Pub. 17 2018-2019 Issue 1

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S I S S U E N O . 2 , 2 0 1 8 32 new jersey auto retailer The Evolution of Wholesale Is Upon Us BY MICHAEL WATERMAN A fter the economic crash of 2008, when many auto dealerships lost their franchises andmanymore were acquired by larger groups, one constant among the survivors remained clear: the need to be efficient in all departments. From the emergence of DMS, CRMs, InventoryManagement Platforms, Service Lane Software, and dig- ital advertising it’s all about creatingmore opportunities for revenue with higher return on investment. Finally, after all these years, the focus has come to wholesale and many vendors are responding. The days of putting cars on trucks to sit in marshalling yards to run once a week are over. Relying on who shows up in the lane on sale day has proven too risky and extremely inefficient. Add in the thousands of millennials now involved in acquiring inventory and you have a new DIGITAL age dawning in wholesale. What are the advantages of taking your wholesale process digital? Look at it from the buyers’ perspective: • Broader Reach/Opportunity: Buyers can be in 10, 20, 30 different states all day, every day to purchase all the inventory they need…from their phone. No travel required, no time out of the store. • Transparency: Full ConditionReports…not many individuals will buy a car today without a full, third-party, unbiased CR. • Budget: NO more binge buying or stress buying in lane. Ed- ucated proxy bidding with full view of what reconditioning will be needed and transportation costs. • Access: 24/7 access…all day, every day. Most online plat- forms have alerts to ping you when a car you want hits the market. Nomore wasted travel time, expenses, or frustration. Now if some digital partners provide all of the above, where do you think buyers will continue to flock to? Makes sense to be the seller providing the opportunity for the buyer, doesn’t it? Also, take into account the fees are 40-60 percent lower on some platforms than the buy and sell fees at traditional brick and mortar wholesalers. Not convinced? The best advice I can give you is to put digital wholesaling to the test. Take a few units, price them right and see what kind of audience you attract. How many views? How many bids? How many unique bidders? Digital is here to stay and will continue to increase market share. How can you go wrong with “A-lane, all day, every day?” Michael Waterman is Senior Vice President of Sales at ACV Auctions. NJ CAR has partnered with ACV Auctions to offer members a portable, low-cost, no- risk option for selling used vehicles. Michael can be reached at mwaterman@ acvauctions.com . If you would like to schedule a demonstration of the ACV Auction platform, please call NJ CAR at 609.883.5056.