Automart anticipates customers' needs

The secret, said Automart's product and marketing manager, Edna de Sousa, is to anticipate customer needs and evolve accordingly.

Automart moved online because our customers required a smarter, faster sales tool," said De Sousa. "Being pioneers in this field has garnered wonderful buyer confidence in the brand and what we do, but it the convenience and transparency of the site that keeps our dealership base coming back for more."

De Sousa explained that Automart is one of the few online auto sites that offers full mobile integration with the site, across all devices. "Everything that a potential buyer sees on the site is mirrored on mobile, and the mobile user interface is one of the friendliest on the market," said De Sousa. "We want to make it as easy as possible for users to shop for cars online."

The platform's ability to provide its dealers with real-time analytics also proves to be invaluable in terms of costs savings. "Any dealer that makes use of our platform can constantly pull live stats from the site, on his own, without having to request it from us," said De Sousa.

"This means that he can review how many cars have been sold, which make and model sold the best, who his customers were, and how many leads approached him over the course of a month, six months or even a year. Naturally, this information is not only invaluable when it comes to making more strategic buying decisions in the future - which can cut costs dramatically and avoid over- or under-stocking the showroom floor - but also in terms of identifying buying behaviour and seasonal trends."

Thorough training

Of course - interpreting these patterns and using a digital platform doesn't come naturally to all dealerships, which is why all Automart advertisers receive thorough training once they sign on to the platform.

"We don't believe that a customer service and troubleshooting should just live behind a desk - we constantly send dedicated teams to our customers to upskill and train them in order to get the most of the platform. If we notice that a customer isn't using the mobile aspects of our offering optimally, we pay a call and revisit the subject if need be. We invest heavily in CRM to make sure we're not just providing a platform, but actually helping customers make the most of it."

De Sousa added: "In the end, we are not just providing a dealership with another means to advertise his cars - we are also empowering him with information that he can use to improve the way he buys and sells cars across the board."