Abstract

This study examined the subject of the Saudi Arabian new vehicle market. The topic addressed involved thesales-cycle within the new vehicle purchase process in Saudi Arabia. The specific research problem identified abreak-down in the sales-cycle or, alternatively, a dysfunctional approach to the final step in the sales-cycle whichinvolves the post-purchase stage where the consumer typically makes referrals or recommendations to family,friends and colleagues regarding the product or service in question. In this case, the data collected for this studyin the form of an informal, anonymous survey of people that have purchased a new vehicle in the Saudi marketfound that the satisfaction rates with dealers were an abysmal 50 to 60% depending on the specific aspect ofservice quality addressed. The secondary data found that there are more than 700 thousand new vehicles sold inSaudi Arabia on average annually and this figure is expected to surpass one million in several years. Additionally,with the after sales market in service, parts and warranties continuing to expand to more than $1 billion, thispost-purchase process in the sales-cycle can no longer be ignored by new car dealerships in the market. Therecommendation is that new car dealerships develop and integrate social media into a customer loyalty programin the new car sales-cycle in order to improve customer satisfaction and referral rates.

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