Beepi and Vroom and Carvana - will they make a DENT?

[JessicaRuth]

Applicable:

only using a phone to complete a process

 

[joe.pistell]

Add http://www.lingscars.com/ to the list

 

[JessicaRuth]

Add http://www.lingscars.com/ to the list

Sidenote - I think that @JoePistell gets special prizes every time Ling gets a hit to her site from us. First cookies, sure - but then it quickly turned into vacations.

 

[Cullen C]

Crickets.

 

[Stefan]

Lets add https://roadster.com/how_it_works to the watch list.

 

[Clay Toporski]

Meh, another website that is supposed to take the place of the dealership touting "Dealerships are bad places full of bad people!"
This kind of thing doesn't scare me. A website can't possibly do the same thing we do day in and day out. If it were that easy, I'd hire a bunch of developers to build a site to sell my cars rather than salespeople and a good CRM.

The things that are going to revolutionize this business, and manufacturers are already aware of, are selling models and innovations coming from the likes of Tesla, Apple and Google.

 

[Chris Leslie]

Meh, another website that is supposed to take the place of the dealership touting "Dealerships are bad places full of bad people!"
This kind of thing doesn't scare me. A website can't possibly do the same thing we do day in and day out. If it were that easy, I'd hire a bunch of developers to build a site to sell my cars rather than salespeople and a good CRM.

What is it that you "Do" exactly?

I don't mean it to sound obnoxious. But, do any of us "Make/Build" anything or are we all just glorified middlemen?

 

[Clay Toporski]

What is it that you "Do" exactly?

I don't mean it to sound obnoxious. But, do any of us "Make/Build" anything or are we all just glorified middlemen?

That's easy, I provide the answers to the questions that customers have in the dealership. I provide the test drives that people need before making a huge investment. I provide the service of being able to steer a customer in the right direction to find a vehicle that fits their needs and budget. I provide a place to be assured that if the car isn't up to expectations after the purchase for the customer they can go.

People in all levels of retail can out perform computers at this point in time. Some purchases are easier to make without customer interaction. Some are not. However, ask yourself this: why do high end stores like Neiman Marcus have personal shoppers? Wouldn't it be easier to just stick a computer in a customers face that spits out prices and let the customer figure it out? If not, why?

 

[Chris Leslie]

@Clay Toporski

Ok, So you provide a consulting service is what you are saying?

Challenge accepted on your second point.
There are plenty of independent personal shoppers too. I would argue the store offers them because maybe their customers don't want to have to think about certain things like do these socks go with that belt. Or they rely on the personal shopper to keep them at the cutting edge of fashion. But, there is a new trend with things like https://www.fivefourclub.com that are doing all of of those things too or even things like http://blueapron.com for that matter.

Overall I completely get what you are saying and agree. But does it need to be a dealership offering that advice? Why couldn't it be someone else? Why couldn't it be an Independent Consultant?

 

[ed.brooks]

Some customers need more help than others - some just want to be left alone and make the purchase.