With the younger age structure of consumer groups in the automotive aftermarket, the activities of the automotive aftermarket are becoming more and more abundant. According to the 2024 China Automotive Aftermarket Annual Development Report, the services of car clubs and auto clubs are becoming more and more personalized and diversified. Traditional car clubs mainly revolve around car-related activities and services, such as providing car discounts, car repair services, organizing self-driving tours around the area, and holding car owners' dinners. On the basis of retaining the two core elements of "car" and "friend", the new type of car club will further expand to the "interest life" of the public. They combine the fun of playing with cars with popular activities such as outdoor camping, eating, drinking, and concerts, and hold more colorful activities to not only maintain the high participation of existing riders, but also attract more new members to join.
Car companies pay more attention to the operation of car clubs to improve the stickiness of car owners
Supporting private car clubs and strengthening communication: Some car companies actively recognize the spontaneous car clubs formed by the people, take the initiative to provide rich services and resource support for these car friend organizations, and at the same time attach great importance to the feedback of car friends, and make every effort to build a smooth communication bridge between manufacturers and car friends. Taking the cooperation between Chang'an DeePal brand and Shanghai DeePal Association as a typical example, Chang'an DeePal has an in-depth understanding of the needs of car owners, improves service quality, and enhances the emotional connection between the brand and car owners.
Create or renovate official car clubs: More and more car companies are realizing the importance of official car clubs, and have started to build new official car clubs, or upgrade existing car clubs. Li Auto and Xiaohongshu jointly created the Ideal "Sweet Potato Car Club" is a successful example. With the help of Xiaohongshu's platform influence and user base, Li Auto has attracted more young car owners to participate, further expanding its brand influence and enhancing car owners' sense of belonging to the brand.
Strengthen the operation of online car owner communities: Car companies, represented by new power brands, focus on online car owner communities. NIO is a leader in this area, and the community section occupies an important position in the NIO app interface, and it is extremely active. Car owners can not only discuss car-related topics such as car purchase, modification, and maintenance, but also interact with life topics such as pets, travel, and movies. It is worth mentioning that NIO's senior executives also often participate in the process and interact cordially with car enthusiasts. This successful online community operation model is undoubtedly a key factor in the high stickiness of NIO car owners.
Figure: Car companies attach great importance to car clubs
Success case
Venucia "internet celebrity": The Venucia "internet celebrity " club has built an interactive platform for users, and has successfully held more than 500 offline activities and served more than 25,000 car owners more than three years ago. In 2025, the Venucia brand will also launch the Double Million Plan to further help the expansion of the happy community and promote the in-depth participation of car clubs.
Futian Cummins "Fukanghui": Since its establishment in 2013, through years of operation, the cumulative number of members has exceeded 50,000, and the average daily activity is more than 3,000. Through the construction of online community and user behavior data inventory, as well as accurate advertising content push, Fukanghui has accumulated many loyal users and fans for Foton Cummins, and has also brought significant growth to its product sales.
In the current automotive market ecology, not only car companies attach great importance to the operation of car clubs, but also aftermarket companies are actively engaged in it, hoping to achieve business drainage with the help of this channel. They use an ingenious approach to drainage that contrasts with traditional marketing methods.
These aftermarket companies usually give away practical services such as car wash beauty and heat insulation film according to the needs and characteristics of car club members. In various activities held by the car club, items related to vehicle services are carefully prepared as lottery gifts to attract the attention of car friends. In addition, the meeting place before the event was cleverly set in its own store, and this opportunity was used to attach a digital serial number to the participating vehicles for free, which naturally made riders pay attention to the existence of the store and achieve the purpose of publicity and promotion.
Compared with the traditional marketing methods such as low-price drainage and package locking in the aftermarket, this drainage model based on the operation of the car club has significant advantages. It can help enterprises effectively avoid the fierce competition of "low price involution", enhance the image of the brand in the minds of consumers by providing high-quality services and unique experiences, and then enhance customer loyalty to the brand, laying a solid foundation for the long-term development of the enterprise.
Related:
Analysis of the 2024 China Automotive Aftermarket Annual Development Report (1)
Analysis of the 2024 China Automotive Aftermarket Annual Development Report (2)
Analysis of the 2024 China Automotive Aftermarket Annual Development Report (3)
Analysis of the 2024 China Automotive Aftermarket Annual Development Report (4)
Analysis of the 2024 China Automotive Aftermarket Annual Development Report (5)
