- Spanish Nissan dealer Antamotor uses Twitter to sell X-Trail crossover
- From shortlist to delivery details, all customer communication carried out via social network
- First face-to-face interaction was when customer collected vehicle
Nissan has become the first automotive brand in Europe to sell a vehicle exclusively through the use of social networking site Twitter.
From first contact with the client to the final decision to purchase – just six days later – all communication between flagship Galician dealer Antamotor and customer Raul Escolano took place via the social media platform.
Known to the dealership as user @escolano, he first courted car companies using the hashtag #compraruncocheportwitter (in English, ‘buy a car on Twitter’).
Escolano threw down the gauntlet to automotive brands across Spain, challenging them to support him in buying a vehicle, solely through the use of social networks.
Nissan, via franchisee Antamotor in A Coruña, used the video streaming platform Periscope to film the X-Trail, with the dealer presenting all of the vehicle’s key features in a personalised walk-through which was uploaded to a live stream.
Nissan then went head-to-head with rival models in a poll on Twitter, posed by Mr Escolano, in which followers were asked to rate the cars on the shortlist. The survey, which received 2.6 million impressions (source: Brandwatch), ranked X-Trail ahead of its rivals with 43 per cent of the vote.
Keys to the vehicle were delivered direct to Mr Escolano’s home by courier, to complete the online transaction.
The vehicle itself was collected from the brand’s Spanish Headquarters, in the first face-to-face interaction between Nissan and the customer since the sale began.
