Now with its acquisition of ALG and the merger with Autodata Solutions finalized, J.D. Power made another move on Tuesday in an effort to be a go-to provider of new and pre-owned automobile transactional data, valuation tools, vehicle feature information and consumer analytics to the industry.

According to a news release, J.D. Power announced the acquisition of Inventory Command Center (ICC), a leading automotive inventory management SaaS-based platform.

The company said this business — which is being integrated into the Autodata Solutions division of J.D. Power — is positioned to aggregate the anticipated growth of VIN-specific details brought on by more electric vehicles and automated technologies.

“With more automobile buyers than ever searching local inventories online before they ever set foot in a dealership, accurately and consistently displaying vehicle inventory has taken center stage,” J.D. Power president and CEO Dave Habiger said in the news release.

“Accurate information on vehicle supply has become a critical component of the increasingly complex auto sales ecosystem thanks to the growth of new technologies and powertrains, such as electric vehicles and automated technologies,” Habiger continued.

“By combining ICC’s proven inventory management technology with our robust vehicle feature information and valuation tools, we are giving multiple industry stakeholders, including dealerships, manufacturers, third-party websites and consumers the most comprehensive information available on nationwide vehicle supply,” he went on to say.

J.D. Power acknowledged evolving digital retailing strategies require dealers to optimally merchandise and differentiate their digital inventory from the competition by utilizing solutions that showcase their inventory to online shoppers within a customer centric experience and then syndicate that experience to all third-party sources from one unified command center platform.

The company’s command center platform can aggregate, normalize, transform and syndicate vehicle data, creating a “source of truth” of vehicle information for dealers, automotive manufacturers, car shopping sites, dealership websites and anyone else who needs to present accurately described and priced inventory.

For example, the command center platform specifically can merchandize the new automation technologies and powertrains such as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs).

“Like the current market of cars and trucks available today, inventory data comes in all shapes, sizes and engine types,” said Craig Jennings, president of the Autodata Solutions division at J.D. Power.

“ICC’s team has developed a unique platform that filters innumerable and often inconsistent data sets into a single, robust feed that is easy to consume,” Jennings continued. The result, combined with J.D. Power VIN description and merchandising solutions, is a service that supports dealers and manufacturers with syndicating appropriately branded, described and priced inventory.

“This will be even more critical with the influx of new EV models, features and technologies,” he added.

J.D. Power reiterated that vehicle-inventory merchandising is a critical aspect of online marketing with more than 56 million new and used vehicles being sold each year. Providing accurate branded descriptions, options and pricing are key to a full and complete online view of a vehicle specifically as it related to digital retailing, according to company experts.

J.D. Power pointed out the Command Center’s Inventory as a Service platform already is integrated with thousands of dealer inventory feeds and powers numerous third-party car shopping websites. While it aggregates VIN-level data, Inventory as a Service will leverage the ChromeData suite of products, which will properly brand, describe, price and visually merchandise each vehicle.

The company added the service is also able to deliver with each exported inventory record incentives and rebates, Chrome Image Gallery photos as well as VIN and model-specific videos.

“J.D. Power is at the pinnacle of delivering data and insights to the automotive industry,” said Kenny DellaPorta, J.D. Power head of inventory data services and former CEO of ICC.

“As a result, car shoppers can more easily find the right vehicle that meets their needs,” DellaPorta continued. “It’s an honor to join such a strong team and be able to collaborate on solutions that will help drive the industry forward by delivering on the value proposition of complete and precise inventory.”

Portico Capital Securities served as exclusive financial advisor to ICC with respect to this transaction.