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The Evolution of an Automotive Customer

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#41
@alex, I know what you mean and I agree with you on that aspect. A value package is not supposed to be free oil changes or tires for life. It just needs to be a unique reason why people should choose you over anyone else. Your value package can have things that will not cut into your gross. For instance, if your dealership has a play area or starbucks coffee, you can add that. If your dealership has a cafeteria, you can use that. Remember, you want to be different from everyone else but also a little better.

I was recently consulting a store that had a video game area setup. That is great to let customers know of. Let the customers feel like buying a car is more convenient for them.
 
#42
Intersting site Joe sorry I missed that post. I love thier business model: "Car & AT you go get all the listing we'll aggrogate the data and display it in a way that makes sense to the customer then sell the lead back to the dealer.

Problems:

1. They are just a vunerable as AT and Cars if the dealer body ever figures out they can compete with them in search.

2. They are most likely to be come the orbitz of the car business. A presenter of data with no action monitizable action that can come from the data presented. Just a ad site.

To make any site like this work there has to be a compelling reason for the customer to want to go through this site as oppsoed to just going direct to the dealer.

Neat site though.
 
#43
Larry,

CarGurus is a lead wholesaler. It leverages its awesome SEO work and strong call to action VDP work to resell its lead traffic to the extensive sales network of Cars.com and Dealix et al.

That CarGurus.com CEO Langley Steinert is not a 'one trip pony'. His business model and the TripAdvisor are radically different.

Gee... He built the ultimate Business Rater site, why not replicate it in our space?

Roll with me on this. Take a minute and consider the structure of TripAdvisor in the Hotels market and how a similar could be used in the automobile retailer biz. Langley S. saw the money and clearly saw the opportunity in the classified ad/lead generating side. I find that very interesting... very revealing.

Anyhoo...
 
#44
Larry,

You write:

"1. They are just a vunerable as AT and Cars if the dealer body ever figures out they can compete with them in search."

I'll ask you this Larry. In long tail SERPs, Can you show me a dealer in any important market that can compete with the big 3? Lets call an "important market" as one with an MSA >500k pop.

I'd LOVE to see a dealer that has made the cut. Actually, its the vendors responsibility to craft a game plan to make this happen (the SEO plan needs to be "holistic" for it to work).

Now with CarGurus.com filling out the local long tail SERPs better than any dealer/vendor I've ever seen, there is even less reason for Google to "toss the switch" to give local dealers more priority.

Like I wrote in my review of CarGurus.com, IMO, it requires the Google brain trust to decide that Local Car Dealers provide a better search experience than does the Aggragators.

IMO, google will goto 7packs for long tail serps and leave the organics to the aggregators.
 
#45
Larry writes:

"2. They are most likely to be come the orbitz of the car business. A presenter of data with no action monitizable action that can come from the data presented. Just a ad site. "

Orbitz Larry?

Ya, I'd agree with that. CarGuru is in the order flow just like Orbitz. I am aok with that, but I've been looking for a game changer to show up and rock our world. Our industry is ripe for the PriceLine.com business model. If he twists the knobs just right and moves his model more towards PriceLine and if it resonates with the dealerships upper management, lookout.

Also, If Larry S and the team can figure it out, Look at the riches that await! Compare the company size of Orbitz vs Priceline

Orbitz (OWW) Business Valued at $641mill

PriceLine.com (PCLN) Business valued at:$16BILLION

Wheres the business headed (aka "what do the customers like")?

Don't think it can happen? Business leaders force change. Managers manage. Just a few years ago PCLN was about the same financial size as OWW PCLN Price Analysis | YCharts

IMO, I maybe running down the wrong alley, but I do know. Radical change is NOT coming from AT and Cars.com. Langley S and his crew are the first A Team I've seen show up in our space.

Food for thought

Muli-year chart of Orbitz
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&...

Multi-year chart of PriceLine
http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=0&chdd=0&...
 
#46
Thanks for clarifying Stan. I was worried you were suggesting something different. When I hear value-added package I think about free oil changes and mundane order-taking sales people.

Your "value-added package" is one I can get behind.
 

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