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Who is innovating?

Are you referring to attribution? It's already being done by a number of applications and website platforms (DI, being one of them).

No, not attribution. Attribution is another thing that exists in many industries and is slowly coming to Automotive.
I'm talking about tailoring an experience to a visitor based on their user profile.
The same way the social networks, Amazon, eBay, AmEx, etc do this.

There are patterns in all this data being collected by companies like Vast/CarStory and those patterns can be predicted and, as they're seen in new visitor behavioural patterns, can be used to deliver a better experience to every visitor.

For example, we've been playing alot with the idea of what to do with a customer after they submit a service form.
We can thank them and say "have a nice day" or we can try and take them to the next logical step.
Should we offer them a free maintenance guide?
Should we show them vehicles for sale?
Should we recommend our loyalty program?

The data can help tell us how to handle transactions like this, but also non-transactional visitors who are browsing the site normally.
These decisions help a dealership convert higher, better understand their customers, etc.
It has a real impact on bottom line business.
 
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No, not attribution. Attribution is another thing that exists in many industries and is slowly coming to Automotive.
I'm talking about tailoring an experience to a visitor based on their user profile.
The same way the social networks, Amazon, eBay, AmEx, etc do this.

There are patterns in all this data being collected by companies like Vast/CarStory and those patterns can be predicted and, as they're seen in new visitor behavioural patterns, can be used to deliver a better experience to every visitor.

For example, we've been playing alot with the idea of what to do with a customer after they submit a service form.
We can thank them and say "have a nice day" or we can try and take them to the next logical step.
Should we offer them a free maintenance guide?
Should we show them vehicles for sale?
Should we recommend our loyalty program?

The data can help tell us how to handle transactions like this, but also non-transactional visitors who are browsing the site normally.
These decisions help a dealership convert higher, better understand their customers, etc.
It has a real impact on bottom line business.
Gotcha', I could DEFINITELY see that and that's another example of "disruptive innovation." You're proving my point on the piggybacking / taking from outside of automotive. Quality 'personalization' is lacking right now.
 
Please do... I'm still waiting for the first... haha LOL :poke:
I'm not going to go through every application or mechanism that has made automotive retail marketing much more efficient and those that have either created a market or stolen share.

Here's another example, how did automotive retailers create in-stock inventory-based ads previous to groups like http://www.hootinteractive.com @Miles Olson, etc.? What....? Were we excited as marketers in creating them and deleting them (once vehicle was sold) one-by-one, manually? LMFAO...., especially larger dealerships. :-|

Granted, before HI, expensive options existed like https://kenshoo.com/solutions/verticals/automotive, http://www.marinsoftware.com, https://www.searchforce.com, etc. that enable dealers to parse their inventory feeds into ads, but even that was far too manual. I know, I used to live in these trenches.

Not a bad video: https://cbtnews.com/pr-stephane-ferri-disruption

@Stauning
http://askthemanager.com/2017/10/co...-price-convenience-nothing-else/#.WirfQkrtyUk
https://www.dealerrefresh.com/im-tired-hearing-car-dealers-behind-rest-world/ and https://forum.dealerrefresh.com/threads/i’m-tired-of-hearing-that-car-dealers-are-‘so-behind-the-rest-of-the-world-’.5473/
 
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You're a good egg, Alex. A little bit of what I'm saying is trying to elicit a good 'ol debate like we used to have in the old days. (Speaking of "Old" -- where is Doug Davis these days, LOL??).

PPC, BT, RT -- that stuff all existed and thrived well before automotive took notice... not really giving any automotive start-up the nod for the Garden of Eden Award there. But there's certainly been some cool stuff from some good companies once Auto caught-on.

I will say -- like I said to Alex S -- that I think you're too far in the weeds here. When I think "disruptive innovation," I think of things like:

* Replacing the Fax Machine -- DealerTrack
* Scalable/professional web platform -- DDC
* Inventory Management -- vAuto
* Managing Customers outside the DMS -- (a few CRM companies emerged at the same time)
* On-Line Service Scheduling - X-time
* On-Line classifieds -- AutoTrader

These were "founding" products and companies that established a market. Is there innovation/creativity/kaizen within these arenas? Of course! The very definition of "Grabbing Market Share" is selling products into an existing market. So DI gets credit for grabbing a small slice of market share, certainly. And they do it the old fashion way: touting the virtues of a small, hungry, attentive start-up vs. the cold, calculating, callous behemoths -- as all new start-ups do -- LOL. (Wouldn't you?? I would, at least until I became one of the behemoths :cool:) I have VERY good friends that have moved to DI, and they report they're happy.

But disruptive? Particularly innovative? Hard to make that point...

So what I'm asking - akin to my examples above, is what is actually left that is HUGE in Variable? Today's buzzwords are Attribution and Digital Retailing. When I talk to dealers (by "Dealers" I'm talking about check-signers and people with their name on the building) about these things, 7 of 10 are kinda like :2quiet:, leading me to speculate that the tech industry may be too concerned with solving their own problems vs. problems dealers are really passionate about. Kiazen is too often accompanied by additional complexity, seemingly especially with software/tech.

Maybe I'm off-base? I hope so... I'd like this conversation to continue :)
 
I'm talking about tailoring an experience to a visitor based on their user profile.
The same way the social networks, Amazon, eBay, AmEx, etc do this.

Bingo @craigh. No one! I mean Noooo Oneeeee is doing this!!!! Yes, there are companies that now use wordpress as the core of their product. Yes... there are plugins and widgets that you can now click and drag onto a page. At the end of the day though, It's still the same ol BS. The sites have no freaking clue who you are or who I am. They can tailor a welcome message and maybe a few other things. But at the core of it, the site doesn't know who hell you are! Period!! Over the past few years, everyone has been talking about a Amazon experience right! Please show or tell me the name of a dealership site that provides a Amazon experience. I'm anxious to see to this MoFo! Everyone (site providers) is racing to pencil and work deals online and set it up so a customer can buy a car online because they are following Carvana's lead. They are completely missing the freaking mark here. The reason I think why is because this is another bolt-on product they can subscribe dealers to! Something else they can put in their portfolio.

When are dealers going to F'ing wise up and visit their website and look at it and say out loud, "I visit my website 40 -50 times a F'ing week!!!!! Why does my website not know who the hell I am???????" and then decide to do something about it!

Innovations?!?!?! There really haven't been very many for the last longest in my opinion. There are plenty of cool, nifty bolt-on crap. Ground breaking though.... No!!

You've got a smaller data company (Authenticom) in the middle of a ground breaking lawsuit with these massive nationwide DMS companies. If site providers had any F'ing sense, they would jump in Authenticoms corner and help them fight these DMS companies. A website provider would be able to do massive, massive wonders with this data, if they used it correctly. Instead of them helping to fight the cause, Authenticom ends up having to cut jobs and basically go at this alone!

FYI - my little rant here isn't aimed at anyone in particular on this thread. I'm just speaking out loud! I have tons and tons of respect for everyone here on this thread!
 
Dislike all you want @JQuinn. :cool:

We can go back to those days and look at some of the big, original players, but a lot of them still piggybacked or mimicked from outside of auto and that is a fact. Like I said, IMO it depends on how "disruptive" is defined.

Disruptors can be disrupted and forced out, as well (scaling issues; lack of self-awareness). It happens all of the time.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/navigating-digital-disruption

One key to surviving in a world of disruption, where the external environment is changing at lightning speed, is to change the game internally.

Here are some newbies (whether they'll survive or actually steal large percentages of share, jury is still out):
  1. Amazon – Yes, the retail killer. Amazon Vehicles.
  2. AutoGravity – Over 250,000 downloads of their consumer app, 1000 dealer sign-ups and an investment into the company from VW. Part of the FINTECH world this app allows consumers to get financing in a snap.
  3. Blinker – Another financing app. Blinker is the bank. Targeting the used-car, private party market, they are in Colorado and Texas for now. Heavy tech makes it easy for consumers to use. Blinker ownership has a deep, auto retail background.
  4. CarMD – For about $90 this gadget plugs into a vehicle’s computer system to diagnose problems. More for the DIY and enthusiasts, it’s one more thing your customer might be using. CarMD does not work with local dealers to provide mechanics
  5. CarSaver – A Sean Wolfington scion and in alliance with Walmart. TrueCar-type service for dealers (pay a fee when the car sells) with a brick & mortar twist. AutoNation and Ally are involved. TrueCar still has a Sam’s Club partnership
  6. Drive Motors and Roadster – Digital retailing solutions plugged in to dealer’s websites.
  7. Drivin – An online B2B auction that was recently purchased by KAR (parent company of Adesa) that they had been partnered with. They have a tech and analytics platform that would provide better decisions for the dealer.
  8. Fair – A micro-ownership concept.
  9. Overstock Cars – A new classified site of four million vehicles from the Overstock.com folks with financing and warranty products for sale.
  10. Shift – A used car classified site.
  11. Tred – Another fintech, used-car, peer-to-peer product.
  12. Your Mechanic – A TaskRabbit-type service to fix cars.
  13. Alibaba plans a vending machine and Amazon is selling Fiats in Europe.
  14. Oh, and though this isn’t an auto retailer disruptor, per se, it is an interesting and new advertising idea: Rideplay. Reach people who ride in Ubers/Lyfts. Revelers having fun on a Saturday night might not be a completely captured target, but there might be a dealer out there who would give it a shot: https://www.rideplay.tv.
*Source: https://vendordbauto.com/the-new-siege-on-dealers

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Mr. Lau -- you're talking companies -- i'm talking Issues/Problems!!

What are the big problems (that dealers -- not the tech companies) actually care about??

I think you're making my point better than I am... we're in an economic boom (there has NEVER been, even prior to Lehman, so much Stupid Money bandied about), and as far as automotive, all we can point to are fringe gadgets in far away places... I think we're officially in the Star Wars saga of 21st-century automotive.

Coming to a dealership near you: Vendor Wars: Return of the App
Coming to a dealership near you: Vendor Wars: The Last Financing

There's disruption coming to retail, there's no doubt.

WHAT IS GOING TO SET THE NEXT MARKET?

What will every dealer have to have? Every dealer has a website. Every dealer has DMS, a CRM, F&I Portal, Inventory....

Maybe I'm saying that -- at least as far as Variable that there aren't many (any???) bases left to cover. I'm just not that particularly interested in splitting hairs in all these existing categories...

I'm definitely saying that segmented solutions are DEAD.

(Does "Dislike" mean anything here?? I think Alex L is very sharp... he can argue with the best of us old farts... so I want to pump-up his rating while disagreeing with his sentiment.. is there an emoji for that?? haha :)
 
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Mr. Lau -- you're talking companies -- i'm talking Issues/Problems!!

What are the big problems (that dealers -- not the tech companies) actually care about??

I think you're making my point better than I am... we're in an economic boom (there has NEVER been, even prior to Lehman, so much Stupid Money bandied about), and as far as automotive, all we can point to are fringe gadgets in far away places... I think we're officially in the Star Wars saga of 21st-century automotive.

Coming to a dealership near you: Vendor Wars: Return of the App
Coming to a dealership near you: Vendor Wars: The Last Financing

There's disruption coming to retail, there's no doubt.

WHAT IS GOING TO SET THE NEXT MARKET?

What will every dealer have to have? Every dealer has a website. Every dealer has DMS, a CRM, F&I Portal, Inventory....

Maybe I'm saying that -- at least as far as Variable that there aren't many (any???) bases left to cover. I'm just not that particularly interested in splitting hairs in all these existing categories...

I'm definitely saying that segmented solutions are DEAD.
Maybe we misunderstand each other. I'm talking companies that try to fix problems with solutions or make things better or create a space that hasn't yet been defined. The ones that cure problematic areas by insertion of better technology. Show a dealer their pain; show them the solution. Even if that same style-solution exists outside of automotive.

I think we agree a lot more than we disagree. Who the hell knows if those that I listed will survive, as most don't...? Let's face it, even when millions are thrown at them (to agree with your point) the majority fail for a variety of reasons.

Yes, splitting hairs is silly. This entire conversation and topic could be broken down in a lot of ways.
 
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Mr. Lau -- you're talking companies -- i'm talking Issues/Problems!!

What are the big problems (that dealers -- not the tech companies) actually care about??

I think you're making my point better than I am... we're in an economic boom (there has NEVER been, even prior to Lehman, so much Stupid Money bandied about), and as far as automotive, all we can point to are fringe gadgets in far away places... I think we're officially in the Star Wars saga of 21st-century automotive.

Coming to a dealership near you: Vendor Wars: Return of the App
Coming to a dealership near you: Vendor Wars: The Last Financing

There's disruption coming to retail, there's no doubt.

WHAT IS GOING TO SET THE NEXT MARKET?

What will every dealer have to have? Every dealer has a website. Every dealer has DMS, a CRM, F&I Portal, Inventory....

Maybe I'm saying that -- at least as far as Variable that there aren't many (any???) bases left to cover. I'm just not that particularly interested in splitting hairs in all these existing categories...

I'm definitely saying that segmented solutions are DEAD.

(Does "Dislike" mean anything here?? I think Alex L is very sharp... he can argue with the best of us old farts... so I want to pump-up his rating while disagreeing with his sentiment.. is there an emoji for that?? haha :)
Don't judge an aging Gen X'er by its cover! ;-) Thanks man... you too.

"Dislike" is good, I am thoroughly convinced that disagreements are healthy.