Multiplatform buying and selling will be a major focus during multiple sessions at Used Car Week, which gets rolling Monday.
And on Thursday, the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance released an open letter on cross bidding multiplatform sales.
The National Remarketing Conference — the flagship event of Used Car Week — will feature a general session on Thursday titled “The Hub: Multi- and Cross-Platform Buying and Selling.”
The panel of experts on the session, who represent a variety of different backgrounds in this space, will talk about the challenges and opportunities associated with this emerging remarketing tool.
On Wednesday, Eric Widmer of Alliance Inspection Management will offer a workshop on “Multiplatform Selling: What the Data is Telling Us.”
For a complete NRC agenda and information on all the Used Car Week conferences, visit UsedCarWeek.biz.
IARA’s Open Letter on Cross Bidding Multi-Platform Sales:
For consignors, cross bidding multi-platform sales is not a question of “if,” but “when.” This “when” is coming closer thanks to the efforts of industry groups who are working diligently to overcome the technical and logistic barriers to making online cross bidding multi-platform a reality. Among the biggest barriers these groups are working to solve is the standardization of auction start and end times.
One of the industry groups leading the charge to make a cross bidding multi-platform sales a reality is the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA), which, through its Standards Committee, has recently authored a white paper on the topic.
Below is an open letter to the industry, authored by the IARA Standards Committee, about requirements and benefits of cross bidding multi-platform sales for the industry:
Cross Bidding Multi-Platform Online Remarketing Sales
With the growing popularity of using web based applications to remarket vehicles, the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA) Standards Committee continues to advocate for the creation of a cross bidding multi-platform online remarketing solution. The members of the committee believe that by utilizing a central portal where consignors can offer their vehicles on various remarketing online tools at the same time, will not only create efficiency for the consignor, but allows buyers to access the maximum selection of vehicles online.
What is Cross Bidding Multi-Platform Remarketing?
Cross bidding multi-platform selling is the use of a central portal/hub to remarket vehicles on multiple sales venues at the same time with continuous bidding across all venues. With a centralized portal, consignors have a one stop shop with a common interface to facilitate their online sales activities across their chosen auction platforms. A designated hub would create increased efficiency for consignors when selling their inventory and provide standardization among condition reporting language, vehicle grading systems, photography standards and auction start and end times. Additionally, by creating a competitive bidding environment on more than one sales channel at the same time, consignors can be confident that their vehicles are being exposed to more buyers which in turn maximizes sales results.
As the automotive industry continues to change, the IARA believes that it is important to continue to grow to meet buyers’ needs. Cross bidding multi-platform selling allows buyers the ability to use their preferred sales platform, while still gaining access to the maximum selection of vehicles when purchasing online. The IARA envisions the platform will send real-time data so bidding can be updated on all platforms simultaneously, making it unnecessary for buyers to switch from one sales platform to another.
In summary, there are apparent benefits for consignors and buyers when using cross bidding multi-platform selling when remarketing vehicles. The IARA continues to hold discussions and is currently soliciting comments from the remarketing industry, including consignors, auctions, and dealers.
For more information on multi-platform selling, visit www.iaraonline.org for the white paper on the topic.
Multiplatform buying and selling dominated the discussion of the more than 200 attendees at the IARA Remarketing Roundtable today in Chicago.
The subject has been debated, had white papers written on its behalf, has seen multiple conference sessions dedicated to it — and the key points made today by consignors, suppliers and other executives pointed to significant progress being made in various areas.
Some of the main points from today's roundtables are described below:
Multiplatform selling is currently working for consignors and dealers in markets run by AiM/MarketConnect, Liquid Motors and ARI.
ARI’s Bob Graham, Liquid Motors’ Michael Daseke and MarketConnect’s Tom Gardner all touted the success of both buyers and sellers on their systems.
The effort coordinated by AutoIMS — known in the industry as the Hub — includes the combined efforts of ADESA, Manheim and the independent auction groups and is said to be making a solid strides in its progress. An industry source we spoke with acknowledged that such a large and complicated exercise to bring competitors together will take time and cooperation.
All parties seem to be gravitating toward the multiplatform model — but consignors have their sights set on the next level: cross-platform bidding.
Cross-platform bidding would allow dealers access to all inventory on all platforms. There is concern in the remarketing community related to antitrust and monopolistic issues, but other executives pointed to the CFPB, saying that a completely open market may become the norm versus some of the more restricted environments where wholesale vehicles are offered today.
These subjects and more will be discussed in further detail at the National Remarketing Conference, held this fall as part of Used Car Week, which runs Nov. 10-14 at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa in Las Vegas. Among the sessions addressing these topics include:
- The Hub: Multiplatform Buying and Selling (10:30 a.m. Nov. 13)
- The CFPB and Its Impact on the Remarketing Industry (11:15 a.m. Nov. 13)
- The Executive Suite: Insight Into the Hub & the Remarketing Industry (3:45 p.m. Nov. 13)
For the complete NRC agenda, visit nrc.autoremarketing.com/agenda; for the entire Used Car Week agenda, visit usedcarweek.biz/agenda.
The IARA Remarketing Roundtable ends Thursday in Chicago.
Flick Fusion announced this week its video marketing platform for dealers, offering what it contends is the first of such platforms to automate the video production process, including inventory videos, video emails and other various dealer-related videos.
Brian Cox, the president and chief executive officer of Flick Fusion, says his company offers to dealers the digital platform for their inventory that they need to maximize sales.
“Many dealers want to incorporate video into their marketing plan, but don’t have the resources or expertise to create dynamic videos for all their marketing needs,” Cox said. “Our platform offers a simple, cost-effective method for creating a video marketing strategy proven to attract more web site visitors and convert them into leads.”
Flick Fusion utilizes the power of Google by avoiding Flash and publishing videos in “SEO-friendly” formats and uploads them to YouTube, increasing exposure to a wider market.
“Flash videos can’t be indexed by Google and therefore they don’t boost SEO rankings,” Cox said. “Additionally, many third-party sites don’t accept Flash so dealers can’t benefit from video syndication, which also boosts rankings.”
In addition to the video format, the program also utilizes VidMail, which allows dealer employees to customize videos for individual lead inquiries, which can be custom-made on request with video greetings, vehicle walkarounds and other related dealership videos.
For more information about Flick Fusion, visit their site here.
This week, Black Book editorial director Ricky Beggs sat down with International Automotive Remarketers Alliance president Levi McCoy, and IARA executive director Tony Long for the second time to discuss developments in the pre-owned market, including multiplatform selling.
This week’s “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report touched on insight from the two IARA leaders on the current strength of the market, supply levels, technology, education and more.
Beggs began by focusing on used supply, as the recent influx of off-rental vehicles are flooding the wholesale market these days.
McCoy began by pointing out a comment Manheim senior vice president and chief strategy officer Joe George made at the recent NAAA/CAR/IARA event in Las Vegas. George asked the industry: it's raining cars, now what do we do?
McCoy said the increased used supply is “a good thing, but there could be downside to that, like a supply-and- demand type of situation. But we expect strong volume, at least for now.
“We had a strong first quarter with lots of ordering (on the fleet side of the business), which means we will eventually have those cars on the remarketing side. Q1 has been good, and we expect continued success during the rest of the year,” McCoy continued.
He predicted prices will remain strong for 2014, allowing for seasonal adjustments, of course.
Last week, market conditions continued to bring softer values in both the car and truck segments after tax-season highs, said Beggs. Last week, only 41 percent of the price changes were increases, which marks the lowest percentage of price hikes since the week ending Feb. 21.
The conversation then switched to another hot topic in the business: multiplatform selling.
Long explained that the biggest implication of the switch to multiplatform selling is increased transaction speed.
“Multiplatform selling and the implications of AutoGrade bringing consistency to that process, is a major thing … the one big thing that I think is going to make a difference is speed. Everything is going to be so much faster with the implementation of multiplatform,” Long said.
“We are going to find outlets for the vehicles that maybe haven’t found an outlet before, and they are going to find them faster. Buyers are going to be able to fill their retail orders in a much quicker manner,” he continued.
He explained with this increased speed, challenges will moste likely pop up in the transportation and inspection side of the business.
“There are a lot of moving parts in this, and it is going to affect the market, but overall … I think this will make it better for everyone in meeting the needs of the customers and moving those vehicles a little quicker than we’ve been able to. Speed is the word right now,” Long said.
To watch the full interview, see the latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report above.
To check out part one of Beggs' interview with IARA leaders, see the Auto Remarketing story below:
IARA Leadership Enthused About Current Growth Path
