The Internet is a double edge sword. In a large metro area, you draw more people but from larger geographical distance. This negatively impacts your repeat and referral business along with your fixed operations. We were in Dallas routinely selling customers from Houston, Shreveport and Oklahoma City. It is unlikely that they are coming back and zero chance for service business.
Autotrader - Good, but $800-900/sale good????
- Thread starter Marc McGurren
- Start date
The Internet is a double edge sword. In a large metro area, you draw more people but from larger geographical distance. This negatively impacts your repeat and referral business along with your fixed operations. We were in Dallas routinely selling customers from Houston, Shreveport and Oklahoma City. It is unlikely that they are coming back and zero chance for service business.
Autotrader is getting ready for their IPO pure and simple. This year they should hit over $1 billion in revenue. They have no clear cut strategy on how to create synergy from all these gobbled up companies. It is evident in their attempt to promote Trade In Marketplace and KBB which happen mid month October....makes absolutely no sense. vAuto and real deal is a great integration, but honestly I think it has to do more with Dale Pollack who is a true visionary then the Autotrader strategic thinkers. Autotrader just wants to make a one solution, al a carte, buffet style, pick your products for dealers. Then they will try to convince investors that their is real value their. Hey and I don't blame them, the execs will become billionaires overnight.
- Apr 7, 2009
- 4,633
- 2,122
- Awards
- 10
- First Name
- Joe
Chris,
Your new nickname is ChrisLikesToGuess&hisFavoriteWordIsBillions.
Dood, you state "they'll hit a bill in revs this year". Really? you have no idea what Autotraders revenues are. And, after the IPO, you say the execs will be billionaires overnight. Really? Hahaha really? What's the mystery IPO priced at? $6? $56?
I just don't understand how someone can create grand conclusions without 2seconds of thinking.
Since it is not a public company yet then yes, we do not know there true revenue. But here
Auto Remarketing | AutoTrader.com Projects 2011 Revenue Will Exceed $1B
So they hit $720 million in Rev last year. Gobbled up a lot of BIG companies this year...and o yea there CEO says there gonna hit $1 Bill in revenue. So UncleJoelikestodrinktoomuchmedicineandblahblahblahonforumsposts if they have an upward trend, a huge pickup of some very big companies, and there CEO says they'll hit it then I would have to agree.
Now to the IPO:
They technically still have there IPO filed from 2000, you can see here.
http://pro.edgar-online.com/ipo.asp...x=2&coname=AUTOTRADER COM INC&fnid=2478&ipo=1
Articles written about the possibility of the IPO being field
AutoTrader may be eyeing stock offering - Atlanta Business Chronicle
Autotrader and VinSolutions partnership speculation
Good article about when they almost went Public. They have 6.5mil shares and were shooting for a $10 Initial Offering a decade ago...think they have built a tad bit more wealth since?
AutoTrader.com, Inc.: Information from Answers.com
So I guess I can change my nickname back to ChrishasdonehisresearchandisallowedtotakeUncleJoeswhiskyandkeyboardawayfrom him. So it is not a guess, actually based on research, and took more than 2 seconds of thinking. It's actually a pretty logical train of thought. KBB was bought for around $500m, vAuto for about $250m, no idea about Vin, or the others. To be fair the KBB and vAuto is hearsay. They have created a juggernaught and have yet to have a cohesive plan on a lot of things. Signs point to and IPO.
- Apr 7, 2009
- 4,633
- 2,122
- Awards
- 10
- First Name
- Joe
ChrisS +1
Well done ChrisFormerlyKnownAsNoHomeWorkChris, now known as DontChallengeChris'CuzHeCanBringIt
Well done ChrisFormerlyKnownAsNoHomeWorkChris, now known as DontChallengeChris'CuzHeCanBringIt
- Dec 30, 2009
- 1,883
- 480
- First Name
- Yago
"They" are Autotrader, and they paid to have a company survey our sold clients to determine what is driving traffic. Isn't that what we were talking about?
So, no, I guess I'm not agreeing with you, sorry!! ahaha!
Our results showed that while the internet is very important, repeat and referral business is what drives our success.
So you agree with me... my point was that those surveys that Matt was pointing at are always good to ATC. Then when they did one for you it didn't look so good.
Of course referral and community biz is important, it always has. Just because we changed the channels (radio, newspaper ----> Internet) doesn't mean that human nature has changed.
- Dec 2, 2009
- 1,047
- 720
- Awards
- 9
- First Name
- John
Correct. Human Nature has not changed. However, Human Advertising is changing everything... OH WAIT... I'm gonna try to coin a term... Human Advertising =
Humading
Mantising (Not the personal grooming type)
Humantising
Huvertising
OK -- I like Huvertising -- just added it to the dictionary. My brain just exploded: an excellent CRM system with an excellent Process with a corporate culture centered around taking care of the clients... shangra la... Now there's a topic for a cool string.
- Dec 30, 2009
- 1,883
- 480
- First Name
- Yago
The culture of taking care of the client has been present in many stores and many businesses inside and outside the car industry. While the vast majority followed the dollar, some smaller stores remained faithful t their old and core values and never stopped caring for their community. I do agree that majority lost track and went for volume of sales and profits, but society has persisted on going back to the old ways.
