Who is innovating?

[Alexander Lau]

For me, it is absolutely about keeping the cards closer to the chest. I am a tiny Independent, but I keep my strategies to myself. Some things I don't even tell my staff. When I get onto something that seems to work, I don't want anyone to know about it.

We recently attended a training workshop that our State Independent Dealers Association sponsored. Before we walked in, the three of us attending discussed and agreed that we would keep our mouths shut during the "idea sharing session".

That strategy is not a bad strategy.

 

[Alexander Lau]

I see far less innovation and more adaptation and piggy-backing (on the tools that exist outside of the automotive industry).

In my opinion, there's always going to be products produced that fall flat on their faces and that's natural. There's always going to be players from outside of automotive that come in and think they'll dominate a certain market and fail, that's natural.

How much disruptive innovation (disruption) is going on...? I think that could be discussed and argued. The disruptive players are in no way going to inform you of their secrets, but there are many that are successful (we know them) and they're eating the lunch of the corporate groups.

 

[john.quinn]

but there are many that are successful (we know them) and they're eating the lunch of the corporate groups.

In automotive retail??

Some cool (disruptive) stuff going-on in manufacturing, surely... but retail? Can you share an example? And PLEASE don't say Kiosks... LOL.

 

[Rick Buffkin]

Can you share an example?

Free Wi-Fi :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Alexander Lau]

In automotive retail??

Some cool (disruptive) stuff going-on in manufacturing, surely... but retail? Can you share an example? And PLEASE don't say Kiosks... LOL.

Easy, back to a guy who just posted here @joechura with Dealer Inspire. They took the power of Wordpress (pure genius move, as they needn't have to update any form of a core; leveraging a plethora of WP plug-ins and knowledge base) and COMPLETELY BLEW UP the automotive web platform world. Cox in the form of Dealer.com and CDK hate him / them. They are eating their lunch. There are plenty more in SEM / PPC, Social, Fixed-Ops, etc.

 

[craigh]

Innovation is one of the biggest topics at work, but we are absolutely in the "close to chest" mode.
For our next few products, we've stopped looking at the competition and gone back to focusing on the client (dealer) and what their needs are.
There are so many inefficiencies, poor processes and piece of data that are completely untracked at the dealership level.

As much as I love making websites and competing with 1000 other website vendors, I can't wait until we release our new products and we can focus on true innovation that solves real dealer problems. There is plenty of room to innovate at the dealership level, I just find that most vendors are focusing on the marketing and website side because it's got a low barrier to entry (other than the vast number of competitors). But, to answer the question, in this day and age if you show someone your idea they can steal it, make it and release it before you have a chance to do so.

I remember 1-2 years ago when 10 vendors released a Reconditioning Tracker in the same year.
That wasn't random - half of them even looked the same because everyone used Bootstrap to make the quickest app possible because they heard the idea and wanted to scramble to market.

If your cards aren't close to your chest, you aren't going to win the hand.

 

[john.quinn]

Easy, back to a guy who just posted here @joechura with Dealer Inspire. They took the power of Wordpress (pure genius move, as they needn't have to update any form of a core; leveraging a plethora of WP plug-ins and knowledge base) and COMPLETELY BLEW UP the automotive web platform world. Cox in the form of Dealer.com and CDK hate him / them. They are eating their lunch. There are plenty more in SEM / PPC, Social, Fixed-Ops, etc.

C'mon.... I don't think you should confuse "New Shiny Widget" with disruption/innovation. There's a new gadget player every year -- and "lunch" is safe

 

[craigh]

C'mon.... I don't think you should confuse "New Shiny Widget" with disruption/innovation. There's a new gadget player every year -- and "lunch" is safe

I do think this is a fair statement.
Nothing against DI, because they've got great sites, but they're not the first to use Wordpress (certainly not the last) and I don't think true innovation is taking place on the website front right now. Different ways to chat, different ways to "buy" a car online, different ways of making homepages fancy with javascript - most of this is all iteration or minor innovation. Almost all automotive websites are still years behind almost every other industry - we're still getting excited about being able to put a car in a shopping cart. Amazon and eBay have been selling products online since 1995.

I'm waiting for some true disruption. Not disruption to sales numbers, but disruption to the business itself.
My guess is that the next website shift will be data-driven - taking the stockpiles of data and making real decisions to improve consumer experiences in new and radical ways.

 

[Alexander Lau]

C'mon.... I don't think you should confuse "New Shiny Widget" with disruption/innovation. There's a new gadget player every year -- and "lunch" is safe

What do you mean? How does one clearly define "disruption?" It could be defined in many ways.

I define it as creating a mechanism that clearly creates a sustainable shift towards market share ownership, which it did in DI's case. It's just an example, I'm not worried about them being the first or the last to use WordPress. It's more about execution and market share and them swiping it right under the big wig's eyes, completely disrupting that market.

Shall I keep going in terms of additional applications and processes that have disrupted automotive retail? There's a bunch in SEM / PPC.

 

[Alexander Lau]

I do think this is a fair statement.
Nothing against DI, because they've got great sites, but they're not the first to use Wordpress (certainly not the last) and I don't think true innovation is taking place on the website front right now. Different ways to chat, different ways to "buy" a car online, different ways of making homepages fancy with javascript - most of this is all iteration or minor innovation. Almost all automotive websites are still years behind almost every other industry - we're still getting excited about being able to put a car in a shopping cart. Amazon and eBay have been selling products online since 1995.

I'm waiting for some true disruption. Not disruption to sales numbers, but disruption to the business itself.
My guess is that the next website shift will be data-driven - taking the stockpiles of data and making real decisions to improve consumer experiences in new and radical ways.

Are you referring to attribution? It's already being done by a number of applications and website platforms (DI, being one of them). However, it probably will be drastically improved.