Increases in used-car supply don't mean that dealers can rest on their laurels when it comes to inventory management.

In fact, Robert Granados, of Dealertrack Technologies, says dealers will actually need to fine-tune their inventory processes.

“You’re going to need to have a better process to really understand how you’re going to manage the various categories of inventory that you have,” said Granados, the company’s vice president and general manager of inventory and interactive solutions. “As the supply of (vehicles) changes, a dealer is going to have be a lot smarter in terms of what they should be taking in.”

For example, he told Auto Remarketing in an interview at the NADA Convention & Expo last month, you might be able to categorize cars within the used supply like this: top-performing cars, volume cars, “take-a-chance” cars (i.e. a Ford store that takes in a Hyundai Genesis, for instance) and cars that are clearly meant for you to wholesale.

“As a lot more inventory comes in, the dealer is going to have be a lot smarter about understanding the various categories of cars that they have,” Granados explained, “so that as (the cars) come in, they know what category it fits and what actions they need to take on it.”

No longer are the days of dealers being able to simply take chances on cars and keep them longer because of low supply, he noted. With the market having significantly more used cars, it’s riskier now to take that approach, Granados said.

This need be smart about inventory decisions ties directly into what Granados says is offered by the company’s new integrated inventory solution, Dealertrack Inventory+.

The tool was introduced at NADA last month and is designed to blend the company’s top data-driven inventory management offerings with new mobile and workflow accelerating innovations.

In its statement announcing the product, the company said Dealertrack Inventory+ includes advanced 360-degree data insight and mobile capabilities, and is designed to help dealers boost trades, improve turn rates and lift profit-per-day.
Inventory+ covers the entirety of the inventory process, including these steps:

— Appraising
— Stocking and sourcing
— Transportation
— Reporting
— Pricing
— Merchandising
— Mobile
— Group solutions

“For several years, Dealertrack has delivered the most complete and comprehensive transactional, listing and market information for used vehicles, as well as the latest mobile innovations, in the industry,” Granados said in the company announcement.  “Now, Inventory+ brings all of our award-winning capabilities together, along with new innovations, to help drive optimal and measureable results for our dealer and dealer group clients.”

He would also note in the interview with Auto Remarketing: “We had AAX, which had all the analytical capabilities. We then acquired eCarList that had more of a model of looking at understanding pricing from an Internet listings perspective.

“But those were two separate systems. And what our customer base was looking for and what folks in the dealer community were looking for was for these two systems to be integrated into one. So that’s what Inventory+ is,” Granados added. “At the basic level, a dealer has the ability now to understand both in one: understand Internet listings’ pricing and understand analytics.”
 

Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.