Digital retailing has been a hot topic in the auto industry for quite some time now, especially during the height of the pandemic where many dealers were nudged to move vehicle sales online. I had written a roundup (view here) a little over a year ago about how to improve the car buying experience in a changing economy, which was largely centered around the idea of consumers looking for an end-to-end digital buying experience.
While the world seems to be getting back to normal, or a “new normal,” digital retailing is here to stay. And though the majority of vehicle purchases still involve a trip to the dealership for several steps in the buying process, 86% of shoppers (according to a recent Cox Automotive study) still want the save time spent at the dealership with the ability to complete as many steps online as they desire.
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Topics:
Dealers,
Digital Retailing
In a previous article, we discussed how businesses can leverage a commercial VIN decoding solution to identify vehicle specs by VIN, as well as which specs are often included. In this article, we are going to dive into which businesses benefit from this functionality. The short answer is just about any industry that has anything to do with vehicles, their maintenance, financing, insurance, or transportation. Here’s a deeper dive into some of the most popular use cases for vehicle specs identification by VIN:
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Topics:
Logistics,
VIN,
Parts & Services,
Insurance,
Vehicle Equipment,
Dealers,
Fleet Management,
Risk Management
Vehicle subscription services started to surface in 2017 and are now available through a few manufacturers, some dealers, and several third parties including startups and vehicle rental companies. Given the diversity of businesses and level of variability in their business models, understanding how vehicle subscription services work requires a good deal of research.
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Topics:
Dealers,
Vehicle Shopping,
Fleet Management
Today’s automotive landscape is much different than 20 years ago, with the average life of a vehicle at a record high of 11.8 years. Automotive manufacturers across the board are building high-quality, longer-lasting vehicles, provided the owner keeps up with maintenance.
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Topics:
Automotive Data,
Parts & Services,
Insurance,
Dealers
We are living in a strange time right with a pandemic (COVID-19) that has greatly affected people worldwide and shuttered economies. Millions of people in the United States are out of work (hundreds of millions worldwide) and many businesses have had no choice but to furlough or lay off their employees, or even worse, close their doors permanently.
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Topics:
Parts & Services,
Insurance,
Automotive,
Dealers,
Fleet Management
As a dealership vendor, it should come as no surprise that dealerships see the largest profit margins from their fixed operations department. In fact, you’ve probably had your hand in the creation of content around this topic on some level, whether it be a comprehensive study or articles on your blog.
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Topics:
Automotive Data,
Dealers,
Service Data
Last month, Jake Maki, our Vice President & General Manager, joined DealerRefresh for their weekly RefreshFriday Facebook Live stream to provide some insight into some of the key challenges vendors face when working with vehicle data. Learn why vehicle data is so complex and how DataOne works to make it more consumable for our end users.
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Topics:
Automotive Data,
VIN,
Dealers
A couple of months ago we published a blog round up article on SEO tips and tricks for dealerships and thought it would be helpful to follow up with another roundup for paid advertising. Your dealership is likely already doing some paid advertising, whether through search engine marketing (SEM), display advertising, classified listings, or even social media sponsored content.
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Topics:
Dealers,
Roundup
You’re probably familiar with search engine optimization (SEO). Chances are that you’ve hired an automotive marketing agency or website provider to optimize your dealership’s website at one point or another. You may even have a large enough team to develop and execute an SEO strategy in-house.
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Topics:
Dealers,
Roundup
It’s one thing to consistently drive traffic to your website, but it’s another thing to keep them engaged. This is where your website’s user experience (UX) is crucial.
The UX on your auto listing or dealership website should take the stress out of vehicle shopping and make it easy for consumers to find their next vehicle. If you’re finding that your website isn’t getting as much traction as you’d hoped, conversion rates are low, or overall vehicle sales are low, it may be time to reassess the UX on your website.
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Topics:
Auto Portals,
Dealers,
Vehicle Shopping
