Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine is the daily operations publication serving the retail automotive industry. This automotive publication serves dealer principals, officers and general managers with the latest best practices.
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By Brittany-Marie Swanson INDU S TRY SPOTLIGHT CRACKING THE CODE Attendees of Edmunds.comÕs inaugural Hackomotive event tackled some of the industryÕs biggest issues and were offered a glimpse at how the tech community could bring about change. On sunn On a sunny February morning in Santa nica, Cal a Cali Monica, Calif., more than 150 web developmarketin marketin ak n ers, marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, trainers n s sales trainers and others gathered to discuss utions n solutions for a major problem facing the automotive indust Car buyers hate buying cars. t industry: n motive ind Te event Te even was Hackomotive, and the format was borrowed from Edmunds' Hack Days, a series of meetings the company stages to solve in-house dilemmas. "It started on the technical side, where technology people were forming teams to work to solve problems. We've since expanded it across the organization," Edmunds CEO Avi Steinlauf told Auto Dealer Monthly. "And we've seen great benefts from that." Among the consumer gripes participants listed was that dealers aren't delivering an experience on par with other retail industries. Shoppers, they said, want to shorten transaction times, quickly fnd vehicle information and receive more accurate time estimates at the service center. Te discussions set the stage for the competition portion, which gave 19 teams 36 hours to develop pitches for consumer-facing websites and mobile tools that spoke to the event's theme: "Reinventing the Automotive Shopping Experience." On the line was $28,000 in total prizes. "[Te theme] is near and dear to us," Steinlauf said. "Tat's what we're all about." 18 TRUST ISSUES Te judging panel was a mix of professionals from a variety of felds, including executives from FordDirect, American Honda Motor Co., Te New York Times Co., sofware maker OpenTable, and Dealers Carl Sewell of Sewell Automotive Cos. and Tamara Darvish of DARCARS Automotive Group. Te judges made clear they were looking for solutions that got to the root of the problem: distrust of salespeople. And that's exactly what the two grand-prize winning teams, Tegrity and My Motive, delivered. My Motive's entry sought to empower car shoppers by allowing them to select their salesperson before visiting the dealership. "We're trying to solve a specifc problem: 'How come the auto shopping experience is not on par with other retail experiences?'" said My Motive team member Krish Sailam, who serves as director of ad sales for Phunware Inc., a mobile advertising frm based in Austin, Texas. Te team suggested creating profles for the sales team and making them available online, via a mobile app or a kiosk on the showroom foor. Salespeople could also integrate those profles into their business cards via QR codes. Co-winner Tegrity sought to "rebrand salespeople" by creating profles that would incorporate elements of Yelp, DealerRater, Facebook and Twitter. Customers would be AUTO DE ALE R MONTHLY • M AY 2013 able to see localized recommendations and flter search results by demographic. "Te problem we're trying to solve is the customer being able to trust the integrity and knowledge of the salesperson," said Tegrity team member Oren Weintraub, founder of MyCarBuyingSercrets.com. "We're actually creating a system where we can rate the salesperson based on customer feedback." SOCIAL DEALINGS Other teams, including Kar Match, eCarmony and Car Match by Team Love-o-Motive, showcased entries that leveraged data found on social media sites to pair car buyers with other shoppers, compatible vehicles and more. Facebook Auto Client Partner Phillip Rather told Auto Dealer Monthly there is a good reason competitors incorporated social media into their entries. "We think shopping for cars is naturally a social thing. You ask your parents and your friends and family, 'What kind of car should I buy?'" Rather was also in attendance to answer Facebook-related questions and to help participants integrate the social network's Open Graph function, a service that allows thirdparty developers to create apps that automatically share users' engagement with the app on Facebook. Spotify and Hulu are examples of such apps. "Anything [Hackomotive participants]