey in Australia, focusing on consumer research and insights.

In this episode of the IAB Australia podcast, host Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia, is joined by Alex McLean, GM of Marketing at BMW, Gage Milecki, Customer Research and Insights Lead at carsales, and Nicholas Bailly, Commercial Director - Media House at carsales, to explore what the latest Australian Car Buyers' Report reveals about how Australians research, discover and purchase vehicles. With the average buying journey now spanning six months, the panel unpacks how consumers are taking a more considered approach to purchasing, how EVs and total cost of ownership are opening up new questions for buyers, and what this means for how automotive brands need to show up across the funnel. They also discuss the growing role of AI and LLMs in the research journey, the shift from launch-based to always-on communication strategies, and how first-party data and market mix modelling are reshaping measurement. Listen now! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Gai Le Roy

Guests: Alex McLean, Gage Milecki, Nicholas Bailly

Topics covered

• car buying research
• consumer behavior
• electric vehicles
• first-party data
• AI in automotive
• marketing strategies

Keywords

• car buyers report
• purchase journey
• automotive marketing
• consumer insights
• total cost of ownership
• LLMs
• market mix modelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BMW, carsales, IAB Australia

Places: Australia

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