TAKE POLL Digital Retailing - do you?

[shoagey]

We're actually moving away from it, but the issue isn't necessarily with Roadster. The in-store implementation strategy wasn't great on our end, so we're hoping that we can regroup and try the integration at one of our other stores. We started the rollout with the store's internet department which performs very well. That was probably a mistake--they have a grooved process and trying to insert Roadster in that didn't work well. I know we had some issues with duplicates in our CRM (DealerSocket), but not sure if it was ultimately resolved or how much that contributed to our moving away from it.

On the technology side, one issue that's pretty pervasive is the need to re-do a lot of steps in the deal. You can pencil the deal in Roadster, but when it gets to F&I you need to re-enter all of the info in whatever desking suite you use. Not a huge issue, but Roadster could be great if it could be more seamlessly integrated into the process.

I was wondering if you are moving to a competitor, and, if so, would like to share which one? You can always email me privately if preferred. Thank you!

 

[Alex Snyder]

We're actually moving away from it, but the issue isn't necessarily with Roadster. The in-store implementation strategy wasn't great on our end, so we're hoping that we can regroup and try the integration at one of our other stores. We started the rollout with the store's internet department which performs very well. That was probably a mistake--they have a grooved process and trying to insert Roadster in that didn't work well. I know we had some issues with duplicates in our CRM (DealerSocket), but not sure if it was ultimately resolved or how much that contributed to our moving away from it.

On the technology side, one issue that's pretty pervasive is the need to re-do a lot of steps in the deal. You can pencil the deal in Roadster, but when it gets to F&I you need to re-enter all of the info in whatever desking suite you use. Not a huge issue, but Roadster could be great if it could be more seamlessly integrated into the process.

Thanks for sharing with the community! This is quite timely as we covered Digital Retailing a bit on today's RefreshFriday show. @ericmiltsch stated he was surprised Digital Retailing hadn't taken off more than it has. I think you're hitting the nail on the head as to a few reasons why.

In the hopes that things will improve, do you mind sharing how things weren't working out in the Internet Department with a little more detail?

 

[John V.]

We looked at most of these, were seduced into a CDK Connected Store contract - but no leads, and the site has been idled, it's so bad. So we reverted back to our Nabthat site where we see 100-200 dealership leads every month, which is 40% of all our lead sources, and the best for sure. I think Digital Retailing is a farce, it's not a lead magnet as advertised, I would obviously know having used the service, only to have to stop it, before my business died. I would say Google Posts (a free service) provided me more leads than the most effective digital retailing site I was promised. The secret to selling cars online is keeping it simple. Good images, post good prices, follow up call with every lead, invite for the test drive, win them over and sell. Digital Retailing totally misses the point and advantage the dealership experience has over this fake experience, and why it still matters.

What is NabThat? Their website literally tells you nothing about what they do.