The monthly Techwatch feature by Automotive Management outlines some of the last month's highlights in motor retail technological developments.
By Alex Wright
AutoBI has partnered with Auto Trader to launch the PriceTrack comparison tool.
Built in-house by AutoBI, part of the Bumper Group, PriceTrack produces real-time analysis and rankings of vehicle prices compared to competitors.
It also measures average daily advert views, provides insights into competitor price changes and generates alerts of competitor adverts.
Marshall Shipley, AutoBI’s head of sales, said PriceTrack has been created to give dealerships instant access to pricing trends and the ability to fine tune used car prices relative to what's happening in the market.
He said: “Dealers using PriceTrack can quickly resolve incorrect pricing by leveraging live market data to ensure cars are competitively priced and aligned with market demand, reducing time in stock."
This is the first AutoBI tool to be offered to Auto Trader customers and follows a successful pilot by Stoneacre Motor Group.
“AutoBI has brought real clarity to how we manage our used car operations,” said Mark Zavagno, digital operations director of Stoneacre Motor Group.
Dealer groups which have developed a bespoke vehicle inventory management system can now piggy-back Autofinity’s technology for advanced integration, monitoring and automation.
Autofinity’s latest product, Feeds Agent, enables dealers to integrate supplier systems, dealer management system and online marketing channels to its stock inventory management system. Thus, providing a single overview of each vehicle, including courtesy and employee cars, pipeline stock and new cars, in one place for simple, flexible stock integration and marketing with their partners.
Autofinity calculates on a stock holding of 2,000 vehicles, dealer groups with multiple OEMs and internal systems which require integration are spending up to £100,000 per year double-checking and fixing online vehicle listings often performed by sales managers.
Using their own dealer dashboard, Feeds Agent integration allows vehicle upload to the group website, manufacturer websites and online marketing channels such as Auto Trader and carwow.
Feeds Agent connects with and monitors integration with Auto Trader Connect so that dealer groups using their own systems will not have to undertake upgrades to incorporate. In most cases, Autofinity can display Auto Trader Connect vehicle ratings information (good, fair, low price, etc) alongside vehicle details in the group’s dashboard with no need to switch applications.
Feeds Agent is part of Autofinity’s ViHUB platform with its variety of modules which pools vehicle data from multiple disconnected sources to provide one source of information. Feeds Agent takes a feed from the dealer’s system and uploads to various marketplaces as well as other supplier systems which dealers use for a variety of daily dealership tasks such as imagery, video and managing the prep process.
Dealer group employees can update information in the inventory system and Feeds Agent uploads to all other connected systems, avoiding the need for double keying, promoting consistency and reducing the likelihood of errors. Groups can also implement their own rules, such as flagging up vehicles with mileage issues or lack of images, which can be addressed before a vehicle is put live on marketing channels. In addition, these rules can be used to ensure that stock is fed to specific partner systems under certain circumstances to optimise stock allocation fees and advertising revenue.
Autofinity’s chief solutions officer Chris Banks developed Feeds Agent following conversations with several top dealer groups which had their own inventory platforms which lacked the integration capability to overcome the issue of disparate and disconnected applications.
Banks said: “We developed Feeds Agent to address this need for the smooth flow of stock through multiple systems thereby enabling tailormade platforms the highest levels of automation. Such further system enhancement and process automation includes once-only vehicle price updates thereby eliminating the need for repeated manual changes in different systems.”
Autofinity has also launched its ViHUB vehicle inventory and online marketing platform, which enables dealer groups to promote manufacturer new car stock and net additional new car customers.
The ViHUB platform automatically keeps track of a vehicle’s status and markets individual models for sale, even without registration details.
Dealers can upload the vehicles even if stock imagery needs to be used through the ViHUB platform in the same way that they would for a used car. In turn, the vehicle is automatically fed through to online marketing portals, and dealer and manufacturer websites. The system will also track the whereabouts of a vehicle, for example, the location of the storage facility and the number of models available to be sold.
Keyloop has launched Keyloop Cloud, a new secure cloud hosting solution developed specifically for the motor retail sector that will be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Keyloop Cloud will enable motor retailers and OEMs to adapt their processes and deploy the latest technologies far more rapidly – whether for a single site, across a multi-site group or even globally. Dealers can use it to quickly scale-up or upgrade their sales and aftersales operations to drive growth, or to respond more effectively to new challenges.
Keyloop is the first automotive retail platform provider to partner with AWS. Keyloop selected AWS for its depth and breadth of services and functionality, as well as its expansive operational and security expertise. AWS is built to be one of the most flexible and secure cloud computing environments available today, satisfying security requirements for the military, global banks and other high-sensitive organisations.
Keyloop Cloud has been designed specifically for motor retailers and OEMs, and provides the optimal foundations for Keyloop’s Fusion automotive retail platform, which streamlines the entire vehicle sales process – from consumer enquiry through to ownership and retention. Keyloop’s dealer management system is a critical element in one of Fusion’s four domains, Operate.
For business-critical software and data, cloud-based hosting offers greater reliability, accessibility and security than traditional on-premises storage. It also alleviates many of the manual processes involved when hosted on-site, allowing retailers to channel resources more efficiently.
Tim Smith, chief strategy officer at Keyloop, said: “We chose to base Keyloop Cloud on AWS technology because they’re the best at what they do. By working with AWS, we’re delivering the security and scalability our customers expect, but with the added advantage of a platform built by automotive experts. Keyloop Cloud forms the optimal foundations for the Fusion Automotive Retail Platform, allowing retailers to harness cutting-edge technology like AI as soon as it becomes available.”
Separately, Keyloop is launching VEGA and VEGA.ai, new state-of-the-art business intelligence tools that can aggregate and interpret data in real-time from the company’s portfolio of software solutions. Dealers can use these tools to evaluate key aspects of their performance and identify how best to maximise customer and vehicle lifetime value, reduce costs and increase margins.
Available to early adopters from September, VEGA will incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and will be introduced as an enhancement to Keyloop’s dealer management system (DMS).
VEGA.ai will then become an embedded feature of the various software products comprised within Fusion, Keyloop’s new end-to-end automotive retail platform, which helps motor retailers manage and optimise the full vehicle sales, inventory management and aftersales processes – from initial enquiry through to ownership and retention. Fusion incorporates four distinct domains – demand, supply, ownership and operate – covering all key functions within a dealership business. Keyloop’s DMS forms a key part of the operate domain.
The new tools have been created to deliver automated insight capabilities while offering greater ease of use, the highest levels of interactivity and – thanks to embedded AI – much greater flexibility in terms of bespoke reporting. The tools will draw source data from other Keyloop products seamlessly.
VEGA and VEGA.ai will offer a curated choice of template reports that provide actionable insights covering a wide range of key dealership functions, such as new and used car sales, aftersales, finance, and parts and vehicle inventory.
Multi-site groups will be able to produce highly automated reports that drill down into the performance of individual dealerships or brands, or aggregate data from across the business for higher level strategic analysis and planning, unifying connected data sources into a single, live view.
The additional AI functionality in VEGA.ai will allow tailored reports to be generated using simple, agentic natural language prompts. Sophisticated predictive trend analysis and automated workflows will also guide teams on how to stay ahead of emerging risks and counter potential costs.
iVendi has launched Finance Navigator to enable dealers to undertake searches for potential vehicle buyers across their whole lending panel.
The tool returns results in under 10 seconds that show monthly payments, indicative finance rate, likelihood of approval and more.
Some lenders can also pre-approve applicants for finance through the product, meaning that, provided the consumer details provided in the search are accurate, they will offer a deal on the terms quoted.
The solution will also show instances where lenders may require further details from consumers, such as proof of income or identification documents and, because the initial search is soft, there are no footprints left on credit files.
James Tew, iVendi chief executive, said: “Either in the showroom or online, the dealer can ask the potential car buyer to enter a few details and then very quickly see a comprehensive set of results from their lending panel."
Once results are received, the dealer can either guide the consumer through the finance process to making an application or give them a link that allows them to make their own decisions.
Finance Navigator fits in with the Financial Conduct Authority's view on providing customers a high degree of transparency over the finance options on offer.
There is also a feature that enables lenders to provide details on the key points of their overall value proposition, giving depth to the information surrounding the potential application.
The technology used in Finance Navigator will also be offered in other new iVendi product launches.
Remarketing firm Hudson Kapel has launched a new mobile live bidding app, which replicates the full functionality of Hudson Kapel’s web portal, enabling users to browse stock, listen to live auctioneers, view bids as they occur and place bids in real time.
Available on Apple and Android, the app gives buyers access to Hudson Kapel’s complete stock inventory and three live online auctions each week.
The app is part of a broader suite of tools, including live digital auction platforms and 360-degree imaging, making remarketing more agile and transparent.
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