PSA Retail unveils its digital in-store experience with Dassault Systèmes

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: PSA Retail unveils its digital in-store experience with Dassault Systèmes.

Dassault Systèmes is helping PSA Retail, the automotive distribution group of PSA, transform the customer car buying journey with a compelling digital in-store automotive dealership experience that injects change into its traditional automotive retail space and engages consumers in an interactive, personalised purchase decision.

PSA Retail used Dassault Systèmes' "Virtual Garage" industry solution experience to create a digital in-store retail format that infuses high-end digital visualisation into the physical showroom sales process. PSA Retail's new "Experience Store" in Paris features point of sale configurators to digitally showcase Peugeot, Citroën and DS vehicles in spaces measuring only 150 square meters for each brand. PSA Retail, a leading automotive distributor in France and Europe, plans to replicate this new retail format with 30 Experience Stores across Europe by 2020.

Using high-end renderings of virtual 3D models at its Experience Store, PSA Retail can showcase entire product ranges digitally with the detail and realism needed to create an emotional connection with customers. Shoppers can experience and configure their vehicle of choice in real time, choosing from different variants, scene environments, lighting conditions and effects to customise the vehicle's interior and exterior.

The configurators also serve as a valuable sales tool to showcase product options and detailed specifications without requiring any 3D visualisation expertise.

"Automotive dealerships are challenged to present a growing number of options and accessories to appeal to a digital generation and, particularly in large cities like Paris, do so in small, expensive retail locations," said Olivier Sappin, Vice President, Transportation & Mobility Industry, Dassault Systèmes. "Imagine a showroom without a physical car, or interacting with a car without touching it. 3DEXPERIENCE universes bring consumers closer to their future car than if they were strolling through a physical dealership."