New Project -> Dealer Commerce

[Chris Cachor]

So what originally started as a proof-of-concept from this thread kind of spiraled into a full blown commercial offering. I’ve been using different AI tools over the past 18 months or so to build out a vision for what a modern dealer platform *should* be. And so many of the things we’ve talked about here with other thought leaders is now a reality. I wouldn’t have the energy to make it all possible without AI. But I think the end result is pretty cool.

Here's the marketing site I'm working on:

Dealer Commerce — Turn Online Shoppers Into Showroom-Ready Customers

I have the platform feature complete now, and I'm going to spend the next month or so on polish and talking to dealers about it. More exciting things to come!

 

[joe.pistell]

Here's the marketing site I'm working on:

Dealer Commerce — Turn Online Shoppers Into Showroom-Ready Customers

DUUDE! I cant wait to dig into your mad scientist work!

 

[Alex Snyder]

Let's connect in the next week or two, Chris.

 

[VinAssessment]

This looks great — really like the direction you're taking with the customer journey.

On my end, I work with live automotive market data — around 5 million dealer listings updated every single day, plus solid VIN decoders and spec/pricing data.

You can actually see my live inventory in action here: https://vehisales.com

If real-time market data would be useful for your project (pricing context, competitor inventory, VIN decoding, etc.), happy to help — just let me know.

 

[Chris Cachor]

The product I've been working on, Dealer Commerce, is the first of its kind (afaik) platform for dealers in automotive. I like to call it a Sales Continuity platform. I'm aiming to solve the problem in the middle of the online-to-offline (or ROBO) sales process. To help explain what it is, I created this demo -> 2024 GMC Yukon XL | DC Imports

There's a handful of goals I had:

1. Simplify the over-abundance of links, mega-menu's, and no real clear visual hierarchy.
2. Improve the merchandising experience -> less focus on make/model filters, more on categories (ex: Third-row SUV's, Luxury, Commercial, Hybrid, EV's, Commuter, Budget, Reliability, Safety, Family, etc.).
3. Verify leads. There's so much spam, etc. Elevating the experience to use one-time passwords for email/SMS enabled verified users to continue the sales process past the lead form.
4. Direct messaging w/AI Concierge. Phone calls are a relic of the past. Most people today prefer direct messaging. Have a specific question only someone in sales could answer -> hits the sales floor DMs. Everything else the concierge could handle. It can hand-off in real-time too.
5. Industry leading VDPs - With inspiration from Carvana, Carmax, Apple, Stripe, and more.
6. Sell the car, sell the dealer -> Your competing with other dealers in the same radius. Your website should sell your dealership too. (Hat tip @joe.pistell)
7. Session tracking - Not just in Google Analytics. See what people are doing on the site in real-time, like a newsfeed. See anonymous traffic as well as OTP identified customers. Engagement scores, repeat views, etc.
8. Connected App - That's right. An iOS and Android for your staff to complete that online-to-offline loop. Like a digital check-in. More on that soon!

 

[joe.pistell]

Chris, love the work, the UI is super clean and easy for the eye to finnd its way around. I LOVE this feature

Well done sir!

 

[Alex Snyder]

Glad to see you're bringing this to market!

I know you're moving fast and look forward to how it grows.