Being old and crotchety (no, not referring to [USER=3652]@ddavis[/USER]), we've seen an awful lot of new jazzy whiz-bang gizmos and whoozits ramp-up. Most fail. I remember when Ebay Motors was going to put dealers out of business. I remember the putz from AT TIM sitting in my GSM's office telling me that if we don't sign-up for TIM, he was going across the street and they were going to eat my lunch (Page 7 of the Chip Kelly sales manual).
"Digital Retailing," as an industry... maybe it hasn't quite failed, but it's certainly on some precarious ledge, and it better be careful where it next steps. So far, the "stuff" meant to replace the dealer has been a huge fail; the stuff meant to make it easier for consumers and dealers to get on the same page still has legs.
Along those lines, I will say this: the gizmos and whoozits that have lasted since the early aughts have one thing in common: adaptability. You look back and see with what they started, and with what they "found" their niche, and it would have been difficult to predict. There are no more fax machines to replace (DT), and owner's grandson websites to upgrade (DDC).
Another thing... and this is amazingly true: talk to someone on the F&I side of the business, and they REALLY REALLY believe the automotive process starts and revolves around credit and the credit process.
I was with DDC during DT acquisition, and being the CRM guy, was immediately thrust into "Integration Initiatives" (don't get me started). To that ecosystem, a "Lead" was someone in the DT portal... they had no earthly idea of the world before credit workflow was initiated. All this to say... there's been some heavy-hitting finance-first money to hit the market before. Yawn.
