Transcription
All right. Hello. Good morning, good afternoon. Um, so good day to everybody. We have three past uh here in Germany, 2:00 in the day, and we would like to start now our session. So, welcome to our retail consultancy program, uh the virtual classroom module number one today.
Um, just give me a very brief overview about the agenda. Um, yes, we have a tight agenda today. Uh, after a short welcome session, we will get into the introduction about the retail consulting program before we then dive into the overview about M 20X. Um, that is the main part of today's session. Um, and then you will get an overview about the role of the M 20X retail consultant before we then get into the Q&A session.
Um, just some organizational remarks here at this stage: please, as we have a tight agenda, place all your questions you may have at the end of the session during the Q&A session. If there's something you would like to ask in between, use the chat function. We, my colleagues and we, will try to um answer all of your questions in between or we will handle them at the end of the Q&A session. Also, please be aware that this session will be recorded. Um, which means um all of you and also further colleagues who may be not able to join today, um you will all have the recording available at the end and afterwards so that you can listen to it later on.
Um, my name is Gulai, and um I'm very happy to guide you today with all my colleagues here through this session. So now let's start with the welcome and introduction where I would like to hand over to Thomas Eisenbart, our senior manager, um Mercedes-Benz retail strategy. Welcome Thomas.
Hello everybody. Hello everybody. Um, so it is somehow a kind of tradition that a senior manager needs to address some introduction words. So I'm doing that. Um, I'm grateful that I'm leading this team who prepared all the stuff, and uh I would like to start with thank you for the preparation. Um, thank you for muddling through that retail consulting through our board of management and uh XCOM sessions so that uh they understand the need and the necessity of doing that retail consultancy. So uh let me start with that. Thank you to my team, and of course, I would like to thank you colleagues for attending in that big round. We have 94 participants at the moment. So um uh I see that there's interest in it, and this is especially remarkable since we are all, on our sides, are going through massive cost-cutting initiatives on all sides, um also on the retailer sides, and uh um therefore it is also super important um um that we don't forget about all these topics which uh bring us the revenues of the future. Um, and not only us but especially to our dealers.
Then one thing is for sure: while we are all in this transformation, not only Mercedes but the whole industry, our customers are getting more and more demanding, and um if, when it comes to their retail experience, um and ask yourself how many times you are complaining with your wife, your children about a bad um activity in the shop you visited. So you see that uh because of the competition, because of the use of online services, um customers are getting more demanding, and we have to comply with this, and I can tell you out of my experience this is a global effect. This is not an European or an American or in China effect. It's the global effect that the customers are more demanding, and therefore we need to reinforce the roll out also of our MAR concept. Uh, I mean that concept is now over 12 years old. Um, nevertheless, we got the message from more than 1,500 people over the globe that the MAR concept in general is a good one and that is appreciated by the dealer and the customers. So that uh we are getting reinforced also by that feedback to realign the roll out of MAR with you guys.
Uh, let me allow to highlight four or three points. First of all, I would like to say, and most of you it is clear, the MAR concept is not an architecton concept. It is the opposite. It is about process and efficiency for the retailers at one side and the overall better experience for our customers. Um, hence process med modeling, I would say, or process modeling in that sense, and change is the focus of MAR 2, and uh I have to say if there were some mistakes in the past in doing the roll out, that was probably one of the mistakes that most of the people have in mind. This is a brick and mortar concept; this is about building an dealership, and it's absolutely much more. So if you remind you on that during the next weeks of your training, that would be great.
The second point I would like to mention is a lot, really a lot, can be done without great investment on the rebuilding or refurbishment of the dealerships. Um, I mean when you look at the service lobby, which I would like to emphasize also with the second point, which is one of the major changes in the process of a dealership, um then of course there are ways and means to introduce that even without any rebuild. Yeah. Um, meaning new furniture, meaning new um dark CI elements. So you can use your existing space, building a roof, and then work as an in a service lobby, and I think it is maybe a quite advanced saying to say so, but I think you will find solutions, and we can give you some best practices on that.
And the third point I would like to make is that each and every MAR 20X transformation or roll out is an individual side aspect and needs individual adaptation. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. What we are doing is we are getting a frame, but the retailer has to own it, and they have to build it, and they have to create it on their specific premises. And um this is especially important when it comes to the back office. Where is it located? How are the ways within that dealership? Where is the parking? Where could we build this or introduce the service lobby, etc. So that's why you come into the place. We need a good consultant. We need a good introduction and a good adaptation on existing spaces and existing dealerships, and therefore it needs some alignment and some framework from our side to the dealer that they do understand the concept.
And maybe the last point I would like to make is, and we discussed it with one of the top managers this afternoon during lunch, MAR 2X should be a business case. Uh, maybe not with payback tomorrow, but with keeping our high prices also in the future and being in line with the customer expectation and the high expectation and maybe the highest expectation in the industry they would have if it comes to visiting a Mercedes-Benz place. So um again, thank you for taking this up, um for being here, active partner in that program, and um I wish you good success and let me know your thoughts for the next steps, and um yeah, give us your feedback how valuable it was what we did for you. Thank you very much, and giving back to Will.
So thank you Thomas at this point. Now, okay, now getting into the program, let me give you an overview about the retail consultancy program. Um, the majority of you, you have received several invitations from my side um because the retail consultancy program is a three-step program. That is why. So today we are at module one of the virtual classroom. This is the first step into the consultancy program. We would like now today to give you, to kick off that whole qualification. Today we would like to give you a brief understanding about the retail consultancy program, a brief overview about the MAR 20X concept, and um about the responsibilities we combine with the retail consultant.
Um, in one week's time, we will have the module number two, um where we would like to explore the customer journey for sales and customer services with you, especially with a focus on people, processes, and digital tools for all touch points. And the last module is module number three. And there we have a selected group, a smaller group than we have today and which we will have also next week. And this selected group will take part in an on-site training in Poland in Vau, where we would like to have really a deep dive exploration of job profiles of digital tools where we will get into the application of MAR 20X processes and the digital tools in real-life applications and scenarios.
But if we focus now today on the content of today, we have major three parts as I mentioned before. First, the introduction. What is the retail consulting all about? Second, what is MAR 20X all about? And third, what is the role of the real retail consultant all about?
And before we start and before we, from our side, talk a lot, um the first thing I would like to do is to give you a brief overview about today's presenters. So the majority of you, you know your counterparts from the regions, which is for region overseas, Tusha, Renard, and Chica, and from region Europe, it is Anikat, Enus, and Kai, most probably, but today we have another expert round besides me; we have the retail experience team. It is also Britta here and Anika who will give you an overview about the format topics and also about job profiles and sales. Then we have Peter with us who is our expert for people and processes at customer services. Uh, Monica will give you a very brief overview about MAR architecture. Salai is our product manager for retail consultancy. And then we have Zap who is our digital expert for MAR 20X.
So having given you the brief overview, let's um go into the next step, and here actually the next step, it is your turn. So please all grab your phones because we will have here now a short Mentimeter question. So please scan the QR code and give us a very short overview from your side. What do you think? Why do we need MAR 20X retail consulting? Very brief response, just one or two phrases or words just to get a feeling from your side. Better customer experience. First response to make the difference, updates, manage the change, efficiency processes, enhance customer experience, digital tool, information, behavior change, I see, transfer knowledge, fixed processes, have more knowledge. Yes. Improve behaviors. Digital tool, information. Yes, there are still some information coming, but yes, you hit the nail, I would say.
Um, just show you maybe not in words, but um in some pictures why we need retail consulting. So, this is how our world is looking at our retail, most probably at the moment. Yeah, these are Mercedes-Benz MPS2 retail locations, and this is the majority out there. But we want to be here. This is the new world with MAR 20X. Just to give you some pictures how the new world is looking like. And you may have realized from these pictures, um, yes, we have with MAR 20X we have a nice brand architecture, true, but as Thomas has said, MAR 20X is much much more than that; it is a holistic concept on the one hand side with right-sized formats, some really flexible touch point combinations, uh we have people and processes which are customer-centric which provide a seamless customer journey. We have digital tools who really enhance the processes in the showroom at each and every touch point, from the beginning, beginning with the welcome process till the end of the handover. So it is a really holistic retail concept which has four really main pillars, and all of these pillars have the right importance and the same size of importance. And just having said our world outside is not is more the MPS2 world, and this picture should really state this. Uh, we have a really big wave ahead of us within the next years of MAR 20 rollouts. By the end of 2024, we have only realized 40% worldwide of the conversion, which means within the next years as you can see here on this slide, we have to roll out several hundred locations per year worldwide into MAR 20X. So it is really a big effort we have here and which we have to deal with together. So we have to join our forces to keep up here the momentum and to reach our goal of conversion.
And um by having this picture in mind, we asked ourselves from our headquarter side, how can we best support you out in the markets and how can we support the dealers through this transformation process of MAR 20X implementation, and um we know that the aim is to ensure MAR 20X implementation, but not only implementation; we have to ensure high-quality implementation with all of these four pillars. So quality and a scalable quality effect has to be there on market level, on the local level. So this means we have to enable local retail consultants with the right knowledge who are then able to implement MAR 20X for sales and customer services out in the markets. The local retail consultants are the ones who should give the guidance to the retailers um to ensure the right implementation of MAR 20X, and with this reason or with this aim, um we have designed the retail consulting program.
Um, it is aimed that the retail consultants support the dealers individually throughout the entire implementation process, efficiently for sales and for customer services. They should really do handholding outside at the dealers on an individual one-on-one basis from the very start, means from the conceptual phase till the very end of implementation. And this qualification program, this let's say it exists or consists of five steps. The first step was the selection. So every market has selected internal or external partners, yeah, on a local level. These are now today here and will be there next week and also then some of you onsite for the qualification program to become really qualified MAR 20X retail consultant partners on a local level who then go out in the next step to the retail, convince them, discuss with them the individual consultancy needs, to define the scope of consultation during the whole implementation process and then the execution. The real consultation phase of MAR 20X um will start individually at the retailer, and for sure at the end we will have also a continuous improvement process, which means we would like that the implementation is a sustainable implementation, that the effects will be on a sustainable basis. So also we will talk then later about continuous improvement.
Um, now having said that and giving the frame for retail consulting, now let's step into the main part, which is all about the MAR 20X concept, and here just we want to check, yeah, are we on the same page? Yeah, why do we need MAR 20X? I think for all of us it is really very clear: we are living in a very challenging and changing world. Yeah, first of all, we have existing competitors. We, there are every day coming up new competitors. This means we have to strengthen our brand positioning in this really competitive world. We have to strengthen our customer relationship while we are being attacked every day by some new brands, yeah. On the other hand side, we have also the digital world which is challenging us day by day. We have not only the price transparency which comes up, online sales concepts which come up, um and here within this digital world we have to make the difference by our customer experience, the customer, the physical customer interaction, by services we provide to the customers, by really seamless personal relationships which are being provided for sales and also for customer services, and then having said that again here, your turn. Also here again, please grab your mobiles; we have some questions, yeah, we would like to get some insight about your feeling. What do you think? How many customers still prefer to purchase their vehicle on-site? 15% of our customers, 25% of the customers, 15%, % of the customers, or 70% of our customers? Okay. 70% majority. I'm waiting for more answers to come. We have 100 people in the line. Just have 50 answers here. Okay. At the moment, a clear answer. Yeah, majority says 70% still would like to buy their vehicle on-site. Next question. Which rank has the dealership as a trusted touch point? Is it at first rank, as second ranked, third, or fourth? Okay, 23, 27 participants think the dealership is a must-trusted touch point. Some say it's maybe the second one. Okay, not that clear it was in the first question, but still a clear message here. Coming to the next one. How many customers you think want to deal with real people during the car purchase process? 48%, 50, 8, 58, some say. Okay. Also here the majority thinks that real people still make the difference. And then coming to one last question we have here. How many customers want to build a relationship with the dealer for future services? Okay, here it differs a little bit, but still 29 participants think 72%, 13 think 58%. All right. So most of you think that the dealership has still a big importance, and you are completely right. If we look at really the newest surveys we have put together here, you can really see that on-site purchase has still a very big importance for our customers. 75% still want to buy on-site. Yeah. And the dealership is still the most trusted touch point. Personal interaction has an immense importance, and 72% of the customers want to build a relationship with their dealers for future services. I think this gives us a really clear message where our where the importance of the retail lies and what we have to do to still make the difference with our MB retailers. And with MAR 20X, we still also in the future offer value for the for the retailer. Yeah, we do not only offer a future-proof retail framework which provides modular, flexible, and customer-centric framework. We offer also an enhanced brand experience which is not only seamless; it offers really unique Mercedes moments for at every touch point for sales and also for customer services. It ensures efficient processes also for sales and customer services again, and it really secures dealer profitability and our pricing power through the competitive concept we have and the efficient concept we have here.
Coming to our next point, which is really the going now into the more in the deep dive of what is MAR 20X, the new chapter. Again here, a further question for you. We would like to know how would you rate your own knowledge level about MAR 20X: good, average, basic, okay. So here I would like to see more hands. Please, we have 103 people in the round, and I would like to see at least 80 answers. Okay. Good. And average. Okay. All right. I hope that at the end of the qualification you will have, you all will say you have excellent knowledge for all four pillars. Okay.
Then let's go into some, not to say deep dives because the deep dives come further, but to some overview about the four pillars as we have said that the MAR 20X concept that really consists as an integrated approach with those four pillars. Um, but mentioning those four pillars, one thing is I think very important: those pillars are not to be considered as pillars which exist next to each other. They follow really an order. Yeah. First of all, it is very important to define the format. Yeah. Define a customer-centric format which really follows a purpose, to define a customer journey which follows a purpose based on that customer journey. The people concept, job profiles, are defined; processes are designed afterwards. The digital components, the digital tools which enhance the processes are defined at each and every touch point. And at the very end of that process of the implementation, the architecture which is the, yeah, the attraction and the atmosphere and the redefinition of the customer experience that follows as the last step of this process. And now we get, I think, started into the different pillars. And at this point, I would like to hand over to my colleague Britta who will give you an insight about the first pillar of MAR 20X.
Thank you, Guli. Hi. Hello from my side. And uh I want to start with the eight basic principles that are the basis for the MAR concept, and uh you see them here, and the very first one is that we want to enable mobile consultancy. So the retail staff in a MAR 20X location should use mobile devices which then enable paperless processes so that the consultancy can take place in any of the customer contact areas, and that actually interlinks already to the second principle that the customer decides where he wants to be consulted: if it's in a public area, if it's in a semi-public area, or in a more private environment. So, and this is possible because the retail staff has everything on a tablet, yeah, or on their laptop. And so, they can really choose which location they consult the customer in. And I think you all already heard this when Guli was presenting the MAR 20X retail concept: it is for both; it is for sales as well as after sales, what we call most of the time customer service. So also the consulting areas in a MAR location are shared by the sales and the after-sales staff. And this is also something where we think a new collaboration, yeah, of these two, and most of the time we have to admit, most of the time it's two silos still, and MAR 20X can also be an opportunity to break up those silos because the customer centricity is our core. The customer doesn't care if he talks to a sales or to an after-sales staff. He wants to have this brand experience and doesn't want to be reflected with interfaces of different organizational units. And this leads me to our fourth principle because the customer contact area really belongs to the customers, and it's exclusive for our consultancy. All administrative work should be done in the back office. We will talk again about back office and also about the mindset change and cultural change that that will have as an impact, especially if you remodel existing locations into a MAR location, and this is made possible that we have no permanent workplaces anymore in the showroom by the showroom management which is done in our welcome area. So when the customer enters our dealerships, then the star assistant is there to welcome them proactively, actually already the next guiding principle, and this is our distribution point. So the star assistant is the one that welcomes all the customers and that links them then to the relevant contact person. And uh when we go now to the last two principles that we have, that is a very customer-convenient inbound process, and I think the most impressive way how it is changed in the MAR concept is actually the service lobby. So we have an open outer house, and if you have a service appointment, the customer actually drives into the dealership into the outer house and has a very convenient process then that starts in the service lobby, and of course also the outbound process. This is also done in the service lobby for the customer service customer, and the outbound process when it comes to the sales customer when he finally gets his car and the handover takes place there; we also have this emotional peak in the customer journey, and we will focus on personal experience. If we now look at the different touch points in a MAR location, and this is just what we always show as a blueprint floor plan. Of course, this floor plan will differ from location to location. So this is just exemplary, but you see when you enter the dealership you can either enter it via the main entrance and you will be in the welcome area that includes also hospitality and a waiting area, or if you're a service customer that comes in for service, you will with your car drive into the service lobby, and your customer journey, your retail journey, starts there. The bluish-green touch points: the consulting area, the welcome area, and the shop area. These are the shared areas, so in between sales and after sales, and
Lighter blue ones, like the vehicle display, the sample studio, and the handover, these are the sales touch points. And the sample studio is actually where we demonstrate to the customer all the colors, all the trims in the vehicle display. They can, of course, have a look at the cars. There's also a lot of digital tools that enhance the experience for the customer. And then, on the left-hand side, you see the handover area where also the customer is able to get into the new car and drive out of the dealership by himself. Um, so this was the eight guiding principles for MAR as a whole, and now I would like to deep dive into the retail formats. And, um, as Gula said, we really have to start the whole process also then when you talk to investors and dealers—um, what do they want to do at the location? Yeah. Uh, we have a flexible format concept.
Yeah, we have different formats that could be suitable for different situations and different purposes, and, of course, we want to have a right-sized footprint. Yeah, I think especially with the very challenging surroundings, it's crucial that we really think about a right-sized location and about what we want to do in this location and what kind of touch points do we need, and we should not actually build too big. Yeah. And then have a problem with making this location attractive for customers for a longer period. And, as already Thomas said, there is no one-fits-all solution, but the MA 20X locations will, of course, look alike. Yeah. And give the same brand experience and also reflect our guiding principles. But they will also look different depending on customer needs, on throughputs, on services offered, on the markets, etc. And let me give you a short overview about the um different formats that we have in our toolbox. At the um at the um top, you see the combined ones, which will also say Autohouse. So the urban one is the biggest one. Then we have a smaller one for our rural environment and also, as an addition, the small one. We have different after-sales formats uh only. So where we only offer um service um offerings to the customer, and then we also have sales-only locations where we concentrate on brand experience and sales, and we, if we look at the sales [Music] um, yeah, at at the combined ones, we have the Autohouse Urban, as I said, it's an urban areas, and we offer there the complete range of services for sales and after-sales and most of the time also used cars. Then the smaller one is the Autohouse Rural also. There we have both sales and after-sales, but on a smaller scale, and then the Autohouse Small. This is actually especially if you want to have a broader market area coverage in rural areas uh in addition to a main outlet, and where we also offer sales and after-sales services. And I would hand over now to Anika and uh to explain uh what we offer for after-sales-only formats.
Oh, thank you, PA. Um, yeah, I would like to give you a short overview of the after-sales formats that we have here in place. Um, first, we have the Competence Center Service, which is a customer-facing service format covering different kinds of repairs, services, and maintenance. And very important here is that we have the service lobby as a high standard for customer contact in place. Second, we have the additional format Service Factory, which is a format non-customer-facing and covers all kinds of repairs. A cost savings uh can be realized through economies of scale. Then we have the Mobile Service, which is um a technically equipped van and uh comes directly to the customer's home and conducts light repairs. And the fourth additional format is the Drop Off, um where we have vehicle intake and outbound. But important here is the concept is finalized, but it's currently still being piloted in European markets. And and okay, then I go on. I see some questions here, and I think we will um cover them in the meanwhile. I just go on. So the second deep dive is today about people and processes. And um when we have a look now at the people and the processes, we, after we've said, okay, which is the purpose of the location and which format do we need? We also need to define, okay, who is working in that location. Uh, what is the retail team offering the services? Maybe sales services, maybe after-sales services, or both. And uh the processes and job profiles are also designed around customer needs and our eight basic principles. And um what we will see in the next step is also that we want to have a very flexible approach for the retailers so that they can actually decide um which job profiles are uh in need, and we think some of them need to be dedicated, so really done by one full-time equivalent, by one FTE, but they are also flexible job profiles in our MAR 20X approach where you say, okay, there is, for example, one FTE, but he has two different flexible job profiles. And uh when we look at the next page, we see what we think is a dedicated job profile. So one individual person is assigned to do this job profile with all the um tasks and responsibilities. Of course, we need a sales manager. We also need a service manager, and we will of course also need the salesperson and the service advisor as well. For after-sales um services. We also say that we need a parts salesperson and also a parts process specialist that is dealing with all the logistic processes for uh the parts. When we look at the flexible—no—when we look at the service lobby, we have uh yeah, kind of new job profiles coming around, and I will hand over to Peter to have some more explanations on this.
Thank you, Britain. Yeah, as you could see here, you see the MAR 2X specific customer service job profiles. First of all, the Service Advisor Front Office, Service Advisor Back Office, and the Car Checker. The very easy thing there is the task behind these three job profiles are the same tasks as we have today behind the the old service advisor. So there is no new task in—we only divide one big job profile in three smaller job profiles. Um, why did they do this? We are thinking, and yeah, we saw it in the pilots, and we saw it also in some really good implemented dealerships. You could work much more efficiently with these three job profiles. For example, you could do work in parallel. That's one point. And the biggest point is you are much more uh faster. You could speed up the process for the customer. So, at the end, this is the really important thing that the customer stands in no queue in the morning and so on—that is the possibility you have with these three job profiles. But what is really in this job profiles? First of all, the—I will start at the right side—the Car Checker, yeah, that is the guy greeting the customer, and after that is checking the car. The Service Advisor Front Office at the left-hand side is the person who did the consultancy. If the customer wants a consultancy only, then the customer gets the consultancy. And in the middle, the Service Advisor Back Office. Yeah, this is the guy who did all administrative things all around the order from the workshop for the workshop. So the qualification of the order for the workshop is the main part of the Service Advisor Back Office. So that's all at that point. More detail we could discuss in our show. Thank you. I will hand over to Brit, I think.
Yes, thank you. And uh then maybe here on the next slide you find all the flexible job profiles. So here we say we do not have to have one FTE. Yeah. If the location or also the retail team at the specific site decides, okay, but we need one specific or even more, then okay, but they are more flexible these job profiles. And let me start with, for the MAR concept, a very, very important job profile—the Star Assistant—because as we also saw um with the principles, this is really the first contact that the customer has when he enters the dealership. And the Star Assistant manages the whole showroom and is not only welcoming and hosting but in particular matching the customers coming in, then matching with the relevant um people of the staff that are in the back office and then come out to do the conversation or the consultation with the customers in the showroom. The same is true for the Product Expert. This is also a role that has been introduced uh within the MAR 20X concept to demonstrate and explain the products. Yeah. Also, if the Star Assistant sees someone struggling around in the dealership and that has maybe no real appointment, but then he or she could also say, "Okay, please, I need one Product Expert to um yeah, connect with this customer and also explain the product, show our product range, etc." Um, in the MA 20X concept, what is also very important are all preparational work. So this is why also the Customer Contact/Consulting for both sales and after-sales or customer services is uh very important because the better you are prepared before the customer arrives at the dealership, also the process and the experience for the customer will be a lot better. Sometimes, I mean, big dealer groups also have uh their own um customer assistance center or customer contact center where then also this job profile would be located. I think Peter you already mentioned also the Car Mover. Also here, this is one point where you can create more efficiency at a dealership so that not a well-paid service advisor is moving the cars around, but this is done by someone um like a Car Mover, especially in the peak times that then can drive the cars out of the service lobby into the workshop or from the workshop back into the service lobby when the car is ready. Um, when we look at Model D—Model Dora—so the agent model—um, we also see that um we need sometimes some more job profiles that are also applicable for Model BATA but have a special impact on Model D markets, like the Digitization Expert for all the tools that are um and that we will also learn more about in the further sessions. But that they are all working, that they are connected, that they are updated, and uh then we also, especially for Model D market, we need that CRM and Marketing Expert, as we know that CRM just has a big impact especially on Model D markets, and also the Car Pool Manager becomes more relevant or has a different role in Model D market as um there is the centralized um car pool from the market and the dealer's own car pool um when it comes to um the after-sale side and um also to test-drive vehicles, etc. And this is it for the people concept. We will have uh next time also the Module Two that Gulai already introduced where then we will look at every touch point in more detail and also show you the processes, but here at the M2X location, of course, we follow the I would say normal retail journey. So the customer is welcomed by the Star Assistant. We then have the consulting which takes place in in these different areas. Um, of course, people come to the retailer to do their test drive, and that is most of the time also where the decision is then really made to buy or not to buy the car. Then the sales consultant will do the offer and the negotiation. Yeah, depending on uh which sales model you are in in the uh respective markets. Then the purchase, and what is a lot of time a little bit underestimating is the waiting phase that the also the retailer can use to interact with the customer, also to prepare him um for the new vehicle. And we know that our vehicles get more and more complex. So they can already be provided with additional information on their new vehicle. And then the emotional peak of the sales journey, at least, is of course the handover. But then, as we said, MAR is really sales and after-sales, and the vehicle usage phase is the phase where we sell the second car so to say. So we really should also emphasize on this. And in the MA 20X concept, we have the service lobby where the customer drives into the Autohouse, has really a unique service experience uh in an indoor lobby um with a lot of convenience. And hopefully, when we do everything really well at the retailer, then we can complete the 10th step in our customer journey and have also repurchase when the customer is happy uh with our retail journey. And then now I would hand over um to the digitalization part that you have a little overview and get a little overview about the digital tools.
Thank you so much, Ba, and hi everyone. I'm happy to be here to give you a short overview of the digital retail products that are used at retail level to support the dealers and obviously to enhance the customer experience. As you can see on this slide, uh there is an overview of um the digital solutions. On the left-hand side, you see the digital solutions for sales, and on the right-hand side, uh you see them for customer service. Today, I will only focus on digital solutions for sales, but later on my colleague Peter will give you also further insight into the digital solutions for customer service. Um, so yeah, as you can see on the slides, there are different customer touch points across the dealership, such as the vehicle display area, vehicle handover, the welcome area, and so on. And at each of these touch points, specific digital tools are used. But what is the purpose of the digital retail elements or those digital tools? Um, first, to enhance the customer experience um by creating a modern and seamless journey that basically connects the digital and store experiences in a more luxury-aligned way. Second, to support basically the dealers by providing easy-to-use tools that simplify their um daily operations, increase their efficiency, and help them to better serve their customers. Third, uh to basically—to realize their brand strategy by merging the physical and the digital worlds um allowing customers to explore the products and experience the innovation of the brand firsthand. So these digital retail products are basically designed to ensure a seamless, efficient, and a luxury—and luxury—customer journey, while also very important, supporting operational success at the dealership. On the next slide, um you can see um the digital retail product starting with Digital Elements Platform, DP. I like to describe the DP as the backbone behind the MA 20X roll-out. It's an E2E web platform that can be seen uh basically as the central hub for administration, monitoring, supports, or even purchasing of digital tools. Following that, we have the Welcome Assistant 2.0 tool. It's a web application that manages the customer flow and walk-ins for both sales and uh customer service. Uh, in addition to that, another key digital solution is Digital Signage and RCPS. Um, so Digital Signage is basically strategically placed uh screens in the showroom that display content—display basically customer-specific content such as advertisements or videos. And RCPS is actually the HQ solution for creating, adapting, and activating of those—of those content. Next, we have the Showroom Price Tag. It's basically—for—to display the digital price information of vehicles next to the vehicle in the showroom using the VIN number. And finally, of the set, we have the Showroom Connect. That is basically software that connects the digital retail products. And you can also, for example, um control the lighting and the media in the showroom as well. And moving on to the rest of the digital um solutions or digital retail products, starting with Showroom Presenter. Showroom Presenter is actually already integrated in the showroom—in Showroom Connect—and it basically allows sales consultants to mirror their content uh of their laptop onto the digital signage screens uh in the showroom. Following that, we have the tool called Virtual Consulting. It's basically an—let's say an interactive tool—um that offers individual online um sales consultations, such as real-time videos, um co-browsing, and live demonstrating of vehicles. Next, we have the Handover Assistant. This basically—this tool basically supports the preparation and completion of the vehicle handover process uh including the handover of test-drive vehicles. It basically helps sales staff to show essential videos um or let's say vehicle features through text or videos to the um customer. In addition to that, we have the Handover Experience. It is basically a plug-and-play solution that uh adds um emotional and also dynamic um elements to the handover process, uh making the moment even uh more memorable for the customer. And finally, we have the Digital Signature. Digital Signature is basically—it digitizes the whole uh signing process, making all those handling of documents um fully digital. So yeah, in summary, these are the digital solutions or digital retail products at retail level. As I said, I focused on uh sales. Um, thank you so much for listening, and I think I would hand over to Peter, who will um continue with the digital retail products for um after-sales.
Thank you, Zette. Yeah, as Zette uh mentioned, uh in the customer service, you also need a lot of retail—digital retail products for the M20X process. So first of all, you need—yeah, nearly all the Accentry products. First of all, yeah, the Accentry Cockpit, Accentry Offer—you need for appointment booking, order qualification before the customer arrives—order. Yeah, this is the main tool you need. Um, when the customer arrives, you need for the digital signature—the customer could do in the service lobby, for example—and also for the consultant um process in the consultant area. Then, Send Workshop. Yeah, if you do it all digital in the first steps, yeah, then you could use Send Workshop in the workshop. It's a very cool uh feature. It works now. It's uh yeah, it's very important to say now. The Vehicle Detector. Yeah, it's a really brand-new thing. Um, there you could—the customer drives through the Vehicle Detector, and then you know how the condition is from the skin—all around—from the outside skin of the car. So you need less time for checking the car. And the next point, License Plate Recognition. This is a very important thing because the guys in the back office, the service advisor in the back office should know which customer arrives at um the dealership. And with this tool, you know which customer is there and which customer has um an order, and then the customer could go for a walk in the uh customer consultant area and waiting for the customer, for example. Next slide. I think there are some points listed. Yeah. The next uh three products are the DSD Book. It's the tool where the customer books the appointment for service, for example. The DSD Tap. Yeah, this is the—the hardware and the software for the consultant uh process. Um, in case of consultancy for the service advisor. And DSD On. Yeah, this is a con—communication channel where you could um transfer the information when the car is ready, for example. Yeah, these are the main digital products you need for M20X. Thank you. And now I think we hand over to Monica, who will give us a basic intro into the MARontics architecture.
Yeah, thank you, Goule. Um, I would like to ask my colleague from New Media to share the screen. Yeah, thank you. Um, thank you all for joining this online session on the MI2X architecture concept. Uh, we have just introduced the processes, the touch points, and the job profiles. And now let's take a closer look at what each touch point looks like and what the customer can expect at the point of sale. I will provide a brief overview of the architecture, while detailed content will be presented in our comprehensive training modules—I will explain later on. When the customer arrives, we highlight the distinctive Mercedes-Benz branding elements. The exterior of the dealership is carefully defined with all necessary functions, such as charging stations, parking areas, and, of course, uh outdoor vehicle displays. Upon entering the dealership, the customer is greeted in the welcome area by the Star Assistant. Here we are entering now. This area is marked by the iconic Mercedes-Benz star on the star wall. After the—the warm welcome, the customer can relax in the inviting waiting area with our signature element, the sofa, enjoying our hospitality services or uh explore the shop. Here I would like to highlight the impact of the decoration layer, the graphic layer, and the luxury-plus layer. These elements are crucial for enhancing the customer experience and the customer—and the atmosphere of the showroom. Let's go to the shop. The shop features a variety of furniture options, including the horizon units in the back, freestanding gondolas, and boutique elements here in the front. So, we can turn now. Once the customer is met by a salesperson, they can explore the vehicle exhibition together. This area is designed to standard specifications, featuring digital stages and various vehicle display options, such as a backlit graphics and special backgrounds, like uh this—for—for vans in front of us. In our basic and advanced training sessions, we explore the zoning materials and elements of each area in detail. To continue the consultation, the customer and the salesperson can use the manufacturer area to view the upholstery, paint samples. This is the former sample studio. This presentation has a new name now—Manufacturer—and includes various elements and options of sample presentation. The customer then chooses the consultation area for the sales discussion, with options ranging from public consultation, semi-public consultation at the horizon with the high table or the L sofa here, or the private consultation in the private consultation rooms. The flexibility and design alternatives of the private consultation rooms are covered um also in our training. After the contract is signed and the vehicle is purchased, uh it can be handed over in the delivery area. We have assembled various design options for the delivery area, showcasing a personalized high-end delivery. Here we would like to show you our short film about the high-end delivery. We can't have the sound. Can you share also with the sound, please? Matas. Oh, that's a pity. There is no audio at the moment. Okay, sorry. I'm sharing the audio. Okay, thank you, Matias. Share with sound now. But maybe can you start once more because now we have just the end. Yes. And a little bit louder. Yeah, it works. [Music] Okay, thank you, Matias. So when we move to the exterior now, we can focus on the specific brand architecture elements of the MI A 20X concept. So we can turn to the facade. These include signage elements and architectural features like our sky element, the overhanging roof, or the topography element, our ramp. We can also briefly introduce the customer service journey when we go to the entrance. In this case, the customer drives into the service lobby and is then greeted by the Car Checker or Star Assistant. So, we are here passing by the photo point with the star, entering the service lobby. The—the design possibilities of the service lobby are covered in the advanced training, and um after the greeting, the customer service client is accompanied to the shared waiting area and later on to the shared consultation area. So these are the main principles, and so that's it from our uh customer journey. Um, I look forward to exploring these concepts further with you in our detailed training sessions. Um, but let's—let me now introduce our training—training concept to you. Our training program consists of various modules uh that can be booked depending on the target group. Starting this summer, we will offer a teaser film. Primarily, I'm aimed at investors and dealers, and this is a kind of a marketing tool for our architecture concept. The basic training is essential for everyone involved in MI A 20X planning or implementation. This module is focused on um network managers, trainers, and similar roles. It provides detailed explanations of all touch points and all information sources. The advanced training dives into customer service, into the sub-brands, multi-brand concepts, shared brand concepts, additional layers, and the cost optimization. We also offer special training sessions focused on planning, which are particularly important for architects and network managers overseeing the planning process. These sessions cover how to plan or how to refurbish an MI A building. Additionally, we provide redlining sessions where we support the development and planning of individual MI A projects. This is also a very crucial part for uh for the architect certification. If you are interested in any of the training modules, please reach out to us directly or contact your regional representative. So, um, Anika—t—or—or Renat. Yeah, that's it from my side. Thank you for your attention. Sorry about you. You are mute. We don't hear you. We can't hear you. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. Hello. Sorry, now. Now it's okay. Yeah. Echo. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Sorry. So, yeah, it's—it's okay now. Thank you. Thank you. Now it works. So we would like to give you a brief introduction to your role as a MI A 2X retail consultant. Um, at the beginning of our um session, you heard about uh the purpose and um the objectives of the retail consulting initiative and as well as the fundamental principles and um our
Four, uh, pillars of the MA 20X retail concepts. And um, one of the key messages um is that MAR 20X is a holistic concept based on our four interconnected pillars. These um pillars must be seamlessly integrated to um truly drive sustainable success.
So um, the MA 20 uh X implementation at a dealership is um a comprehensive change process um that requires careful guidance. And as a MAR 2X retail consultant, your role is um to support the retailer holistically throughout the entire transformation from the planning phase to the rollout phase. Um, this involves um identifying which processes need to be implemented within the retailer. Um, determining which roles are needed and um selecting which digital tools um are required to enable the MA 20X retail journey. Your role also aims to implement a high-quality MA 20X um concept that is tailored to the retailers' needs and um specific um location.
So um, the MA 20X retail consultant will um serve as a key interface uh in the implementation process and act as a central point of contact, um leading um and supporting the retailer throughout the um MA 20X transformation in a holistic way. Um, in this role, your main responsibilities include um supporting the dealership in planning and structuring the MAR 20X implementation process in alignment with the MAR 20X principles; um, acting as the central coordinator between all um key stakeholders—for example, the region management, the architects—um, to ensure a smooth um collaboration uh and communication. Um, third, um conducting on-site um training, trainings focused on people, processes, and tools, um ensuring that the dealership is well prepared um to operate um within the MA 20X framework. And um, another, or the fi-final main responsibility is um the monitoring and the continuous improvement in the post-implementation phase um for ensuring that MAR 20X standards are maintained and continuously um developed.
And um, as mentioned, um throughout the MA 20X implementation process, um the retail consultants' key contacts um um are the retail management or the investor, the dealership employees, um the um the market performance center um coordinators, the media integrators, and um the deal—the the architects. The retail consultant needs to work closely with all of them to ensure the correct and the consistent um implementation of um of the MA 20X concept.
Um, yes, now that we have outlined the responsibilities and the key uh interfaces, um let's move quickly on to the structured recommended um approach for every MAR 20X implementation project um that will support um the future MA 20X retail consultants to guide um at the dealership. Um, here you can see the um recommended three- um phase approach as a brief overview. In the TTC um physical training in Vaso um you will receive um deep dives into this um recommended approach. So the implementation process can be divided as um as follows. Phase one is the preparation phase um before the real implementation starts. Um, here the goal is to understand the retailer-specific needs, um to define um required resources, and to identify training needs for the MAR 20X implementation. The outcome should be a customized and a holistic MAR 20X concept covering all four pillars.
Um, phase two uh is the on-site consulting. In this phase, the focus is on um on um hands-on implementation at the dealership in sales and customer service, and um the result should be that roles, processes, and the digital tools are successfully um embedded. The third phase uh in the implementation process is the post-implementation phase. So after go-live, the focus shifts to quality assurance and um to continuous improvement. And the aim is to uh to come to a high um quality—high implementation quality—and a sustainable um um implementation.
So as um as mentioned in your TTC physical training, um you will get a deeper understanding of this three-phased approach. Um, we will provide you details and knowledge about um each step in every phase of the implementation process.
And yes, thank you. And this concludes our overview um of the retail consultant's role in the MA 20X implementation. And yes, now we um would like to open the floor for some questions and comments. Um, yes. All right. Um, so we have needed a little bit more than actually planned. Now we have some some uh questions I think in in the chat. Um, so what I see here, um Zanap has a question on the digital tool side. "Are the back-office screens still in development, or will they be ready soon? Do we already have clear hardware guidelines?" Um, it is still in development; it will be ready soon, but we don't have an exact date when exactly it will be um implemented. Okay, thank you. But I want to clarify—do you know this is—this will—this solution will be ready by the end of the cute—cute—on the end of this—on the end of this—of the June or sooner? Yeah, this um this is promised. So let's hope it will be finished until then. Until then. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. You are still on mute. Yes.
Okay. Um, there was a question regarding the sharing of some um videos and elements. Everything which uh has been shown here and which will be shown also during the next modules will be shared afterwards on our re-on our uh Marx knowledge hub. Yeah. And all of you—either you still—you have already access to it, or you will get access to it, and then you will be able to download everything from there. Okay. Further further questions. I think other questions have already been answered here as far as I can see. Okay. M. Yeah. Matias. Yeah. Mat from Poland. Thank you. Uh, about the D and the access to the Mantics knowledge hub. I spoke with the team yesterday—uh, from somebody from the neuro media and uh and from and with the product owner of the M2X knowledge hub. And I uh received the answer that all 19 users in Poland should have access to the M2ics knowledge hub. And when they log to the account for the DP, they see uh the M 20X knowledge hub, but when they click on it, uh the URL doesn't exist, or something goes wrong. So um, what I should suppose to do with this—with this bug—send an email to the product owner to to check this status and fix this. Yes, I will take care of it. I will I will take care of it from new media. So I will look into it and I will let you know. I text because Dennis from New Media, if I correctly uh remember, uh gave me an answer that yesterday that everything is uh is done and uh should work properly. But uh today our couple of our dealers in Poland uh gave me info that uh this link didn't exist or something like this. So I'll be grateful for the help after the meeting. I just send you an email to new media. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Good point, Matias. Um, if there are other people who have um some difficulties getting into the MA knowledge hub, so please reach out to us. So that should not be an issue. So we will help you out there. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, there is one comment from Enos—all participants. Um, I hope that everybody for um vo—who is uh been elected or selected to join that third part—make sure that you book also your um your hotel rooms. Yeah, this has been provided in the email invitation which you may have received.
Okay. Also, as I mentioned in the at the very beginning, this um session will be um recorded, and also the next session which we will have next week will be recorded so that um colleagues who were not able to join today they can um listen to it. It will be provided also on the M knowledge hub later on. Good. If there are not any further questions, then a very very last slide. So just to give you a brief outlook—uh, what comes up. Um, so this was module one. Today we will see each other again in one week's time for module two, where we'll go—where we'll go through the customer journey for each and every touch point for sales and customer services. And then for the ones uh who will join in vo for module three—for the physical training—there is an online exam in between, and you all um are then asked to fill out and uh um yeah, submit that exam till the 15th—till the 14th of May. Uh, because this um exam is a prerequisite for the physical training. Yeah. And all further information regarding that we will share with you next week in module two. And if there are no further questions, we are just on time. I would like to thank you um in the name of all the speakers, in the name—I think—all of my colleagues from the regions also—Anikat, enes, Kai, Renard, Chica, and also Tusha. Thanks and see you next week. Bye.