ORLANDO, Fla. -

Gubagoo, a “conversational commerce” company for auto dealerships and OEMs, launched its Virtual Retailing service in February, describing it as a digital retailing service for automotive dealerships that is built on messaging and live video interaction.

But on Monday, the company announced it has “successfully launched” Virtual Retailing with U.S. dealerships. In a separate announcement on Tuesday, the company said it launched new VDP pricing, rebates, virtual desking and re-targeting functionality integrated into its customer communication platform, Gubagoo ChatSmart.

Gubagoo also said 15% of consumers who completed the Gubagoo Virtual Retail experience purchased a vehicle.

In yet another announcement on Tuesday, Gubagoo said its ChatSmart advanced live chat product is now integrated with Google Messaging, Car Wars’ call tracking tool, and HubSpot’s marketing automation application. Gubagoo said in a news release that those integrations build upon ChatSmart’s existing portfolio of more than 80 integrations.

In the news release about the launch of Virtual Retailing with U.S. dealerships, Gubagoo reported a positive response from the dealership community since Virtual Retailing’s February launch.

The company provided dealer testimony to back that up.

“The entire experience has been flawless. So far, we have sold five cars as a direct result of using Gubagoo Virtual Retailing,” said Gunn Automotive Group executive director of information and consumer strategy Tony Rhoades. "We love that our team can work a live deal with online customers who otherwise might not engage with us, and even better, get them back into the deal after they have left our website as offers and incentives change."

In additional testimony, Gary Lang Auto Group digital marketing manager Brie Ryan said the group has sold three cars since it started a digital retailing pilot with Gubagoo.

“For us the flexibility and ease of use have been key,” Ryan said. “The ability to instantly connect with a customer when interest is highest and desk a deal on the spot has our team highly engaged in the online retailing experience. Many are saying that the online buying experience was very easy and the immediate support they got from Gubagoo’s retail specialists and our dealership staff was very helpful.”

The Gubagoo Virtual Retailing car buying process includes payment calculation, trade-in, rebates, accessories, F&I products, and a credit application for online loan approval through RouteOne or Dealertrack.

As consumers launch the buying process, Gubagoo’s retail specialists are available to offer 24-hour live support. Gubagoo says dealership staff can watch live deals and desk an offer any time through chat, SMS and Facebook. The company says its Blaster capability allows dealers to re-engage with consumers who have incomplete deals and offer those customers new pricing or incentives to draw them back into the deal.

Regarding the additional Gubagoo news that it launched new VDP pricing, rebates, virtual desking and re-targeting functionality integrated into ChatSmart, the company said the new features mean dealers can build personalized deals for consumers in real-time on the dealership websites, re-target consumers through email, SMS and Facebook with updated payments when new rebates and incentives become available, and re-engage with consumers who are more likely to buy a vehicle.

Gubagoo’s VDP lets consumers view vehicles in chat as well as view a vehicle detail page. The company has added new features that allow consumers to value their trade-in, unlock real-time payments for any vehicle and add OEM rebates and incentives. The system personalizes taxes and fees to the individual's zip code.

Within Gubagoo Live, Gubagoo’s omni-channel dealer communication platform, consumer data captured from the VDP is immediately accessible to the dealer. The company says its new Blaster functionality lets dealers re-engage with consumers in just a few clicks, and dealers can create a target list and send relevant pricing and incentives via live chat, SMS, email and Facebook.

And regarding Gubagoo’s third announcement that its ChatSmart advanced live chat product now features integrations with Google Messaging, Car Wars’ call tracking tool and HubSpot’s marketing automation application, the company said Google Messaging is a new method for consumers to send messages to businesses from Google search results, Google ads and Google Maps.

Consumers searching for a dealership on Google or in Google Maps can converse with the dealership using click-to-message on Google organic search results, Google ads, and within Google Maps.

Gubagoo said its chat specialists will handle chat responses on behalf of the dealership, and the dealership staff can enter the conversation using the Gubagoo Live web and mobile app.

With Gubagoo’s integration with Hubspot’s marketing automation application, Gubagoo leads can automatically populate into HubSpot, and dealers can then create and execute marketing campaigns targeted to these leads, according to the company, which also said details added to HubSpot include contact information, make, model and year of vehicle of interest and lead type (sales or service).