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AutoTrader Going Public

I wonder about the comparison to Facebook. At least, AutoTrader has a proven revenue stream.

Yag, that is a cheap shot knowing that they are not allowed to defend themselves on this forum. I have been critical of vendors, on here, but I am not competing against them.

If there is anyone on DealerRefresh that uses AutoTrader, knows how to make it work and verify the ROI, it's Joe. When he can't make it work, I'll stop endorsing them and go in a different direction.

Davis,

Sorry for not replying sooner, I didn't see your post.

I didn't know that ATC couldn't reply to the forums, but I guess that says something about the company (my comment not to reflect on the individuals that care fr the company).

As I expressed to Joe I didn't intend to take a shot at ATC, I was trying to take a shot at how the market has changed and the dealer's perceptions. It is none of my biz what ATC charges or what dealers would pay, but I look at trends and I believe that dealers are willing to pay less for 3rd party sites in 2012 than they did in 2010-2011.

ATC works in many markets but just because the newspaper costed $20K a page doesn't mean digital needs to cost $20K, in my humble opinion. We need to stop comparing digital to other media.
 
I know of several dealers in the lower - mid - high teens paying that out to ATC monthly. Its not unheard of. You start purchasing Alpha and buying competitive make packages and display you can absolutely get your spending with ATC into the teens.

I moderated some round tables at Digital Dealer in the Spring and one dealer said that they were over $10k/monthly per store (3 stores) in a metro market. Other Dealers at the table ranged from $1500-$3k/monthly.
 
Davis,

ATC works in many markets but just because the newspaper costed $20K a page doesn't mean digital needs to cost $20K, in my humble opinion. We need to stop comparing digital to other media.

Putting it into perspective, a dealership's three largest variable expenses are Interest Floor Plan, Salesman's Compensation, and Advertising. The Internet Department is constantly competing for it's share of the Advertising budget. Unlike traditional advertising, we have the ROI report. This creates an unlevel playing field in getting additional funds for the department because billboards, electronic and print media are not under the same scrutiny.

I've drawn fire on DealerRefresh because I hold an unpopular belief that all advertising should be held to the same ROI standards. In hard economic times and a down market, when I suggest that we might not need billboards, our name on a scoreboard or maybe we might cut the electronic or print budgets instead of the Internet budget, considering that the internet department sells the majority of the cars, you a great outcry for "branding". With SEO/SEM, I fully understand how difficult it is to prove ROI. At every store that I have worked for, the internet department contributed the majority of the sales on small percentage of the advertising budget. I'm tired of seeing a slice of the advertising budget going to the next rep with big ta-tas.

Yes, we need to compare how we spend our ad budgets.
 
Putting it into perspective, a dealership's three largest variable expenses are Interest Floor Plan, Salesman's Compensation, and Advertising. The Internet Department is constantly competing for it's share of the Advertising budget. Unlike traditional advertising, we have the ROI report. This creates an unlevel playing field in getting additional funds for the department because billboards, electronic and print media are not under the same scrutiny.

I've drawn fire on DealerRefresh because I hold an unpopular belief that all advertising should be held to the same ROI standards. In hard economic times and a down market, when I suggest that we might not need billboards, our name on a scoreboard or maybe we might cut the electronic or print budgets instead of the Internet budget, considering that the internet department sells the majority of the cars, you a great outcry for "branding". With SEO/SEM, I fully understand how difficult it is to prove ROI. At every store that I have worked for, the internet department contributed the majority of the sales on small percentage of the advertising budget. I'm tired of seeing a slice of the advertising budget going to the next rep with big ta-tas.

Yes, we need to compare how we spend our ad budgets.

We are getting a little bit out of subject here, but too good of a conversation to leave alone.

I can't just disagree with you as what you write is all true and part of what I call 'a transition time in advertisement budget and knowledge'. But there are definitely different angles in here.

Dealers still struggle with the fact that we are in 2012 and that things have changed. I spend a lot time thinking about how digital affects what we do and how that is reflected in the results. Most dealers focus on phone calls because that is what the newspapers and other traditional media would bring and that is what they got used to measure. TV and radio didn't bring those call reports but they could see/hear themselves and that brought a certain amount of satisfaction in exchange of tangible results. We are in a more dynamic (clicks, bounce rate, multiple view sources, etc) advertising arena and that plays against us. Digital is not just phone calls. Joe Pistel had a great entry in the forum about taking 3 months for a dealer to realize their loss after cancelling a 3rd party site like ATC because of the way the customer buying cycle works. How can I "convince"--tech my dealers--to look beyond the phone calls?

About the ROI I disagree with you. We can't JUST live on the source that brings the best ROI. We need that one and another and another and another. When a dealer must chose I understand that we need to pick and chose, but when a dealer is in expansion mode with sales increasing, newspaper or other sources shouldn't be discarded just because they are not as good as others.
 
I moderated some round tables at Digital Dealer in the Spring and one dealer said that they were over $10k/monthly per store (3 stores) in a metro market. Other Dealers at the table ranged from $1500-$3k/monthly.


Let me ask you this, does Dealer Specialties charge the same amount for on-the-lot services in one city to the next? Hell NO! :lol: Some DS markets are charging $24.00 per car for 40 photos and another city is charging $15.95 for 40 photos, why? Does one rep do it differently from the next? Same process, same system. How about what a DS Company Owned Market charges versus a DS franchisee, same amount charged for the same services? I'm guessing for the same reasons as ATC's fees.

I'm going to assume that ATC's fees change from market to market based on what the local advertising budget is, the local competition (Cars.com), if they have a strong "hold" on the market (an ATC town), how many employees, and so on.

My local McDonalds sells a cheeseburger for $1.00, I go to the airport 15 miles away and that same cheeseburger is $2.00, why? Cost of rent? Less options to choose from so need need to pay it? Compensation of the workers to drive to the airport, park, and because they can!

There's probably a much shorter list of things that are the sold for the same price from one market to the next.
 
Let me ask you this, does Dealer Specialties charge the same amount for on-the-lot services in one city to the next? Hell NO! :lol: Some DS markets are charging $24.00 per car for 40 photos and another city is charging $15.95 for 40 photos, why? Does one rep do it differently from the next? Same process, same system. How about what a DS Company Owned Market charges versus a DS franchisee, same amount charged for the same services? I'm guessing for the same reasons as ATC's fees.

I'm going to assume that ATC's fees change from market to market based on what the local advertising budget is, the local competition (Cars.com), if they have a strong "hold" on the market (an ATC town), how many employees, and so on.

My local McDonalds sells a cheeseburger for $1.00, I go to the airport 15 miles away and that same cheeseburger is $2.00, why? Cost of rent? Less options to choose from so need need to pay it? Compensation of the workers to drive to the airport, park, and because they can!

There's probably a much shorter list of things that are the sold for the same price from one market to the next.


That is a great point and true to the fact that cost of living changes dramatically from one town to the the next.

BUT this thread is about ATC IPO.
 
That is a great point and true to the fact that cost of living changes dramatically from one town to the the next.

BUT this thread is about ATC IPO.

After reading the comments on this tread strictly about the ATG IPO?, it seems as though this tread started to moved to a discussion on what ATC charges in one market versus another and it seemed to shine a negative light on how ATC operates from another competing company and I was simply pointing out that it's true and we know it and it's true for a lot of other companies in the auto business.

ATC has built a STRONG product and it will continue to do great. I hear dealer's leaving ATC to try other things all the time, but then, months later, they're back on ATC. Why? Because you can't beat what ATC has to offer.

The top brass at ATC have earned their huge bonuses. Congratulations!! Can't wait to see what's next for AutoTrader.com Group! Free Alpha Packages from everyone!!!