The parking industry is rapidly changing owing to an array of reasons, including new technology integration, growing demand, awareness, and so forth. Therefore, it is vital for car park owners to stay up to date with the latest trend in the parking industry so that they don’t miss anything that might benefit their parking business. Remember, a parking business can be very beneficial but only when you can manage to keep your customers happy. In this write-up, we will explore some popular trends in the parking industry and learn how they can help car park owners. So, let’s begin without further ado!

Knowing the Customers

One of the basic but necessary things that any parking operator should do is to know their customers. It is vital to utilise the opportunities in order to create value for the business, and it can’t be done unless you understand what your customers want. Therefore, knowing the customers and understanding their needs has become a trend in the parking industry. Hence, whenever a car visits your parking space, your first intention should be to know the motorist’s intention and requirements.

Understanding motorists have always been difficult, but keeping track of customer data & analysing the user insights can help you understand the behaviour of motorists and generate more revenues from your car park. So, try to figure out what problems your customers face when they visit your car park and how you can resolve them. Consider installing smart parking solutions; they will ameliorate the parking experience of motorists who visit your parking lot.

Payment Flexibility

Gone are the days when parkers had to stand in long queues and wait for hours in order to pay a parking fee. Technology is advancing, and so is the parking industry. Therefore, most car park owners these days are considering integrating innovative parking payment solutions to provide parkers with the utmost possible convenience. Offering a flexible payment option has become a new trend in the parking industry, and it’s indeed making a huge impact.

People barely carry coins with them these days, which makes them unable to use a parking payment kiosk that only accepts coins to make payments. On the other hand, when a parking space includes a payment terminal that lets parkers use coins, cards, and even a mobile app to make payments, less time is consumed. It can also make parkers more confident about revisiting your car park as they know that they won’t face any issues while making a payment.

Value-Added Services at Reasonable Costs

Pricing and mode of payment are rapidly changing, and now people are more concerned about the quality of the services they receive in return for the amount they pay. The cheapest options are no longer the winner; people are willing to pay more if they receive quality services. Therefore, it’s necessary to provide customers with an experience that is superior to your competitors and other parking spaces near you.

Remember, when you offer your customers value-added services, they start trusting you. It gives them a sense of reliability and makes you a trustworthy parking space owner. If you try to collect more money from the parkers, they will not visit your parking space again in the future because they will understand that you charged them a higher fee for parking their vehicle in your car park. This may harm your parking business in the long run.

 Transparency

One of the effective methods to build a relationship with customers is to promote transparency. In recent years, it has been observed that the brands that don’t promote opacity and keep things transparent with customers are rapidly growing. Remember, customers are looking for businesses they can rely on; you just need to make them believe that you are the one they have been looking for.

Transparency has become another trend in the parking industry as it helps motorists easily understand what they should expect from a car park. Parkers are now able to compare hourly or day charges of parking spaces before visiting one owing to transparency. So, if you are a parking space owner and want to profit more from your parking space, try to keep things transparent. It may help you win loyal motorists.

In-Vehicle Payments

Another trend that has become extremely popular in the parking industry is to make in-vehicle payments. Everyone wants to utilise their time in the best possible ways, and people do away with the inconvenient things. In-vehicle payment methods allow motorists to pay for parking their cars in a parking space without leaving their cars. They don’t necessarily need to go out of their vehicle, find a parking payment machine, and make a transaction. They can do it via phone, thanks to smart parking payment solutions.

There’s nothing wrong with having a pay & display machine in a car park; it’s also an effective way to make a parking payment. However, consider offering car owners the utmost possible convenience if you want to generate more revenue. It will save their time and also offer an array of advantages to your car park, such as increased revenue, less traffic congestion, increased efficiency, less carbon footprint, and more.

Technology Integration

Technological advancement is a boon to humankind in several ways, and it is drastically influencing almost all the industries on Earth, including the parking sector. Parking spaces are hard to manage as vehicles continuously enter and exit these places, leaving minimal scope for parking owners to keep everything in order and manage the car park. So, it becomes necessary for car park owners to integrate technology in their parking spaces in order to automate the entire parking process. However, it can be a bit challenging to understand what technology can benefit your parking space, especially when you don’t know much about the industry.

Well, you may consider integrating CCTVs, an ANPR system, a parking kiosk, and a barrier system in your car park if you want to make it efficient & automated. You can even get in touch with a car park management company to get assistance in managing your car park or installing innovative technology.