Category: Digital Retailing

From Digital Retailing to Ecommerce: Maximizing Every Digital Transaction

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Digital retailing is the way of the future for the automotive industry. If your dealership is not implementing digital retailing capabilities during some part of the consumer journey, you could be missing out on leads, and taking money from your own pocket. But not every customer wants the same things from their online experience—they all want options. Our research shows that customers don’t want to follow a prescribed sales process. In fact, 9 of 10 customers prefer a flexible, personalized car buying experience. 

However, as the consumer landscape continues shifting, consumers want to do more shopping online. This means dealers must expand their digital retailing offerings to ensure they are not missing out on potential sales. 89% of franchise dealers added at least one digital step in 2020.¹ So if your competition down the road is already adopting digital retailing tools, you’re already missing out. 

Whether you are selling cars fully online as the industry bridges towards an eCommerce future or somewhere in between, we have technology at Cox Automotive to help you create a seamless online shopping experience for your consumers.  

Digital Retailing VS Ecommerce  

There is often confusion when people think about digital retailing and eCommerce. While most people might think they are the same thing, they are different.  

Digital retailing helps guide the overall experience for your shopper and saves time for both you and the consumer. Your customers can easily navigate and engage with your website during different stages of their purchasing journey.   

The digital retailing process is mostly supported by a member of your dealership staff. For example, the consumer starts the deal online and can take it to a credit app submission, sometimes even a credit decision, but at that point dealership personnel will need to engage with the consumer to walk them through the deal. Digital retailing can help your dealership:  

  • Increase exposure and reach 
  • Give you the ability to turn vehicles quicker 
  • Increase acquisition and inventory capabilities 
  • Close deals faster – and more profitable deals
  • Improve customer satisfaction – and referrals

eCommerce involves a fully digital transaction where the consumer begins the deal online. But the main differentiator is that consumers can complete their purchase steps at their own pace while working through the deal all the way through a digital sign for the vehicle to actual delivery to their front door. This fully digital transaction heavily involves automated F&I automation, not dealership staff. In fact, most dealerships have a sole eCommerce team focused on end-to-end digital transactions.

Dealer.com Digital Retailing Capabilities  

When it comes to digital retailing, Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet is the first digital retailing touchpoint consumers can have with your Dealer.com site. Dealers can integrate Kelley Blue Book My Wallet, an intuitive tool designed to improve the shopping to buying journey and drive more quality connections between buyers and sellers, directly on your website. My Wallet gives dealers access to everything from down payment, trade-in, and financing information – the data needed to speed up the deal-making process and get more accurate leads. 

1.1 MILLION VISITORS HAVE SYNCED THEIR MY WALLET PROFILE ON DEALER.COM2 

80% of consumers think it is a good or great idea to buy entirely online.³ And with Accelerate My Deal, consumers can complete even more steps online, speeding up the deal for everyone. When shoppers enter their information into Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet it’s automatically transferred into the Accelerate My Deal experience. Accelerate My Deal leads on average close at a 48% higher close rate compared to other internet leads helping dealers get more highly qualified leads and boost their profits.⁴ My Wallet gives shoppers a personalized shopping journey and Accelerate My Deal moves the shopper from journey to purchase. To learn more about Accelerate My Deal, check out this guide.  

“Digital retailing tools maximize a dealership’s marketing strategy by offering a personalized shopping journey to car buyers who want choices on how they shop with dealerships. Over the past few years this digital transformation really gained momentum as consumers searched for more digital tools that help them shop from the comfort of their home by locating vehicles during our inventory shortage, or providing real-time interest rates which dictate what they can afford. The results of the last few years support the fact that you want a multi-channel approach to be competitive, you can attract a broader range of consumers by offering more ways to start their purchase – and you need to have the right tools for your sales team to create the most convenient way to purchase no matter where your customer started. What I would underscore here is that innovative “tools” are part of the formula, but to avoid restarting the customer you need well-trained people and processes to execute and drive the right outcomes.” Brett Pomerantz, Sr. Director – Enterprise Solutions, Cox Automotive 

DID YOU KNOW 70% OF SHOPPERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BUY FROM A DEALER IF THEY CAN START THE PROCESS ONLINE? ⁵ 

The new age of automotive retail is here, and consumers desire a streamlined, digital experience. So, to help you meet them where they are, it’s important to take a look at where you are.

Whether you are slow to adopt digital retailing or at full-force adoption, there’s still advantages. And step by step you can shift to the ecommerce future that’s already staring down dealers and pushing them in that direction.  

¹ 2020 Digitization of End-to-End Retail-Study 

² 1.1 million visitors sync their My Wallet profile 

³ 2022 Car Buying Journey Study  

⁴ Cox Automotive Product Analytics. Accelerate My Deal Lead to Close Analysis using VinSolutions sales data. Data from Jan 2020-Nov 2020. Analysis performed January 2021 

⁵ 2021 Car Buying Journey Study 

Noah Lee Education Series: KBB My Wallet

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At Cox, we’re all about creating a frictionless, end-to-end experience for customers. And with so many Cox Automotive solutions, we strive to create valuable connections between our solutions to deliver dealers and consumers real value.

That’s why we believe Cox Automotive marketing solutions—Dealer.com, Autotrader, and Kelley Blue Book— just work better together.  

One valuable connection that was unveiled at NADA Show 2023 that really takes the power of connection to the next level, is Kelley Blue Book My Wallet now being integrated into Dealer.com dealer Websites who have Accelerate My Deal.



Noah Lee, Senior Director of Product Consulting at Dealer.com, provides a quick overview of KBB My Wallet. He also demos how car shoppers can navigate the My Wallet tool on Dealer.com websites and easily complete even more steps of the car buying journey online with Accelerate My Deal.  

As the only end-to-end auto digital marketing agency, Dealer.com wants to help transform your digital retailing and increase your car buyer leads with a truly connected, end-to-end experience for consumers.

Schedule a demo today.   

See what’s new: The latest digital marketing solutions

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And that’s a wrap for the NADA Show 2023! Thanks for stopping by the Dealer.com booth and demoing our latest innovations.  

Dealer.com does more than provide websites, we’re the premier end-to-end digital marketing solution for your automotive dealership. And whether you are current or new Dealer.com customer, now is the time to get started on your digital marketing goals in 2023. 

If you did not get a chance to visit our booth, no worries. There’s still an opportunity to demo the new products and enhancements we unveiled at the show. In the meantime, here’s a recap of what we debuted:  

KBB My Wallet on Dealer.com Websites 

Kelley Blue Book® My Wallet, a personalized shopper tool on Autotrader and KBB.com, will now be automatically integrated into all Dealer.com dealer websites. This means dealers will have even more information on consumers than ever before. 

You can get everything from down payment, trade-in, and financing information – the data you need to speed up the deal-making process and get more accurate leads for your dealership. 

Local SEO 

Take complete control of Search Engine Results Page (SERP) beyond just your organic and paid listings as Google prioritizes local experiences when consumers search for cars. With Local SEO, dealers can promote their dealership and inventory to local car shoppers at exactly the time they are searching for your business.   

New Car Customizer  

With more consumers shopping online for cars than ever before, dealers must ensure their website has the tools consumers need for a seamless shopping experience while displaying a modernized web design.  

Our new car customizer allows shoppers to find the vehicle they are searching for, even when dealers do not have the specific vehicle in inventory. 

These are just a few of the solutions we got to share with dealers at the show. Be sure to sign up for a demo today! 

Close More Deals with Your Digital Retailing Tools

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It’s no longer enough to simply implement digital retailing tools. To be competitive and close more deals, you have to understand the “why” of digital retailing. Why do consumers seek out these experiences? Why do they choose one dealership’s digital retailing over another? And, most importantly, why should you pay attention to consumers’ answers to these questions?

Amanda Hilerio, eCommerce Performance Manager at Dealer.com, recently spoke to dealers about how to take their digital retailing game to the next level. She discussed five talking points to help dealers attract more car sales leads and get the most out of their digital retailing investment.

  1. Consumer behavior trends and the factors affecting consumer decisions
  2. Why you should pay attention to these consumer trends
  3. How to align your processes with consumer trends
  4. Technology integrations that make your processes easier
  5. How to connect your digital storefront to your physical dealership

Watch the webinar to see how your dealership can connect with more dealer leads through your digital retailing experience.

Watch the Webinar
Learn More About Dealer.com

How to Stand Out in a World of Digital Dealerships

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How to Stand Out in a World of Digital Dealerships

Consumers have spoken and dealers have responded. As a result of overwhelming demand, about 70% of dealerships now offer some form of a digital buying experience.* They are giving customers what they want—the option to start and (in some cases) even complete the car buying process online. But with so many dealers going digital, how does your digital dealership stand out?

Bring Awareness to Your Customers

Simply having a digital buying experience is no longer enough, especially if your customers don’t know what you offer. To differentiate your dealership and win more automotive leads, you have to bring awareness to your digital options.

Having digital buying tools on your website is a good first step, but you have to create, design, and implement a buying experience that speaks to your audience—modern car buyers. Customers are already motivated to move through a digital buying experience (two out of three want to complete even more steps digitally during their next buying experience). And when they know what dealership offers, you stand out.

Tell your customers all about your digital buying experience and make the benefits clear to the customer—reduced time in the dealership, added convenience, and the ability to buy even when out of market. Doing so can expand your reach, attract more car buyer leads, and provide a clear pathway to engage with your offerings.

Make Your Digital Experience as Easy as Possible

One of the top pain points of buying a car is spending time in the dealership. If your customers can complete a handful of steps digitally before arriving at the dealership, the entire car buying process will be smoother, more efficient, and easier for your customers. These initial digital steps may include the ability to:

  • Calculate personalized payments in every aspect of their deal structure
  • Include every possible incentive and rebate available to your customers
  • Value a trade-in and see how the price of a new or used car adjusts accordingly
  • Get an idea of their credit worthiness and even apply for and get preapproved for financing
  • Schedule a test drive appointment

When you offer this kind of experience, word gets around. Before long, your online reviews will reflect that buying a car from your dealership is the best, most efficient experience around. This has a compounding effect of bringing even more awareness to your dealership as a place of business that speeds up the overall buying process and treats customers right.

Take Your Digital Buying Experience Above and Beyond

Another way to differentiate your digital buying experience is to implement steps that few other dealerships offer. This can disrupt the status quo of the new digital dealership and create some buzz around your offerings. These steps may include:

  • Personalized virtual video test drive: This may involve a video call with the customer while members of your sales team drive the car and show off features.
  • Remote deal signing: Give customers the option to complete signing from the convenience of their home or office. This can expand your dealership audience to include out-of-market customers and may give your dealership a competitive edge through inventory shortages.
  • Online vehicle reservation: On a similar note, giving digital customers the ability to put their name down for a car and get in line for an upcoming purchase can give your dealership an advantage when inventory is low across the industry.
  • Scheduling a first service appointment: Consider introducing your customers to your service department with a virtual service meeting. This can help your customers establish a consistent pattern of bringing their car to your service department and boost service revenue.

The digital dealership may be the new norm, but your digital dealership can stand out from the crowd by bringing awareness to customers, making your digital experience as easy and customer-friendly as possible, and going the extra mile to offer digital steps other dealerships don’t.

To learn more about how you can stand out in a world of digital dealerships, check out Dealer.com Manager of Performance Management B. Malaczewski’s recent webinar, all about differentiating the digital buying process. You can also learn more about delivering the kind of digital shopping experience your customers expect at Dealer.com.

* Digitization of End-to-End Retailing (DoEER) study by Cox Automotive

5 Ways to Build Trust with Modern Car Buyers 

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5 Ways to Build Trust with Modern Car Buyers

Written By: Chase Abbott

Half of a consumer’s decision to repurchase or recommend an automotive brand or dealer is based on trust. While dealerships and car salespeople have long suffered from a lack of consumer confidence throughout the purchase process, gaining trust most certainly is possible when dealerships act intentionally. A leading way to win over auto sales leads is through a digital buying experience—if it is done properly. 

Even with digital sales methods, dealerships need to bolster consumer relationships to meet their goals. Ensuring that the digital sales process is developed and grounded in trust ultimately benefits both the car buyer leads and the dealership. Here are five ways your dealership can build trust with modern car buyers. 

1. Understand the power of digital 

Automotive sales have been trending toward an era of online shopping for some time now. But within the past 18 to 24 months alone, the percentage of vehicles purchased digitally has skyrocketed from 2% to almost 30%—a massive and sudden shift in consumer preferences that dealerships simply can’t ignore. 

This preference to purchase vehicles online is still gaining momentum. More than three-quarters (76%) of automotive dealer leads are willing to consider a complete online purchase process. This movement toward digital or hybrid purchasing is not likely to go away anytime soon, and savvy dealerships understand that the sales process has been permanently disrupted. Having the right technology available is a necessary basis for initiating customer relationships, anticipating their needs, and building trust from the get-go. 

2. Evaluate technology to ensure you have the right solutions in place 

Whether your dealership has digital experience tools already in place or if you’re just getting started, it’s important to evaluate available technology so it is serving both your customer base and internal needs. With the right functionality, these tools can guide automotive leads through the sales funnel, close deals with more efficiency, and increase profits. 

Connecting those dots and getting the technology right ultimately impacts your bottom line. Dealerships surveyed earned 25% higher front-end gross profits and 24% higher back-end gross profits, compared to traditional dealer leads. The right technology will meet customers where they already are in the sales process, providing tailored support that demonstrates your business recognizes their unique needs. 

3. Use customer data to keep deals moving forward 

Through responsible customer data usage, dealerships can target buyers with relevant automotive digital marketing in spaces that are of most use for them, resulting in a win-win situation. Admittedly, it’s not easy to do. About half of dealerships say that it is a challenge to leverage data and systems to identify opportunities, while 86% of dealers agree that having accurate and complete customer data is a dealership priority. However, the right software and tools can assist. 

Customer data can come from a variety of sources, including the consumer sharing it directly with the dealership, the consumer sharing it with a trusted third-party partner, or outside entities collecting it. Ideally, the dealership combines its own data with that of trusted partners for the most well-rounded view. The data can help your dealership understand the customer’s vehicle type preferences, budget, stage in the sales process, communication preferences, and more. 

Your own data should provide the insights you need to offer personalized online user experiences like recommendations, specials, and fixed operations content based on their previous shopping behaviors. Customer data provides a 216% increase in lead form submission rates, based on a Dealer.com study of 524 franchise dealers who subscribed to Experience Optimization. Dealerships using Experience Optimization showed that customers were three times more likely to initiate a trade-in deal. Salespeople can use data to inform their approach to a deal and to better assure customers that they are being supported throughout their ownership journey. 

4. Give customers control of their buying experience 

Customers want to be in control of their shopping experience, so most successful dealerships offer a range of online and offline communication options to help make customers comfortable and enable open dialogue. Offering a hybrid experience that combines the functionality of brick-and-mortar operations with the convenience of shopping online is key for building strong relationship with a wide range of customers. 

With this hybrid model, customers can do as much of the shopping online as they would like, and then come to the dealership when they’re ready. This level of flexibility helps bolster confidence and trust in the process. Two-thirds of dealer leads say that they want to complete more of their next car-buying process online compared to their prior vehicle purchase. If a customer can purchase on their own terms, they’re more likely to give your dealership good reviews/referrals and remain a loyal customer. 

5. Gather and utilize feedback from recent happy buyers 

Consumers familiar with shopping online are overwhelmingly satisfied with their dealership experience, with 77% expressing this sentiment. Harness the power of your happy customers and make it easy for them to spread the word for you. Build the feedback-solicitation process into the car-buying experience. 

This is especially important because 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business, and almost the same percentage trust these reviews the way they trust personal recommendations. More than half of shoppers say that the most important factor when choosing a dealership is the dealer’s reputation. 

Building trust with the modern car buyer will help enhance and solidify your reputation. You can accomplish this by understanding what car buyers want, utilizing technology to your advantage, giving customers the ability to shop online, and then seamlessly moving the process forward. To learn more about how you can build trust with modern car buyers, visit Dealer.com. 

A version of this article originally appeared in Digital Dealer. 

How to Generate More Positive Reviews

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As a dealer, you understand that selling cars is a people business. There’s an actual human being at the other end of every transaction. Every car you sell or service is connected to a person with an opinion. And in a day and age when everything gets shared on online, their opinions about your dealership and their experience are fair game. 

Unfortunately, far too many opinions that get shared online tend to skew negative. The squeaky wheels get the grease and the happy customers are less likely to share their views. But there is a way to generate more positive reviews and leverage positive opinions to your advantage. 

Prioritize Ratings and Reviews 

Online reviews have become a primary research tool for consumers. In fact, 88% of online shoppers incorporate reviews into their decision-making process. These reviews can be key to increasing traffic and dealer leads, but you have to build a steady stream of positive customer reviews first. 

If you don’t have a system in place for generating reviews and giving voice to satisfied customers, the unsatisfied customer reviews will probably paint an inaccurate picture of your dealership online.  

Make online reviews a priority. Take the time to research the right technology and technology partner to realize the benefits of this resource. Doing so can help you generate more positive reviews and turn those reviews into a viable auto dealer marketing tool to build your brand and boost sales. 

Make It Personal 

Consumers that had a negative experience with your dealership are more prone to leaving reviews. But if you ask your happy customers to leave a review, you may be surprised how many come through for you.  

The key to these requests is personalization. Your customers are much more likely to respond to a review generation request when you make it personal to them because they’re already receiving so much spam.  

An always-on, customizable, personalized review solicitation solution makes it easy for your customers to leave positive feedback. By sending a text (on of your customers’ preferred way to communicate) either from your phone or automatically, right after a sales or service transaction, you can increase the overall volume of positive customer reviews. 

Integrate Your SEO and Review Generation Services 

Did you know that 59% of shoppers believe reputation is the single most important factor when choosing a dealership? Having a coordinated digital strategy can unify your online presence, communicate the same coordinated messages across your digital channels, and build your brand reputation.  

When actual customers share reviews that reflect the same messaging as your automotive SEO, it reinforces your customer service commitment online and delivers valuable content that attracts additional shoppers.  

This type of coordinate car dealer SEO and Review Generation effort also involves monitoring all relevant digital properties and thoughtfully responding to all reviews in lockstep with auto SEO service best practices. It’s a smart way to turn every customer interaction into a powerful selling tool. 

Start with the Right Team

Just as there are real people at the other end of every dealership transaction, it takes real people to manage your dealership’s reputation. To implement a successful review generation strategy and generate more positive review, you have to have a dedicated team that knows the automotive industry.  

Take the time to find a team that can deliver real results by creating a customized review and review response strategy that is informed by proven best practices. And, make sure that team is made up of knowledgeable, industry-savvy marketers, not just review generation experts.  

Every customer has an opinion, and the overwhelming majority of those opinions are positive for most dealerships. If you can harness the power of those opinions by prioritizing review generation, making review solicitation personal, integrating your digital strategy, and partnering with the right team, you can generate more positive review and drive business.  

To learn more about harnessing the power of consumer opinions, check out Dealer.com Social and Reputation Management Services.  

What Consumers Want From a Digital Shopping Experience

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Why are some digital shopping experiences more successful than others? What motivates consumers to move through the digital shopping experience with one dealership and drop off with another? 

These are complicated questions with more than one answer, but in the end it all comes down to the consumer experience. What consumers want, consumers get, even if they have to shop at a different dealership.  

Pay attention to these key consumer interests when it comes to implementing your digital shopping experience. 

Complete More Steps Online 

Consumers don’t want to spend a lot of time at the dealership, no matter how they choose to buy their cars. One major difference between various digital shopping experiences involves the number of steps the consumer can complete online (and as a result, the amount of time spent at the dealership). 

As recently as 2018, consumers were spending approximately 3 hours at the dealership, just to get a deal done. Two years later, with more dealers incorporating elements of a digital shopping experience, that time decreased to an average of 2 hours and 37 minutes.  

For consumers who complete at least 50% of the car buying process online, time spend at the dealership went down even more dramatically to about 2 hours. Even more telling, consumer satisfaction increased as more dealers offered a digital buying experience and the amount of time spent at dealership decreased. 

Implement Steps Customers Want 

It’s not just the number of steps in your digital shopping experience that matter. The specific steps that you include within that experience can convince car buyer leads to do business with your dealership. 

The following steps are the basic building blocks of a digital shopping experience. Even if you already incorporate them as part of your digital shopping experience, it’s important to communicate and promote their availability to your prospective dealer leads. 

  • Personalized Payments: Most customers are payment shoppers. They want to know as much about their future car payment as possible. This key information will help them decide whether or not to continue down the path to purchase. Give your consumers the tools to create all aspects of their deal structure online. 
  • Incentives and Rebates: Every consumer wants to get a good deal on their new car purchase. They want to know that they’re getting every possible incentive and rebate available. Be upfront with your shoppers about what they can expect to receive and make incentives and rebates an integral part of the digital shopping experience. 
  • Trade Valuation: Consumers know that their trade-ins carry value. If they don’t think they can include their trade-in as part of the digital deal, they may shy away you’re your digital shopping experience. In fact, according to Cox Automotive data, 80% of all digital deals include a trade. It’s an important part of the car buying experience for the majority of consumers. 
  • Credit Application: If one of the main goals of the digital shopping experience is to promote convenience (and reduce time at the dealership), including a credit application is near the top of every customer’s digital shopping checklist. Offer an online credit application to give you a better idea of consumers’ credit worthiness and allow them to pre-qualify, even before they step foot in the dealership. 
  • Test Drive: What would the car buying experience be without a test drive. It’s the time when consumer meets car and matches are made. Including the ability to self-schedule a test drive as part of the digital car buying experience allows consumers to make their own appointments and take that all-important next step toward buying their next car. 

Transform Your Digital Shopping Experience 

Again, what motivates consumers is a complicated question, and these are just a few of the basic elements of a digital shopping experience. You may also consider including: 

  • Offsite test drives 
  • The option for home delivery 
  • The ability to view and buy vehicle protection products 
  • Virtual tours and test drives 
  • Remote deal signing 
  • Vehicle reservation 
  • Service scheduling 

Just remember, in general, consumers appreciate the opportunity to complete more steps online and spend less time at the dealership. It saves them time and differentiates your dealership’s digital shopping experience from the host of online competitors. 

To learn more about how your dealership can transform the digital buying experience, check out Dealer.com Manager of Performance Management B. Malaczewski’s recent webinar, all about differentiating the digital buying process. You can also learn more about delivering the kind of digital shopping experience your customers want at Dealer.com. 

Dealertrack and the Evolution of Digital Retailing

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Earlier this month, Cheryl Miller, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dealertrack F&I and Titling Solutions, participated in a keynote panel at the Consumer Banking Association’s CBA Live 2019 conference. The topic was Digital Retailing Evolution: What’s NOW & What’s Next, and Cheryl shared her expertise on digital retailing in the automotive industry and how the technology is bringing lenders and dealers together.

Following are some of the subjects Cheryl addressed during the panel.

How has digital retailing evolved over the past year and where do you see it going over the next 2-3 years?

The trend is toward an end-to-end digital experience that gives car buyers the flexibility to do as much or as little of the deal online as they prefer. This opens up new worlds for dealers when it comes to buyer targeting throughout the customer lifecycle, including advertising, purchasing, servicing and financing.

For dealers and lenders alike, it’s driven by customer demand. The way consumers purchase things has changed, and customers want the car buying process to incorporate conveniences such as shopping online. Our research shows 83 percent of customers prefer to do at least one purchase step online outside of the dealership. Using a digital retailing solution can help deliver a better customer experience that’s in line with what buyers want.

This is not the only way dealers benefit from digital retailing. The traditional retail sales process takes 3 or more hours for the average dealership to complete. Completing steps of a deal online saves an average of 30 minutes. A more efficient process gets deals completed more quickly, which gives a dealership more time to serve more customers. Digital retailing solutions better connect the online to in-store shopping experience due to streamlined processes, less data re-entry and increased accuracy.

The market is growing, in large part due to demographics. By 2020, Millennials (consumers in their early twenties to late thirties) are forecast to represent 40% of car buyers. There are more than 75 million members of this tech-savvy generation, and they’re at the forefront of demand for digital retailing experiences. Eventually we expect to see the 100% digital deal where every facet is handled online. Most of today’s customers still prefer to finalize their purchase at the dealership, but each successive generation will be more comfortable with ordering a car online the way they order merchandise from Amazon.

How are dealers and lenders working together to succeed with digital retailing solutions?

Dealers see digital retailing as an opportunity to connect the online experience to the in-store experience, and ultimately as a way to increase revenue. Our 2018 Cox Automotive Lender Study revealed that 51% of dealers say it is important for lenders to offer digital contracting to complement their digital retailing workflow. Dealers select their lender pool based on rate competitiveness, turnaround time for credit application decisions, and the strength of their relationship with their finance partners. Being able to work with lenders via the same platform they use for other digital retailing functions strongly meets two of those criteria.

Dealers today suffer from margin compression, so they are constantly looking for ways to profitably structure their deals with their lender partners. Lenders should strive to bridge the gap so that dealers understand you are there as a partner and what you can bring to the table to assist on margin compression and the deal structure – at the right rate for profitability. We see that most dealers are looking for qualified customers who meet their lender requirements. Dealers are a critical part of the retail experience, often finding the best financing available with valuable incentives for their customers. We offer solutions to both dealers and lenders that are well positioned to offer consumers choices that lead to a frictionless car-buying experience.

Dealertrack and all our Cox Automotive solutions are fully committed to our vision to digitize the process to procure a vehicle “from contact to contract.” We understand dealers and lenders both play key roles in every vehicle sale that involves financing. A well-planned digital retailing solution gives both of them tools that work together seamlessly.

With 85% of all new cars sold needing to be financed, dealers and lenders do play well together. The dealer works with the lender and for them – as well as for the consumer. The dealer provides the lender an opportunity in the form of a sourced lead, the lender is retained, and they work together to sell cars, to the benefit of both organizations. Partnership here is instrumental between dealers and lenders.

Do lenders need to upgrade to digital retailing tools now or can they wait for the industry to mature?

The answer is “now.” The time for waiting is over because dealers are already engaged in some form of digital retailing – many dealers already use their website for leads, digital media/social strategies, and more. Digital retailing enables dealers to capture more opportunities. Thus, now is the time for lenders to act if you are trying to increase your partnerships with dealers and gain market share and grow originations.

The technology is in demand by dealers. Customers are demanding better service orientation and a solution more akin to other shopping experiences, like the way they buy coffee and shop for groceries and other household goods. It makes sense for lenders to put digital retailing tools in place now, even if there are certain functionalities and features that won’t be fully utilized until the industry matures further. Be ready for what is here now, and it will simply continue to grow. Be ready so you can win in the marketplace.

Moving F&I Online

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Car buyer preferences are shifting toward more online research, and 83% of consumers today want to complete at least one automotive purchase activity online, according to the Cox Automotive 2017 Future of Digital Retail study.

As dealers move toward a digitized customer lifecycle that encompasses advertising, purchasing, servicing and financing, customers expect a seamless transition from online to in-store.

The F&I process is ripe for digitization. When customers have the option to begin to structure their deal online, their satisfaction increases, along with the dealership’s revenue and profits.

A recent Cox Automotive and PwC survey found that 63% of dealers saw the biggest ROI from digitizing their sales and F&I process.

Learn more about bringing F&I into the digital world in this F&I and Showroom article by Cheryl Miller, Vice President and General Manager of Dealertrack F&I Solutions.