Women more likely to buy a car online — UK study

IF DATA from UK online retailer BuyaCar is any indication, then women are 71% more likely to buy a car online than men.

The figures come from a new analysis of visitor behavior in the traditional and internet car retail environments. These are based on latest sales figures crunched by BuyaCar analysts.

The study found women who visited the site are “more decisive buyers than men,” and are also “significantly more likely to order a car than women who visit a traditional dealership.”

Women are more comfortable to place an order online than in an ordinary dealership, too, the analysis showed.

The latest data may help explain why the online vehicle retail market is continuing to grow even as traditional dealers face another year of falling sales.

Last year sales from the traditional outlets dropped 6.8% while online sales continued to grow for the third year. This year, “bricks and mortar” operations are down again by almost 3% while sales on BuyaCar.co.uk are up 12%.

In the UK, women account for about 34% of all car purchases in the traditional dealer environment, despite forming around half of all showroom traffic. But at BuyaCar.co.uk just over 40% of car orders come from women even though almost three times as many men visit the site.

And although men, in total, are still buying more cars online than women, the likelihood of a woman who visits the site making a firm purchase decision is 71% greater than for a man.

BuyaCar said it arrived at the figure by comparing the number of men and women visiting the site during 2019 and breaking them down into the rate at which they place firm orders.