[JoePistell]

Originally Posted by Tordiway

Does that mean we are (maybe) in agreement?

For fun, what are your thoughts on these two sites?

eCarLink - World Famous Retailer of Used BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi, Porsche, Exotics & More in Dallas, Texas

E-CarOne Dallas Pre-Owned luxury Vehicle Dealer. Low Wholesale Prices on Off-Lease Cars, Trucks, & SUV’s, Used Car Financing & Warranties

Pure eCommerce automobile retailing? Yes? No?

Yawn. No news here T. It's an old topic on DR. What your seeing is a classic outlier in marketing. The whole Texas & eBay connection defies logic, but is real.

eCarLink has been around a while and has never grown out of its own walls (or state). The site itself exists to support ebay auctions. Visit this page and look at the content. 2007 Audi Q7 Premium Dallas, Texas | eCarLink

Page reads:

"Welcome to eCarLink, one of America's premier dealerships selling high-line and luxury automobiles on eBay Motors... Our "Buy it Now" price is priced to move fast---act quickly! Please do not hesitate to contact us 7 days per week via phone (214.295.1074) or email (sales @ecarlink.com) with any questions. Our Buy it Now price is the same as our reserve - SO BUYITNOW NOW WITH PRICE CONFIDENCE."

Here she is again on eBay: Audi : Q7:eBay Motors (item 150390159548 end time Nov-28-09 09:10:50 PST)

Sorry T, It's not ecommerce, its a masterful ebay seller in the hottest ebay market on the planet.

[Tordiway]

Originally Posted by JoePistell

Sorry T, It's not ecommerce, its a masterful ebay seller in the hottest ebay market on the planet.

I think I'm beginning to understand. Our personal definitions of eCommerce must differ.

Let me collect my thoughts on this.

[Tordiway]

Originally Posted by JoePistell

Tordiway, Sometimes I am as dumb as a box of rocks... You wrote:

"....I'm not talking about sites that have to do double duty promoting the dealership's showroom sales in addition to Internet sales. I'm talking pure Internet sales sites."

So I have to ask, what does this mean? In my wacked view of the world, they are one.

OK, OK, it is all coming back to me now. I started this thread and posed the question a week or more ago, and it only showed up, like, 2 days ago, by which time I had already gone a lot deeper into the subject and realized that the sentence above, the one you caught, is indeed incorrect.

I am caught in a semantics trap of my own making.

Since this led us to debating the definition of eCommerce sites here is mine (now): if I can see an item, put that item into a shopping cart, and buy that item (pay money) online that is an eCommerce site. Amazon.com is an eCommerce site. iTunes.com is an eCommerce site. eBay Motors is an eCommerce site. (Depending upon its price I may not be able to buy the car outright on the site but I can leave a deposit - cash commitment - that starts the fulfillment of the transaction). The site takes my money.

Upon further investigation and to my surprise, ecarlink.com, ecarone.com and fitzmall.com are not eCommerce sites. The sites can't take your money. Case closed.

What I believe they do do (and what the Sun Auto Warehouse site does exceptionally well, IMHO) is combine information presentation capabilities unique to the Internet and HTML with a fresh and novel approach to merchandizing cars. And that was what I was trying to identify when I started the thread.

I was trying to isolate those sites that deliver a unique and wouldn't-be-possible-without-the-Internet car shopping experience from those that are little more than an online print brochure with a semi-interactive inventory. (That latter type make up the overwhelming majority of car dealer websites, wouldn't you think?) I called the former type of sites pure Internet sales sites. Probably not the clearest and most understandable label. But I hope you can see that my intentions were there.

My hunch is that most of us hanging around DR work for companies that have "little more than an online print brochure with a semi-interactive inventory" type websites and secretly (or sometimes publicly) wish our employers had sites that deliver a unique and wouldn't-be-possible-without-the-Internet car shopping experience.

[NickCybela]

Basic Design 101: Include a strong call to action. Remember that people scan websites.

[JoePistell]

Tordiway,

IMO, it's a game. You have 100 visitors, 95 want to be invisible, 3 submit a lead, 1.5 buy a car. It's those 95 invisible shoppers that makes me salivate!

Shoppping the web is a task based effort. Let's make them interact.

• Want more pics? <click here> (Offer only 5 pics, ice the others...)
• Are You Ready? Want our No Negotiation, Buy It Today price? <click here>
• email you if the price drops? <click here>
• and on and on...

It's all about your iron... they've came to find that special unit and you've got it.

[KoreyB]

1. Ease of use, no more bells and whistles. How many people do you turn away because your site is hard to use?
2. Search has to be prominent and accurate. How easy is it for the customer to find a vehicle they want?
3. CONTENT, accurate descriptions, pictures and video of vehicles.
4. Like @NickCybela mentioned. Call to action buttons, phone number, an easy way to take the next step.

[Tordiway]

Originally Posted by JoePistell

IMO, it's a game. You have 100 visitors, 95 want to be invisible, 3 submit a lead, 1.5 buy a car. It's those 95 invisible shoppers that makes me salivate!

You are right (again). The ones we get reveal themselves, thereby telling us what we are doing right. But the overwhelming majority, the ones that remain invisible, keep us awake nights. What do they want from us? What could we be doing differently to bring them out of lurk mode?

It's the conundrum of online merchandising.

Just curious, what's your site's bounce rate? I think your site is one of the best in the field. Surely it is more sticky than most?

Ling Valentine (CAR LEASING CHEAP LEASE CARS FOR SALE CONTRACT HIRE VEHICLES CARS TO LEASE) says she does not worry about that 95% - she figures if she remains "out there" in her own inimitable way then a greater-than-industry-average number of them will return to the site (over and over again) and, eventually, lease a car from her. She figures that many of her site's visitors are as much as 2 years out.

[Tordiway]

Part 2 of the conundrum is the prospect who submits an inquiry - via cars.com or autotrader.com or our own site or whatever - and is unresponsive. 90 days of (presumably) smart and strategically crafted dealer phone calls and emails go out to the prospect. All for nada.

Why did these people submit an inquiry in the first place?

Why do they choose to ignore all of our efforts when they could simply hit "reply" and tell us to go away?

[JoePistell]

Originally Posted by Tordiway

Ling Valentine (CAR LEASING CHEAP LEASE CARS FOR SALE CONTRACT HIRE VEHICLES CARS TO LEASE) ]

OMG Tordiway!
Where did you find this treasure of car sales chaos! It's a visual IED, but this gal has so much passion she can't contain herself! I just can't believe the content I am seeing. When does she have time to sell cars?? oh.. thats why it's a visual nightmare, she selling cars in the daylight and piling stuff on her site when everyone else is sleeping!

If ever, any ISM wanted a model to build you own personal brand, this gal has it going on by the truck load! Look thru the visual pepper spray and find the jewels shes made... my God, where do I start?

[JoePistell]

FACT:

Originally Posted by NickCybela

Basic Design 101: Include a strong call to action. Remember that people scan websites.

IMO, you have to "earn" the viewers time. I want to take a machete to my site and make the home page ultra simple then have the site reveal more and more detail and info the deeper you go. Keep dishin' them tasty bits-of-WIFM at each new level. Kind of like a pyramid, entering in at the top. Choices, info and time on page all grow the deeper you go. (great SEO architecture model too)