Auto dealers get virtual showroom on Gumtree

He says the competitively priced platform is expected to rev up online buying activity in the motor industry as the online site's credentials, performance and the size of the market give the company every reason to believe the new service will attract car dealers in numbers.

Room for improvement

An agile, innovative company, in the mould of other tech giants, the site leverages the convenience, functionality and information richness of the web to hyper-charge its value proposition. Offering uniquely South African listings, the brand enjoys powerful recognition with 99% brand awareness and the backing of a global behemoth since its acquisition by eBay in 2005.

"With 400,000 car searches and 150,000 vehicle listings every month, this is one of the biggest virtual car showrooms in the country. The opportunity is significant for everyone concerned. There are around 1400 franchise dealerships in the market and another 3000 used car outlets.

"We assessed the market and the business and saw room for improvement. Our free car listing facility only catered for individual uploads and yet a significant number of our users are dealers. The time for bulk uploads is now. We think first movers will get a lot of traction and offer dealers and consumers a massive advantage."

The site comes with a number of advantages over its competitors. A central part of the value proposition is that it allows users to refresh (edit) their listings each day, which 'bumps them up' in search results. A 'showroom window' at the top of search returns shows off top listings to their best advantage. And Gumtree offers a management-reporting tool that shows sales performance-related variables of listings and administration, such as frequency and type of use by sales agents, making it an all-inclusive business-to-consumer sales tool that completely changes the online dealer experience.

Targeting the audience

As print car classified listings wane, the virtual showroom platform comes into a market with competition from other websites, but none that take full advantage of the web's potential or the clout of the site's massive car buying audience.

"We continue to be one of the best and biggest online classified sites in all our categories, with easy-to-use tools to list and find the right car, bringing dealers the highest number of sales and sales leads in the industry. We achieve this by investing in marketing to attract customers to our site, staying close to our community and constantly enhancing the site experience," concludes Osborne.

For more information, go to www.gumtree.co.za.