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Taking to the Web to Push Spring Sales
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Now that the spring market is upon us, it is important to be prepared to take advantage of your Internet sales opportunities.
Dealers Look to Survive Market Turmoil via New Web Strategies
RALEIGH, N.C. — Close to 900 dealerships closed their doors last year, prompting Urban Science to state that it was the largest drop in the number of franchised stores since 1991.
How Can Dealers Improve Inventory Turn Rate through the Web?
WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Based on the results on an internal study, HomeNet has suggested that dealers can move their used-vehicle inventory at significantly faster rate if they include at least a dozen photographs, custom descriptions and accurate pricing with their online vehicle listings.
Powering Up Your Web Site
Most of us can agree that the leads the Internet department receives from the dealership's own Web site are of better quality and typically close at a higher percentage than third-party leads or even OEM leads. So it stands to reason that the more leads we can get through our own Web site, the better our overall closing percentage and sales will be.
Polk: Dealer's Level of Response Affects Sales, Brand Loyalty
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — By improving the way they respond to online inquiries, dealers may stand a greater chance of making a sale and increasing brand loyalty, according to a recent study.
Dealers Shift Toward Online Technology, Marketing
PRINCETON, N.J. — More and more dealers plan to start using Web 2.0 technology in their advertising campaigns, and most intend to increase spending on Internet marketing in the next year, according to a recent study.
Web classified ad firms renew marketing to dealers, buyers
Online publishers of vehicle classified ads are rolling out new campaigns aimed at attracting users and persuading dealers to shift ad spending from newspapers.
What is the Best Internet Structure for Each Dealership?
LEXINGTON, Ky. — As I travel throughout the country, I am constantly asked, "What is the best Internet structure for our dealership?" Most of the time the dealership already has a current Internet setup, and it is just looking for reassurance that what it has in place is a good one.
Internet Captures More Automotive Ad Dollars
According to a new report from Borrell Associates, automotive ad spending will reach $31 billion this year, but total ad dollars will grow only 1.7% over the next five years, compared to an annual growth rate of 3.7% in the last five years. Online spending for the industry will reach $2.8 billion in 2007, 7.6% of all automotive advertising, representing annual growth of 13%.
Driving Web Shoppers into the Showroom
LEXINGTON, Ky. — If you want to have consistent success with your Internet marketing, you have to actually get your online prospects into your showroom. It is becoming increasingly easy to promote your business and your inventory online to a wider spectrum of prospects, but your dollars will not be wisely spent promoting if you cannot convince people to come in to test drive and purchase your vehicles.
Study: Speed Helps Boost Customer Satisfaction, Drives More Sales
MINNEAPOLIS — The speed with which a dealership responds to a potential buyer's request for vehicle information plays a critical role in a customer's initial perception of a dealership and whether a shopper may purchase the vehicle from that dealership or from a competitor, according to a new study by Outsell LLC.
Car Sales Start With Clicks
More auto shoppers are going to branded carmaker Web sites than ever, but they are going to fewer sites in total, according to Capgemini.
Kain: Used-Car Managers Should Utilize Internet
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Encouraged by the swelling numbers of Internet embracers within the dealership community, David Kain now is hopeful that more dealers and used-car managers will become ambidextrous when it comes to their online marketing and sales skills.
Web marketing challenges dealers
Dealers know they need to market online. But some have made more progress on the Web than others.
Dealerships turn the page on local newspapers
Last spring, Tommy Brasher ran an advertisement for his Weimar, Texas, dealership in the hometown newspaper. A typographical error knocked $10,000 off the $35,000 price of a Chevrolet Silverado.
Dealers Plan to Advertise More on the Internet, Poll Finds
CHICAGO — Nearly two-thirds of car dealers told Cars.com that they will increase their online advertising budgets in 2007, Cars.com announced.
Dealers, Factories Spending Less on Print Ads, More Online
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Whether one reads market surveys or listens to industry watchers or talks with dealers, one trend is clear: As the popularity of the Internet as a tool to research, buy and sell vehicles continues to soar, more and more dealerships are shifting limited advertising dollars away from traditional print and increasingly investing in online marketing through their own Web sites and third-party services.
KBB: Shoppers Prefer Actual Photos Over Stock Photos Online
When it comes to purchasing a used vehicle, consumers want to see plenty of actual photos of the unit they are interested in, along with condition and mileage. Meanwhile, the same goes for new-vehicle shoppers: 90 percent said they prefer to see actual photos of a unit rather than stock photography on the dealer's Web site, according to a study conducted by Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research.
Cars.com Study: 55% of Dealers Invest in Search Engine Marketing
According to cars.com's recent dealeradvantage survey, more than 55 percent of dealers questioned said they now include search engine marketing in their online advertising plan to drive traffic to their Web sites and generate sales leads.
J.D. Power: Online Used Classifieds Outpace Print Ads
Turning to the Internet to research and select a new or used vehicle to purchase has been gaining ground with consumers with of late. The evidence of this increasing trend can be found in J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Used Autoshopper.com Study, which revealed that more than twice as many vehicle buyers are sourcing online classifieds versus newspaper and magazine classifieds as the place where they found their next purchase.
Cars.com: Dealers Drive Quality by Constantly Updating Pricing
A recent cars.com survey discovered that a used vehicle with a stale price is not likely to sell quite as well as one where the price is continually updated.
Auto Execs Highlight Importance of Pre-Owned Departments
In today's extremely competitive marketplace, it's increasingly important for dealers to maximize profits throughout all departments, according to auto executives. In this climate, pre-owned and certified have become increasingly vital parts of a dealer's business, and as such, automakers now have dedicated divisions and invested in resources to help salespeople move these units.
CarMax: Web Site Visits Increase Nearly 30 Percent
CarMax executives announced they have experienced a nearly 30-percent increase in visits to carmax.com in the past year. Specifically, there were an estimated 41 million visits to the company's Web site, as compared to approximately 32 million in the prior fiscal year.
More dealers pop up on search engines
A Honda owner in Manassas, Va., wants to buy a new Accord but doesn't have an auto dealership in mind.
Automakers search for Web attention
Nearly every automaker's marketing strategy includes ways to nudge computer users from Internet search engines to its Web site.
Dealer ads shift toward events, podcasts, e-mail
On a recent weekend, dealer Dave Mungenast invited 1,000 people to his St. Louis Acura store to teach them how to prevent child abductions.
Traditional Media Obsolete Among First-Time Buyers?
A Traditional mass media has been rendered nearly obsolete among first-time vehicle purchasers, according to a study released Tuesday from the Polk Center for Automotive Studies.
Black Book Online: Dealers Handle Internet Sales Leads Well; Want More
According to Black Book Online executives, dealers excelling with Internet leads respond to such customers quickly, and those who follow-up with the potential buyer for two months are the most effective.
GM to Car Shoppers: "Google Pontiac and Discover For Yourself"
WHILE PARTICIPATING IN THE WORD of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) conference last week in Orlando, Florida, I caught one of General Motor's 30-second regional television ads for its Pontiac brand. Television ads often stimulate Internet search behavior by increasing brand awareness or sparking curiosity, as often demonstrated by Hitwise. But this GM spot was significant because it ended with an unusual call to action: "Don't take our word for it. Google Pontiac and discover for yourself." And the ad ended not with a URL or phone number for a local dealer, but an actual Google screenshot with Pontiac typed in. Yes, an actual screenshot!
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS WORLD CONGRESS
Years of mistakes, missteps and mishaps have helped the auto industry figure out how to harness the raw power of the Internet. Now comes the task of refining it, an Automotive News World Congress panel on Internet strategies agreed on Tuesday.
Internet Tops for Researching Vehicles, Study Shows
The 7th annual Cars Online study from Capgemini is showing that the Internet has become the No. 1 information source used by consumers when researching vehicles, surpassing family and friends and manufacturer-specific dealers.
Study: Dealers to Expand Internet Departments in New Year
American dealers see the growing value of the Internet on their sales and marketing efforts, with 92 percent saying they plan to expand their dealerships' Internet departments in the coming year, according to a recent survey by Black Book Online.
Deals on wheels
Consumers are increasingly driving harder bargains in auto showrooms, thanks to the information superhighway.
Web boosts car buyers' power: analysts
Consumers now hold most of the cards when buying autos because they are embracing the power of the Internet, industry analysts say.
Study: 58% Use Internet to Gather Info and Shop
Of the new car buyers who said they use the Internet as an information source in their vehicle purchasing decisions, 58 percent said they were focused on finding pricing data, according to Feedback Research, a division of Claria Corp.
It's no secret that used cars are a bankable source of new dealership profits. Since 1999 used car sales have consistently represented close to 30 percent of the average dealership's sales [Source: NADA® Data 2005].
J.D. Power: Online Product Info More Influential Than Price
Product-related information influences significantly more online vehicle shoppers researching models than pricing information, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 New Autoshopper.com Study.
Yahoo!, Compete: Internet Search Plays Important Role in Purchase Decisions
A study completed by Yahoo! and Compete, Inc., which is an online market research firm, discovered that online search plays a key role in the research and purchase-decision process of consumers in the market for a new or used vehicle.
Survey: Dealers embrace Internet use
A new survey of auto dealers finds that skepticism about Internet sales has disappeared, and the majority of dealers view the Internet as increasingly important to their business.
Creating, Maintaining a Successful Internet Department
As consumers turn more and more to the Internet as a source for vehicle research and to discover a dealership that has the vehicle they are interested in purchasing, Internet Trainer and Dealer Principal David Kain said it's even more vital that dealerships present a strong presence on the Web.
J.D. Power: Internet Surpasses Print Advertising
The Internet has overtaken traditional newspaper and magazine classified ads in leading more consumers to late-model vehicle purchases, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Used Autoshopper.com Study.
With the click of a link, automakers get exposure
To boost the odds that computer-savvy vehicle shoppers will visit their Web sites, automakers are spending more on "sponsored" links to the biggest search engines.
Dealers tightened advertising budgets in 2004
Dealers spent less to advertise in all media last year than they did in 2003, the National Automobile Dealers Association reports. But dealers continued to spend more on Internet advertising.
Internet Ads Click With Firms;
Advertisers continue to aggressively increase spending on Internet ads, with close to half of them cutting spending on traditional channels to do so, according to a new survey from Forrester Research Inc.
Internet
Newspaper sites dominate the local online advertising market, claiming a much larger chunk of local ad dollars (e.g. real-estate, auto and job classifieds) than competing media outlets like radio or television, says a new report by Borrell Associates.
On-line sales surge
On-line sales by Canadian companies and government departments jumped by almost 50 per cent last year as companies did more business with each other over the Internet, Statistics Canada said.
Edmunds: Dealers with Modern Technology Attract More Online Buyers
Car dealers who have invested in modern technology tend to attract more online buyers, according to Edmunds.com executives.
Survey: 76% of Consumers Visit Dealership, Automaker Web Sites
According to a recent study by Keynote Systems, 58 percent of consumers prefer to research vehicles online. Of that number, 76 percent said when vehicle shopping they will visit an automaker or a dealership Web site.
COMMENT: Why many dealers lose out online
Ten years ago, most dealers didn't know how to access the Internet. Though most now recognize how important the Internet can be for business, many are missing opportunities to capitalize on it. Underuse of the Internet may be hampering their ability to market effectively to prospects and customers.
Edmunds.com: Web Purchases Approach 30 Percent of Market
SANTA MONICA, Calif. Nearly 30 percent of all new vehicle purchases will soon be done on the Internet, according Edmunds.com officials.
Autobytel: Dealerships Thank Internet for Improved Sales
IRVINE, Calif. - In honor of the Automotive Internet's 10th anniversary, Autobytel recently surveyed car dealerships across the country to discover the Web's impact on business. Dealers responded to the survey by saying they applaud the Internet for sales improvement across the board.
Growth of online ads hits high speed
SAN FRANCISCO - Demand for online video ads by Ford Motor, Colgate-Palmolive and others will contribute to a breakout year for online advertising in 2005 — and spell trouble for newspapers and TV, financial analysts say.
Online vehicle buying services providing more leads to dealers
Westlake Village, California - Online buying services are influencing more vehicle sales than ever, and dealers are receiving more leads according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Dealer Satisfaction with Online Buying Services Study released yesterday.
Car dealers finding customers on-line
JACK KAPICA - Automobile dealers had better start selling their cars on-line or face disaster, an international auto think tank says.
J.D. Power: Car Buyers Increasingly Logging On
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. - The number of used vehicle buyers using the Internet is rapidly growing, according to J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Used Autoshopper.com Study. Roughly 54 percent of used vehicle buyers used the Internet during their shopping process, up from 47 percent in 2003. |
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