New Car Experience
New Car Best Practices
BEFORE CONSIDERING ANY NEW CAR
We are doing for new cars what we have done for used cars. To get the most out of your new car solutions, we recommend taking a look at your current internal processes and following these best practices.
Considering a
new car solution?
Ask yourself
the following questions:
Is there a strong Internet culture within your dealership that is driven by the owner?
It is not enough if only GM believes that the future of their business will be driven online. This must be coming from the owner, unless the GM is truly the ultimate decision maker.
Are there personnel in place with technical skills that are sufficient to use the solutions properly?
It is important for your dealership to have someone dedicated to creating specials, assigning spotlights, creating custom comments, etc.
Does your store have established in store processes that compliment the Internet?
How long does it take before their cars appear online? Does the new car manager support the online merchandising effort and will he insist on maintaining good online advertising?
Has your store itself "bought in" to online merchandising?
Is the Internet department totally separate from the rest of the dealership? This can often causes friction from the floor.
Once you have assessed your potential for new car online success, here are some basic best practices that will contribute to good new car merchandising:
Be willing to take at least one actual photo of every new car.
The photo needs to be on the lot not in a photo booth. The point is that shoppers want to see that the car is actually on the lot.
Retail price as well as MSRP must be included in the feed.
If custom comments are difficult, at the very least,
make sure that the lead sentence highlights special equipment or trim.
Utilize the "why buy this new car" section in the back end tool.
Make sure that all specials are created and up to date each month.
The use of video always drives up VDPs.
There should be a dealership video and story that
sets the store apart. and gives the shopper a reason to choose them for business.
Spotlights are a great way to create traffic on new cars.
If the cars will be buried in the featured listings,
discuss moving to premium for better exposure.
Take advantage of some of our newly released
New Car solutions like Front-Line Listings.
For more new car best practices, please contact your local AutoTrader.com Advertising Consultant