Michelle Denogean from Roadster discusses their research on time and customer satisfaction. How have you found ways to reduce idle time in your sales process?

New enhancements offer dealers greater control and visibility achieving higher profit per vehicle

DALLAS--DealerSocket, Inc., a leading software provider for the automotive industry, today announced an upgraded version of its Inventory+ software solution. The inventory management tool now touts a new, easy-to-use interface, intuitive navigation, and expanded reporting capabilities that provide value to both single-store operations and multi-rooftop dealer groups. The new features enable customers to sell their vehicles at a greater profit, which is in line with DealerSocket’s longstanding focus on profit over velocity.

“After listening to our customers, we invested significant capital and resources to make Inventory+ a best-in-class product focused on the primary needs of dealers,” said DealerSocket President and CEO Sejal Pietrzak. “Our upgraded version of Inventory+ is yet another step as we continue transforming our inventory management product suite to support the entire vehicle lifecycle. Our software gives our customers full control of their inventory strategy and ensures they are stocking the right vehicles to yield the highest profits.”

DealerSocket’s Inventory+ now has a user experience and design that matches the rest of the company’s suite of products, meaning that a user of DealerSocket’s suite will have familiarity and experience with the design, making the training of staff on DealerSocket’s software simpler and more effective for dealers.

The enhancements and innovations for Inventory+ include:

• All New Inventory Manager with a Simpler User Experience: Considered the hub of Inventory+, Inventory Manager now has a new look and feel with a powerful search engine and group management capabilities. Tasks that previously took hours to complete can now be performed in minutes, whether managing inventory across a single lot or a multi-store group.
• Bulk Pricing Engine: Built into the backbone of Inventory Manager is Bulk Pricing, which dealers and dealer group operators can use to identify new and used vehicles by age, trim, make, along with other attributes, and adjust pricing by dollar amount or percentage. Pilot customers using the new bulk pricing engine are making real-time price changes to vehicles on their lot to match market conditions, allowing them to sell faster and at a greater profit.
• Transportation Notifications: Inventory+ can now notify a shipper or carrier when a group trade or dealer transfer occurs. With two clicks, dealers can send a shipper or carrier all the pertinent information to quickly and efficiently order vehicle transportation.
• Group Management: Along with the strong business intelligence available within Inventory+, dealer groups can segment by region, pre-owned, and a host of other attributes. The new Group Management capabilities provide powerful inventory management, reporting and analytics, group trade, and centralized appraisals.
• Transparent Reporting and Analytics: The new reporting engine has more comprehensive capabilities for dealer groups that provides more transparency across stores, taking away the costly and time-consuming manual reports.

“DealerSocket’s fundamental objective with our Inventory+ software has always been about maximizing profit for our dealers. The major enhancements we have just released ensure that every vehicle has an opportunity to be sold at a timely profit,” said Steve Meeker, DealerSocket’s General Manager of Inventory+. “Whether a dealer has a single lot or multiple rooftops, the innovative functionality we released today will provide benefits to help our dealers grow their business successfully.”

To learn more, visit www.dealersocket.com/inventoryplus

About DealerSocket

DealerSocket is a leading provider of software for the automotive industry, offering a suite of seamlessly integrated products to help dealers sell and service vehicles more profitably, while improving their customers’ experience. DealerSocket’s suite of products includes advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM), innovative Digital Marketing and Websites, robust Vehicle Inventory Management, insightful Analytics Reporting, and solutions to streamline dealer operations such as Desking, Credit Reporting, Compliance, and a Dealer Management System (DMS) for used car dealers of all sizes. DealerSocket employs nearly 1,000 team members serving more than 8,000 dealerships. For more information, visit DealerSocket.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

ATLANTA – With dealers increasingly turning to digital channels to buy and sell vehicles on their time and terms, Manheim continues to scale support for its Manheim Express mobile app to help make it even easier for dealers to tap into North America’s leading wholesale used vehicle marketplace. Based on dealer feedback and increased demand, Manheim continues growing, rolling out three enhancements to the Express mobile app:

• Growing the Manheim Express Concierge force to provide personal assistance to more dealers in listing their vehicles for sale through digital channels
• Enhanced “Make an Offer” capabilities, designed to help attract more buyers for Manheim Express listings
• Expansion to the company’s Trade Desk team to help match inventory to likely buyers, facilitating faster inventory turn

“We launched the Manheim Express app because we heard our dealer clients wanted access to the Manheim Marketplace in the palm of their hand,” said Derek Hansen, vice president of Offsite Solutions at Manheim. “The response from dealers has been phenomenal, and we’re continuing to bring new features and services that help make it even easier for them to buy and sell when and where makes the most sense for them.”

The first upgrade involves Manheim Express Concierge Service. Launched nationwide in February, Concierge Service provides dealers with a dedicated expert to help them sell vehicles more efficiently in the wholesale marketplace. Just a few months after launching across the country, the Concierge force is growing nearly 80 percent based on dealer demand for expert guidance and a hands-off way to get their vehicles listed quickly.

“Dealer demand for our Concierge service is growing daily,” said Hansen. “Sellers enjoy the advice our specialists provide, as well as the ability to move their inventory quickly without having to invest much of their own time in the process. Meanwhile, buyers have more vehicles available to purchase, as specialists help dealers get more vehicles into the wholesale marketplace faster.”

The second update to Manheim Express is the expansion of “Make an Offer” functionality. With this enhancement, dealers can select any combination of purchase options they want to offer potential buyers, ranging from “Bid,” to “Buy-Now” or “Make an Offer.” This gives dealers more flexibility in how they market their vehicles—helping to make their listings more appealing to a larger group of potential buyers.

Finally, Manheim’s Trade Desk team is also expanding. Created to build relationships with buyers and serve as a their “personal shopper,” the Trade Desk team works to identify vehicles of interest for buyers and help close deals for sellers. Advanced search technologies allow Trade Desk team members to proactively reach out to buyers and match them with Manheim Express inventory that is likely to appeal to them.

In 2018, Manheim sold more vehicles through digital channels than ever before with more than 2 million vehicles acquired by digital buyers. This trend is expected to increase in 2019 and beyond. As a result, Manheim, and Cox Automotive, will continue to invest in new solutions to help facilitate faster and easier digital transactions for clients.

For more information on Manheim Express, please visit http://www.mymanheim.com/express/

About Manheim (www.manheim.com)

Manheim® is North America's leading provider of end-to-end wholesale solutions that help dealer and commercial clients increase profits in their used vehicle operations. Through its physical, mobile and digital sales network, Manheim offers services for inventory management, buying and selling, floor planning, logistics, assurance and reconditioning. With its omni-channel approach, Manheim Marketplace enables wholesale vehicle clients more efficient ways to connect and transact business how and when they want. Approximately 18,000 team members help Manheim offer 8 million used vehicles annually, facilitating transactions representing nearly $58 billion in value. Headquartered in Atlanta, Manheim North America is a Cox Automotive™ brand. For more information, visit http://press.manheim.com.

Lotpop Joins MAX Digital Approved Vendor Circle

CHICAGO — May 21, 2019 — MAX Digital, the dealer-first digital retail software provider for the automotive industry, announced a service partnership with Lotpop. Participating dealers can leverage the MAX Digital inventory management product suite with the additional expert staffing and process guidance Lotpop provides to capture more gross and sell more cars.

“Everything we build is focused on delivering performance for our dealerships. Lotpop has the same total results focus,” said MAX Digital Executive Vice President Mike Cavanaugh. “Adding the dedicated experienced team that Lotpop provides to MAX tools simply creates a system that delivers undeniable results.”

MAX Digital provides a deep dataset for inventory management with millions of VINs analyzed daily, rich market data and store specific sales history to drive smart stocking decisions. Performance tracking can be customized by dealership and focus on core improvement areas like time to market for robust vehicle descriptions with a dealer set number of minimum images. Lotpop provides the staffing and system guidance and ongoing consistent review of dealership inventory processes to build sustained results over time.

“Since starting with Lotpop and MAX Digital, we have started having record used car sales. We’ve seen a 36% increase in front end gross year over year, all with millions less in carry costs,” shared Joe Uphoff, Reconditioning Manager of Galpin Honda, the second highest volume Honda store in the U.S. “Jasen and the Lotpop team offer you easy to understand usable data so that you can focus on the areas that matter for your store.”

“We’re proud of the exceptional value this partnership provides,” added Jasen Rice, owner Lotpop. “MAX Digital has rock solid professional grade tools that help us drive meaningful unit sales growth for our clients with a better gross per vehicle at a surprisingly low cost.”

“Our pricing advantage is important for Lotpop, because it allows them to bundle in their hands-on services and fully engage in the dealer’s processes, while still delivering significant total savings over tools clients had been using,” said Cavanaugh.

More information on Lotpop is available at lotpop.com. Vendors interested in joining the MAX Digital Approved Vendor Circle can contact info@maxdigital.com.

About MAX Digital

Founded in 2011, MAX Digital was born from a rich history of innovation and continues the pioneering spirit of FirstLook by delivering the professional tools needed to help dealerships thrive into the future. MAX Digital empowers thousands of dealerships to transform their retail processes to sell more cars more profitably through smart inventory management and people-friendly digital retail solutions. For more information visit maxdigital.com.

Partnership and DMS platform integration enable independent dealers to seamlessly create and syndicate virtual vehicle walkarounds

SYRACUSE, NY and CANTON, NY – April 23, 2019 – Frazer Computing, Inc., the leading provider of Dealer Management Software (DMS) for independent auto dealers, and SpinCar, the global leader in digital automotive merchandising software, today announced a partnership that brings the opportunity for personalized digital merchandising to more than 20,000 independent used car dealerships in the US. Dealers using the Frazer DMS can now benefit from a direct integration with SpinCar’s digital merchandising platform to seamlessly create and syndicate virtual vehicle walkarounds, photos and videos to their own dealer websites, as well as to a number of leading third-party marketplaces, including Cars.com, Autotrader and Facebook. Existing Frazer customers can contact their regional Frazer representative to activate SpinCar’s suite of digital merchandising solutions and data-powered innovations.

Since 1985, Frazer has provided full-featured Dealer Management Software to independent used car dealerships across the nation. The company has become a trusted partner to dealers of all sizes, and its Dealer Management Software is currently used by more than 20,800 dealers across all 50 states to manage all facets of their business. Frazer’s inventory management, sales processing and full accounting suite help independent dealers grow their businesses and increase productivity.

SpinCar’s digital merchandising platform enables auto dealers to deliver more personalized interactions at every touchpoint. By bringing interactive vehicle walkarounds and feature walkthroughs to automotive retail websites, dealers are able to recreate the in-person sales experience for online car shoppers. These personalized online experiences generate greater shopper engagement and proprietary first party behavioral data that helps them build trust with consumers. SpinCar’s newest product, Feature Tour, helps dealers educate online car shoppers with personalized, multimedia experiences that showcase the unique features of a vehicle that are most relevant to each individual consumer.

“SpinCar has established itself as the leading provider of digital merchandising capabilities to the auto industry, and this partnership provides us with the opportunity to deliver even greater value to the thousands of used car dealers that trust Frazer to power their businesses,” said Mike Frazer, President, Frazer Computing, Inc. “We look forward to working with SpinCar to help independent used car dealers drive superior business results through more engaging online experiences and more personalized interactions at every touchpoint.”

“Independent auto dealers play a major role in the used car market, and Frazer is a key enabler of their success,” said Devin Daly, SpinCar CEO. “With more than 90% of consumers starting their car buying journey online, personalized digital merchandising is critical to building trust and engagement with shoppers before they ever set foot in a physical dealership. As the market for used cars becomes increasingly competitive, independent dealers need to continue to take advantage of new technologies to differentiate themselves. We are thrilled to be partnering with Frazer to bring these advanced digital merchandising capabilities to independent dealers around the country.”

About Frazer

Frazer is a leading provider of Dealer Management Software for independent used car dealers. With over 20,000 active users, Frazer provides a full-featured, affordable DMS that is easy to use, completely reliable and backed by exceptional customer support. To learn more about Frazer, visit Frazer.com.

Jake Morley
Frazer
+1 888-963-5369

About SpinCar

SpinCar offers automotive dealers, OEMs and online marketplaces the industry’s most advanced platform for digital automotive merchandising. The company’s full suite of data and technology solutions builds greater trust between buyers and sellers by enabling more personalized interactions across the entire car shopping journey. To learn more about SpinCar, visit SpinCar.com.

Crafting employee training will enable you to give your staff tools to be successful. Monthly or quarterly training schedules will help your team grow and keep retention rates high. Create an employee training calendar to get everyone on the same page. 

Messaging is an integral part of your omnichannel strategy. In our latest webinar, Podium presents five things you can do to improve your dealership messaging process.

Feature Tour™ Enables Auto Dealers to Protect Margins by Showcasing Value-Added Vehicle Features to Online Car Shoppers

SYRACUSE, NY – March 7, 2019 – SpinCar, the global leader in digital automotive merchandising software, announced today the launch of Feature Tour – designed specifically to help auto dealers and OEMs increase gross margins by showcasing the key features and options included on their vehicles. SpinCar’s newest product offering replaces static VDP feature lists with customizable multimedia experiences based on a consumer’s self-identified interests. By highlighting the most relevant features and options of a particular vehicle, dealers are able to help shoppers understand the inherent value of that vehicle. Feature Tour helps consumers make more accurate product comparisons while also providing tangible justification for a dealer’s published price. Feature Tour content is currently available for more than 450 features across 18 OEMs.

Why it Matters: Today’s vehicles are equipped with complex features and capabilities that are difficult to explain. Lengthy lists and descriptions included on traditional VDPs do little to inform and educate online shoppers, especially in a mobile-first world. As a result, many consumers are forced to leave a dealer’s website to conduct additional research. Others disregard features altogether and use price as the primary decision driver when comparing vehicles from various retailers. These factors have contributed to eroding gross margins for dealers. Feature Tour addresses these challenges by bringing curated videos, images and explainer content directly to consumers while they explore the vehicles on a dealer’s website. SpinCar’s proprietary multimedia personalization engine educates consumers by showcasing the unique and valuable features of each vehicle that are most relevant to each individual shopper.

“While OEMs continue to enhance vehicles with a broad assortment of sophisticated, technology-enabled features, dealers are finding it harder and harder to communicate the value of these new capabilities to online car shoppers,” said Devin Daly, SpinCar Co-Founder and CEO. “Feature Tour provides auto retailers with a fundamentally new way to tell the unique story of each vehicle in their inventory. It’s yet another way that SpinCar is helping dealers harness the power of digital merchandising technology to deliver a better experience while maximizing the value of every shopper visit.”

How it works: Using SpinCar’s cloud-based software platform and database of OEM-endorsed content, dealers are able to automatically add a Feature Tour to any vehicle detail page. Online shoppers who visit those VDPs are then able to access a guided, virtual walk-through of the vehicle’s key features and options. Users can review all of a vehicle’s key features, or they can customize their Feature Tour based on self-identified areas of interest: safety, performance, technology or convenience. Valuable information regarding the shopper’s preferences and interests is then captured and used to suggest other vehicles with similar features, as well as facilitate more personalized follow-up communication from the dealer.

“SpinCar’s digital merchandising platform has already made a measurable impact on our business by bringing shoppers to our website and keeping those shoppers engaged longer,” said Gary Pretzfeld, Dealer Principal, AutoTrust USA. “Feature Tour provides another powerful capability that will enable us to develop even stronger emotional connections with consumers before they ever set foot in our physical showrooms. By making shoppers more aware and knowledgeable of the specifics of each vehicle, they’ll be able to make faster and more confident buying decisions.”

About SpinCar
SpinCar offers automotive dealers, OEMs and online marketplaces the industry’s most advanced platform for digital automotive merchandising. The company’s 360° WalkAround® technology builds trust between buyers and sellers by bringing the physical showroom experience to car shoppers wherever and whenever they want. SpinCar’s proprietary shopper behavioral data and VINtelligent® Retargeting solution enable dealers to deliver hyperpersonalized interactions across the entire car shopping journey. To date, more than 200 million virtual WalkArounds have been experienced by car shoppers across 15 countries. To learn more about SpinCar, visit SpinCar.com.

• Concierge specialists provide full-service experience and expert guidance in listing and pricing vehicles through Manheim Express mobile app
• New Seller Desktop experience fuels quick, easy consultations before listings go live

ATLANTA – Manheim is taking client service to another level with the national launch of Manheim Express Concierge, a service that provides dealers with a dedicated expert to help them sell vehicles through the digital wholesale marketplace. This new service ensures dealers are able to have their vehicles listed with the latest digital tools, maximizing profits and quickly turning inventory all from their dealership lots. Manheim Express Concierge saves dealers time, as specialists offer end-to-end service, from doing all the legwork on listing vehicles to consulting with clients on their wholesale strategies.

Dealers across the U.S. can now have a Manheim Express specialist visit their dealership to capture inventory they want to wholesale. Using the Manheim Express mobile app, the specialist will record key details, including VINs, extensive vehicle condition and photos using revolutionary 360-degree imaging technology. The Manheim Express specialist then works with the dealer to finalize listings with additional disclosures or announcements and provides recommendations on pricing and channel options for maximum success based on each client’s goals.

“We know the digital marketplace can offer tremendous benefits for dealers to more efficiently run their businesses, but we also know dealers are already strapped for time,” said Derek Hansen, vice president, Offsite Solutions at Manheim. “Our specialists literally meet dealers where they are and offer expert assistance on dealers’ overall wholesale strategies, from listings to financing and, when needed, transportation. It’s all part of the full-service consultation our experts are uniquely equipped to provide our clients.”

Launched in select markets last fall, Manheim Express Concierge was rolled out on a national scale in the first quarter of 2019 and now has coverage from coast to coast in all major markets across the US. The service requires no upfront cost by dealers.

In addition to the new Concierge service, Manheim launched a Seller Desktop experience, designed to help dealers make faster, smarter decisions about their inventory. Used in consultations with a Manheim Express specialist before their listings go live, the enhancements also give sellers a snapshot of overall inventory and offerings, grouped by key statuses and actions needed to help streamline the decision and next steps. The seller dashboard inventory homepage and search results pages will also have a Manheim Express “mini-dashboard” with a quick list of inventory and actions.

Manheim Express Concierge and the seller enhancements are part of a $100 million investment Manheim is making through 2019 to expand its digital marketplace. They provide another boost to a Manheim Digital Marketplace that fueled more than 2 million vehicle sales to digital buyers in 2018.

“Manheim continues to invest in new ways that make it as easy as possible for dealers tap into the wholesale digital marketplace to cut costs, save time and focus on growing their business,” Hansen added.

For more information about the Manheim Express Concierge national launch, visit ManheimExpress.com.

About Manheim (www.manheim.com)

Manheim® is North America's leading provider of end-to-end wholesale solutions that help dealer and commercial clients increase profits in their used vehicle operations. Through its physical, mobile and digital sales network, Manheim offers services for inventory management, buying and selling, floor planning, logistics, assurance and reconditioning. With its omni-channel approach, Manheim Marketplace enables wholesale vehicle clients more efficient ways to connect and transact business how and when they want. Approximately 18,000 team members help Manheim offer 8 million used vehicles annually, facilitating transactions representing nearly $58 billion in value. Headquartered in Atlanta, Manheim North America is a Cox Automotive™ brand. For more information, visit http://press.manheim.com.

Matt Weinberg, SVP of Consumer Experience at Drive Motors, presented our latest webinar. He discusses the evolution of the Internet lead and shows you how to increase your closing percentage on the leads you get from your website.

How are you working to engage your Internet leads?