AutomoBuzz June 2, 2017: In this episode of the AutomoBuzz Casual Video Series, I summarize the latest Refresh Friday on DealerRefresh with Steve Stauning where we talk about his article series on Why Caravana Will Fail. Also mentioned in this edition is Cars.com going public and Experian acquiring String Automotive. This edition is only 3 minutes and 23 seconds.
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Refresh Friday w/ Steve Stauning: Why Carvana Will Fail
Refresh Friday is a periodic live broadcast I produce and run for DealerRefresh. In this Refresh Friday, MC “Big” Tom LaPointe and Jeff Kershner and I talked with Steve Stauning from askthemanager.com. We talked about Steve’s article about Carvana – Why Carvana will fail (and how they might succeed).
Steve explained how Carvana was based on the idea of solving a consumer issue which doesn’t actually exist. Although the internet is changing the way people shop for and buy cars, not all aspects of the process require change. Although Carvana boasts a service of solving inefficiencies and cutting costs through their website, there’s no actual barrier to keep dealers from doing that too. The problem lies in the fact that they are solving for the wrong issue.
Listen to the entire recording of this Refresh Friday on the DealerRefresh Facebook page. An edited condensed version is in the works.
Cars.com Goes Public
Cars.com went public last week, completing their spin-off from parent company TEGNA Inc. Congrats to the folks at Cars.com and its new board of directors on their new adventure as a public company.
“This is an exciting moment in Cars.com’s history… This caliber of leadership and expertise of our Board of Directors and their singular focus on Cars.com – will help us drive transformational growth throughout our company and help ensure our sustainability as a leading brand in the marketplace for online car buyers and sellers.” – said Alex Vetter, Cars.com’s chief executive officer.”
String Automotive gets acquired by Experian Automotive
As of May 25th, String Automotive was acquired by Experian Automotive. This partnership began in 2014 when Experian Automotive’s Auto Market DNA was integrated with String’s DPS. Although the team from String Automotive will remain, the “String” part of the name will be removed and both sides will go under Experian Automotive.
The combination of String’s Dealer Positioning System (DPS) and Experian’s data-driven insights, will provide dealers with an integral solution for dealership website analytics and inventory information, consumer demographic, and purchasing behavior data.
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