As its report highlighted the latest battle between popular vehicle segments, Dataium’s newest Automotive Shopper Intensity Index ticked up 0.14 percent in March.

As a result, the aggregator of in-market automotive shopper behavior projected the U.S. retail new-vehicle SAAR in April to be 12.3 million units.

In March, analysts found the truck, sedan and compact car segments showed minimal changes in overall auto shopping intensity. However, intensity around the compact SUV segment decreased for the first time this year.

Despite the slowing segment, Dataium discovered strong interest in the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4 kept the compact SUV segment in the lead for overall shopping intensity.

Analysts went on to mention fierce competition between the Japanese brands, Honda and Toyota, continued for a second consecutive month as both OEMs ran nationwide sales events through March featuring strong consumer incentives.

“Honda and Toyota have been battling to take market share from each other, but what we’ve seen is both are actually stealing share from other brands,” Dataium chief executive officer Eric Brown said.

“Competition is intense surrounding SUVs and sedans, but popular models like the Tacoma and the Civic are being pulled into the fight for shopper attention, as well,” Brown continued. “Honda and Toyota must see increasing signs of improvement and consumer stability in the U.S. economy as an opportunity to capitalize on shoppers preparing to move into the market for a new vehicle.”

Dataium reiterated that it provides data and research on auto shopper/buyer behavior nationally, and by specific makes, models, vehicle segments and markets. The firm insisted its index has proven to be accurate in predicting future trends, consumer intent and desire, and promotional media impact on consumer behavior.

The national ASI report is available for download at www.dataium.com/library. Dataium reports and dashboards are available on a subscription basis or may be customized to access real-time in-market behavior, sales forecasting, advertising effectiveness, inventory alignment, digital marketing performance and website design proficiency.

To request complete access to Dataium’s ASI predictive modeling tool on future consumer demand by make, model, trim level, segment, region and market, contact Dataium at www.dataium.com/contact.

Dataium Releases New Red Alert Digital Performance Report

In other company news, Dataium released what the company is calling Red Alert, a free email-based digital performance report.

Utilizing the power of big data, Dataium explained Red Alert can deliver unprecedented intelligence in an easy-to-read format, empowering dealers to benchmark their performance against industry averages and identify sales opportunities faster and more effectively.

Designed to help dealers understand and optimize their digital marketing performance, Red Alert can offers at a glance Contextual Benchmarks such as performance metrics relative to local, brand and national averages, top converting keywords and a local market ranking, all from an independent and unbiased source.

Additionally, Dataium's Performance Data Center analysts will routinely monitor the online performance of more than 12,000 dealer websites in its network. Dealers will then be alerted of performance improvement opportunities and offered actionable insights to increase online lead conversions, based on best practices from top-performing websites across the Dataium network.

“Dataium is thrilled to launch our newest performance report for auto dealerships,” Brown said. “During the initial launch, we have had four times as many dealers signing up for Red Alert than we projected. Red Alert is a great digital performance indicator because it offers dealers the ability to understand their true performance and ultimately increase sales.”

Red Alert is available as a free bi-weekly report or as a part of the Red Alert Pro package, which includes a weekly report and up to four Clickmap consultation sessions.

The added features in Red Alert Pro can give dealerships the ability to visualize their homepage traffic and discover new ways to optimize their website with proven best practices.

To learn more about Dataium's Red Alert, the Red Alert Pro upgrade, Clickmap consultations and custom reporting capabilities, visit http://www.Dataium.com/RedAlert or call (877) 896 3282.

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