Car Merchandising Trends for 2025 | Vehicle Merchandising

Car Merchandising Trends to Watch in 2025

As 2025 kicks into gear, dealers face new merchandising trends affecting the auto market. Understanding how to engage online and in-person consumers using up-to-date tactics helps car dealerships boost visibility and sales.

Not sure where to begin? Below is a comprehensive guide to the best practice forecasts for 2025, why these merchandising strategies work, how to implement them to improve your business's bottom line, and why ACV MAX is a trusted partner for automotive merchandising.

What Car Dealers Need to Know About 2025 Car Merchandising Trends

As we enter a buyers' market in 2025, here are a few of the anticipated inventory and digital marketing trends to make your dealership as profitable as possible.

Personalized Ads Extend Reach

Data-driven personalization has been a growing trend in car merchandising¹ for several years, and dealers have also been leveraging this trend in their digital marketing efforts. These ads are tailored to individual user preferences based on their activity to pique interest in your inventory.

Potential buyers are likely to click on ads that show the same vehicles or options like the ones they've been researching because they feel their interests are well-understood. Engaging consumers who have an immediate need will help you see a return on investment—research shows that personalization can reduce customer acquisition costs and offer a 10 to 30% ROI².

How do you acquire the necessary data to customize your merchandising content? Turn to the built-in analytics tools on social media platforms for insight into consumer engagement metrics and demographics. Access to this information allows your dealership to develop personalized ads targeting specific consumer behaviors online.

Assessing and leveraging consumer information based on social media platform data is similar to using the information in your dealer management system (DMS) for other ad retargeting efforts.

Hybrid, Plug-Ins and Electric Vehicle Demand Remains Strong

Consumers' interest in electric vehicles (EVs) was a 2024 car merchandising trend that still matters into 2025. The former administration pledged that half of the new cars sold in the U.S. would be battery-powered by 2030³. Although the current administration aims to reverse this goal, it will likely be a slow-moving process.

Reports are optimistic, anticipating one out of every four cars sold in 2025 will be electrified⁴. Furthermore, electric vehicles have a stronger hold in the auto market total, taking roughly 10%, a notable increase from 7.5% in 2024. Hybrids and plug-ins will also fare well this year, garnering 15% of the market share.

With EVs sales volume projected to surpass 1.5 million this year, continuing (or starting) to add electric, hybrid, and plug-in cars to your dealership inventory to appeal to electric car and SUV enthusiasts is a profitable investment.

Google Is Still Important for Bottom-of-Funnel Customers

Vehicle Ad Overviews

Embracing vehicle ad overviews effectively increases your dealership's visibility on Google in a competitive auto market. Choose this tactic to appeal to consumers who are ready to make a purchase but need an extra nudge.

Dealers feature their entire inventory in the search engine, including links to the dealership, pictures of different brands and models, vehicle MSRP, year, and condition. Giving potential customers the necessary details immediately will help boost your dealership's online and offline conversions. Visit the Google Merchant Center and look for the add-on section to get your vehicle ads up and running on the search engine.

Social Media Is Starting to Really Take on Big-Ticket Items

Social Commerce Increases Convenience

The seller's market that car dealers have enjoyed for the past few years ended in 2024, making it crucial for dealers to adapt to the changing market and evolve with the times.

Social commerce empowers customers to find a new or pre-owned vehicle, research its specifications, compare models, read online reviews, schedule test drives, and complete the purchase using one social media platform.

When car dealers embrace social commerce as an integral part of their merchandising efforts, this year's shift to a buyer's market won't adversely affect sales. In fact, according to an Adtaxi survey, 45% of vehicle purchasers will consider using a social media platform to complete the sale⁵.

Short-Form Videos Convey Information Quickly

Short-form video content can capture your target audience's attention and turn them into loyal customers. You can post short-form video content, such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, to quickly cover topics of interest.

Your strategy might include walkthroughs of new inventory, how-to videos that help viewers solve a car problem, customer testimonials, vehicle comparisons, and behind-the-scenes videos for insight into the automotive industry. Any topic your target customers care about can become an engaging video that helps boost leads and sales conversions⁶.

Use in-platform stickers and features to add polls and other interactive elements. Getting your audience involved could help you see a return on investment. Polls asking which new model viewers want to take for a test drive or which features are most important to them can inform your content strategy and influence which vehicles you add to your inventory.

Providing a streamlined and interactive shopping experience can turn one-time purchasers into repeat customers for a return on investment.

Omni Channel Approach In Dealerships

QR Code-Enabled Stickers Bridge the Gap

Potential customers can visit your dealership's physical location and get a taste of the online experience simultaneously. In addition to putting inventory information on digital displays, you can place QR code-enabled stickers on each vehicle's windshield or a side window⁷.

Use an online QR code generator to encode a vehicle's details, which are converted into a QR code. Customers can scan the QR codes on their smartphones to have all the necessary information right in the palm of their hand. While on the lot or at home, customers can also use their smartphones to engage with your social media content for a well-rounded experience.

Signage and Displays Dominate In-Person Merchandising

Although modern car buyers appreciate the convenience of personalized ads and the accessibility of social commerce, many see the appeal of an omnichannel shopping experience. According to recent studies, 71% of consumers are likely to use a mix of online and in-person services for future vehicle purchases⁸.

By integrating digital displays into your vehicle merchandising strategies, you can boost the efficiency and effectiveness of in-person interactions to see a return on investment.

Place digital displays in the dealership showroom, service center, and other high-traffic hubs to guide customers to the departments and services they need, from sales and financing to on-site amenities, like restrooms.

Dynamic displays on the sales floor can provide answers to top-level buyer questions before they meet with a salesperson. Use these displays like a digital catalog that allows customers to browse and compare vehicles. They can type in a vehicle make or model they've been eyeing online for a detailed summary and information about a vehicle's location on the lot.

Reach Out to ACV MAX for Effective Car Merchandising

Creating an effective car merchandising strategy takes time, so trust ACV MAX to provide meticulously compiled, real-time data to drive your decisions. We serve some of the largest and most-respected automotive dealerships in the United States.

Knowing inventory health at a glance makes it easier for dealerships to better understand which models move quickly and which vehicles to promote more heavily or markdown to move off the lot. Request a demo today.

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