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Uncle Joe's Makeover Diary 2.0

Topic: Referral Traffic from Marketplaces

Edmunds is killing it. Anyone Edmunds subscribers here?
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I know why cars.com does well (SEO dealers name). Anyone know why/how Edmunds is killing it?
Is that referral traffic or just source/medium?

A lot of dealers are signed up for Edmunds Ad Solutions, which drives a ton of clicks through their facebook ads that serve to an Edmunds retargeting audience.

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haha, I gave OpenAI's ChatGPT data points and an outline and this is what it wrote:

"OpenAI's ChatGPT has reached 1 million registered users in just 5 days, setting a new record for fastest adoption. This achievement is made even more impressive by the fact that it took Instagram 2.5 months to reach the same number of registered users. Microsoft, a backer of OpenAI, is certainly pleased with this success.

But ChatGPT's impressive growth is not just good news for OpenAI and Microsoft - it also represents a direct threat to Google's search business. As a result, it's likely that we will see Google launch LaMDA, their own artificially intelligent chatbot, in the near future. In light of this development, it's worth keeping an eye on the stock price of META, as their leaders may want to get in on the action. Overall, the rapid adoption of ChatGPT is a clear indication of the growing importance of artificial intelligence in the business world."
 
I have no evidence, but, with CarMax buying Edmunds for $404million, it's only logical that CarMax leadership would be rolling up ALL Edmunds data for competitive decision making.

My question to the Edmunds reps -- why did CarMax buy Edmunds? The Edmunds "higher ups" have been preaching and teaching since day one of acquisition that they are 2 separate companies and that CarMax will have no access to the data, how the company is ran, etc.

I wonder how that would make the CarMax investors feel if this is true - like what did we spend 400M+ on then?? LOL

I am with you @joe.pistell -- CarMax did it for the data, and if anyone is telling me different.... I don't believe them.

Why would I as a dealer spend $$$ with Edmunds? Please convince me with a compelling argument.
 
@DrewAment I'll put on my pointy $KMX leaders hat and look at what Edmunds can deliver
  • $KMX (carmax) needs to buy 10s of thousands of used cars off the street
  • $CVNA (carvana) 'street buy' strategy is killing us, spending millions on TV, taking share and gaining momentum (think late 2020 when $CVNA share price was $300)
  • Cost to acquire street buy traffic going up fast
  • Everyone knows street buy cars are a lot cheaper than at auction (avg savings ~$500 per)
  • Edmunds monthly traffic = 47 mill visits
  • Nearly 80% of Edmunds traffic is ORGANIC SEO, (Cheap & High ROI traffic, long tail, high in funnel for new and used)
  • Edmunds has Revenue and a sales team to add add'l revs.
CarMax leaders build a copy of $CVNA street buy UX and run a trial on Edmunds (Carmax makes $50mill investment in edmunds). The trial is a success and they buy Edmunds with the intent to fully leverage Edmunds 47mill in-markets with $KMX's street buy messaging.

Summary: CarMax pitch to dealers. "We dont want your data, but we want to steal your trade"

ouch.

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  • :light:
Reactions: DrewAment
My question to the Edmunds reps -- why did CarMax buy Edmunds? The Edmunds "higher ups" have been preaching and teaching since day one of acquisition that they are 2 separate companies and that CarMax will have no access to the data, how the company is ran, etc.

I wonder how that would make the CarMax investors feel if this is true - like what did we spend 400M+ on then?? LOL

I am with you @joe.pistell -- CarMax did it for the data, and if anyone is telling me different.... I don't believe them.

Why would I as a dealer spend $$$ with Edmunds? Please convince me with a compelling argument.
CarMax is using Edmunds reps to enroll dealers in MaxOffer, which I believe is similar to CarGurus' CarOffer.

"Management also noted during the call that CarMax sourced approximately 20,000 vehicles through MaxOffer, its digital appraisal product for dealers. This was up 130% versus last year's period."