How to Customize Your Website

In today’s market if you want to stay competitive in the automotive retail marketplace you will need a website/virtual showroom that will effectively market your brand, dealership and inventory to the world.

Until recently you either had to create a custom website from scratch which is both time consuming and expensive especially if you do not possess the necessary programming skills or you were forced choose from a library of pre-built cookie cutter designs (templates) that don’t offer the design flexibility needed to keep you ahead of the competition.

Autoxloo is proud to announce a new feature unique to the automotive industry that empowers the dealer to take control of the look, feel, content and layout of their website all without the need for any programming knowledge.

Its called Make-A-Page and it will give you full control of your website.

MAP (Make-A-Page) gives you the ability to design your website.  You can customize the layout of each page.  Choose what features you want to display like news, featured vehicles, different search variations and many more.  Now you can place these features in different areas of the page.  We have also created widgets that will make your website more user friendly.  If you ever run out of space for all your content just make a new page, in fact make as may as you  would like.

Everything in MAP is editable.  This means the sizes and colors can be adjusted to your needs.  You can change your websites look for any holiday or sale.

If you are thinking that this may be too difficult than you may be surprised.  MAP is designed to be very easy to use.  Anyone can use it with no experience necessary.  This means that you don’t need to wait for anyone to make changes to your website, since you can do it all.

If you want to see and try MAP, give us a call or contact AutoXloo today.

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The Web’s Growth and The Strain on Auto Dealers

Growing Internet traffic is straining dealers’ abilities to keep on top of it, and some experts advise dealers to establish a dedicated Internet sales staff. Since 2007, the percentage of dealerships with dedicated Internet sales staffs has stayed steady at just over half, says the National Automobile Dealer Association’s 2010 Dealership Internet Survey. Some dealers handle Internet leads with customer service employees who set up appointments for customers. Others may empower the entire sales force to field Web inquiries.

Autoxloo’s Dealer Management Systems simplifies these problems that dealers face in our constantly advancing technological world. With our services, dealers can have an interactive website that provides most of the required services to customers like inventory, credit requests, schedule test drive and sales, links to manufacturers’ Web sites, and contact information of every department. This greatly simplifies the work load on dealership staff and increases sales. In addition, our CRM provides the all the necessary tools to manage online leads, and our Live Help gives our clients the ability to contact Autoxloo’s support team any time of the day.

Automotive Retail Industry- Six technologies that will facilitate change

Consumers in the automotive industry have been asking for changes. Changes that can improve how they will shop, how they buy, and most importantly their overall experience and satisfaction.  Car dealers understand the changes their customers want and truly recognize the opportunities being created.   Showroom shopping, online browsing and customer relationship management abilities are becoming more congruent.  The six pieces of technology are positioned to speed up the historic change currently happening within the automotive retail industry.  Car buyers are a powerful segment, with a strong voice.  Dealers are wise to consider adoption these ideas sooner, rather than later.

Let’s list the six pieces of technologies here. First is Real-Time Search, for example, Google, Bing, Twitter, Facebook. Customers benefit is having access to real-time content which will help shoppers confirm a smart decision much faster.  Second, Geolocation Service which is GPS- style functions within mobile phones, social channels, and smart phone apps. Customers will benefit because they will have an opportunity to create better relationships with dealerships while having fun.  Third, Mobile Video, customers will benefit because it is very convenient. Shopping is what they want and where they want it. Forth, HTML5. Gives opportunity to improve online experiences, adding rich applications, video, animation, Flash, and Silverlight.  Customers will experience shopping online more robust as new content delivery methods emerge.  Fifth, Social centralization, direction of car dealer social networks and the value-added services they will provide automotive professionals.  Customers will benefit from the rapid increase in the sharing of best practices which is about to overcome the retail industry. Competition will increase as the bar is raised to prove a better, more impressive shopping experience. Last, Number six, is Social CRM.

The entire CRM segment will be shaken up in 2010.  Customer benefit will be greater communication and information flow with regards to items such as vehicle service and care care will become more important as ownership continues to increase.

Are Walk-in Sales a Thing of the Past?

Having a customer who actually stops into your dealership without doing any prior comparison shopping on the internet is extremely rare in today’s market. Depending on the area of the country you operate your business you are more likely to get foreign travelers browse your dealership, but closing that sale is always challenging .

Its clear to see that walk in sales will never be able to sustain a dealership especially in these tough economic times. Don’t let yourself become one of the many who had to shutter their doors because they were afraid to adapt to today’s technological world.

Potential customers find the information they want  almost exclusively from the internet through various online listing sites like Ebay, Autotrader, Cars.com and Craigslist to name a few. These sites provide the customer 24 hour access to shop, compare, inspect (Carfax, AutoCheck) and ask questions about any number of vehicles quickly and efficiently.

The problem with just listing your inventory with these sites is that there is no avenue for that visitor to see the rest of your inventory all in one place and without the competition there to distract them. The solution is to integrate your entire inventory into a fully functional Dealer Management System where you can redirect those potential customers back to your own website and get control of the sales process.

 Having a virtual showroom that provides all the tools needed for a customer to find a car they wish to purchase, make an offer, submit a loan application, trade in their existing vehicle and get their new car delivered  is priceless! With AutoXloo’s Dealer Management System all of that and more is possible for only $99 per month.

Guaranteed Results or You Don’t Pay – its that simple! Call AutoXloo today at 727-475-4455 for more information or schedule a webinar demonstration.

The Fatally Flawed Strategy of Ignoring the Internet

AutoXloo’s dealer management software was developed for dealers to help solve the many challenges of managing their Internet sales channel and maximizing their profits. AutoXloo’s inventory management software includes easy to use Internet tools that allow dealerships to manage their vehicle inventory online and measure what segments of their marketing program are the most effective. Let us show how our tools can help you increase the effectiveness of your Internet sales and marketing program.

According to a recent JD Power and Associates Report (2007)

• The Internet is the #1 method people use to show for new vehicles, surpassing even visiting dealer lots. Internet usage in looking for a vehicle to buy increased 44% since 2006.
• And don’t kid yourself. People are not only looking online – they are buying vehicles online. Between 2005 and 2006, online SALES of vehicles increased 30%. All research done indicates this trend will continue.