Elaboration of Recommendations for the Use of Virtual Reality Tools for Car Dealerships (by the Example of Mercedes-Benz Dealership)

Nowadays, the use of virtual reality tools significantly transforms the process of selecting and deciding on the purchase of cars. Providing an opportunity to fully acquaint with the car and test it, the use of these tools helps make the acquisition process more comfortable and interesting, blur the boundaries between the digital environment and the material one. The object of this master thesis is to elaborate recommendations for the use of virtual reality tools for Mercedes-Benz dealerships. The subject matter of the study are Mercedes-Benz car dealerships. The scope here is the process of implementing virtual reality tools in the activity of Mercedes-Benz car dealership. The empirical study consisted of two stages. The first stage was to conduct a case study of the use of virtual reality tools in the marketing activities of automakers and dealers in order to identify features of using these tools in the automotive market. In-depth interviews with employees of Mercedes-Benz dealerships were also conducted at this stage in order to identify such features of using virtual reality tools in the automotive market as barriers and benefits of their use, ways for implementing using of these tools in the activity of automotive dealerships. Analysis of the data obtained in the second stage of quantitative study of customers of Mercedes-Benz dealerships allowed us to confirm the hypotheses established by the results of qualitative research, and to divide the respondents into 3 segments revealing the significant features of each of them. Based on the study, we elaborated recommendations on the use of virtual reality tools for Mercedes-Benz dealerships.