What are the unit economics on your VDP's?

[CarsonWhite]

Howdy everybody. First time posting on here. Based in SW, Florida.

I was genuinely curious what the unit economics look like for sites and varying scales? VDP's are kinda becoming a melting pot of varying sources, data, partners etc... From a consumer perspective, it all feels like the same experience, and it's never truly enjoyable. Out-linking, re-routing, unclear presentation.

I've tried estimating how many exist on the internet and accounting for duplicates, dealer sites, marketplaces and other aggregators, I'd venture to guess it's ~30-35m at any one point in time. That's a whole-lot of competition, and a wildly scaleable industry.

So I'm curious, based on different scales, how many sources are in any given VDP on your site? What's the cost of producing any one VDP?

 

[DjSec]

The real problem is that most dealership website developers all pull from the same data, create platforms for the masses, uses the same templates over and over again, and then compete on price. It becomes a race to the bottom, so the quality of the sites suffers, serious web design companies look at those margins and want no part of it, and dealerships believe their website don't matter.

On a normal dealer website (DealerOn, Dealer.com, Sincro, CarsForSale, DealerCenter, etc.), a single VDP is usually stitched together from multiple sources:

• Dealer DMS / Inventory Feed
  VIN, price, mileage, stock#, status
• Photos / Photo provider
• OEM Window Sticker / Build data
• 3rd-party specs (Chrome, Polk, Monroney, KBB/Black Book, Carfax/AutoCheck)
• Pricing tools (vAuto, ACV rules)
• Merchandising tools (SpinCar/Impel, video tools)
• Marketing add-ons (badges, payment widgets, trade-in tools, etc.)

That’s easily 4–15 data sources feeding every VDP.

Most websites cost dealers anywhere from $99 to $1,500/month, and they all suffer from the same issues because vendors:

• Use identical templates
• Use the same slow scripts
• Copy the same layouts
• Prioritize OEM compliance over UX
• Load the pages with plug-ins
• Run on 10–20-year-old platforms
• Sell “features,” not conversion results

Dealers rarely optimize their VDPs, so the shopper ends up dealing with:

• Massive outlinks
• Slow load speeds
• Pop-ups
• Redundant data
• Confusing CTAs
• Endless badges and distractions

That poor VDP experience then forces dealers to lean on third-party marketplaces to compensate:

• AutoTrader: $3,000–$5,500+
• CarGurus: $1,500–$3,500+
• Cars.com: $2,000–$4,000+

So when you combine:

• Website cost
• Labor
• Tools
• Photo time
• Marketplace spend
• Lost leads from slow or underperforming VDPs

A dealership’s true cost of “VDP visibility” usually ends up somewhere around $10,000–$50,000+ per month, depending on inventory size and marketing spend.

And that’s the crazy part, dealers think their getting a bargain when they’re paying $99 for a website when the real cost of poor VDP performance is often 100× higher.