What Can Be Done by Automotive Retailers to Reduce Carbon Emissions?
The automotive industry has been a central focus of the debate around reducing greenhouse gases as the growing pressure to act on climate change is building in intensity. Many countries have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero. Net-zero is the point at which the country is removing the same amount of these climate-changing…
Read MoreDigitisation of the Vehicle Audit Process
We conclude this short series (you can read the previous articles here and here) with a detailed examination of how one particular aspect of dealer businesses, vehicle inventory management, is being transformed through digitisation and the use of artificial intelligence. Traditionally, inventory audits have been carried out manually, often by trained auto finance provider staff,…
Read MoreBoosting Growth Through Digitisation
Dealers are acutely aware of the challenges that these market movements bring and are, on the whole, ready and willing to invest in digitisation to ensure their businesses have ongoing relevance. For funders, some of which will have seen significant digitisation in other sectors within their portfolios, there exists an excellent opportunity to deepen relationships…
Read MoreGrowth Through Digitisation of the Auto Finance Sector
Consumers, newly comfortable with the notion of researching and making significant purchase decisions online, have been at the forefront of driving digitisation in dealerships, but this isn’t the only pressure being brought to bear to accelerate the rate of digital change. Forward-looking dealer businesses are also identifying the significant opportunities to enhance the efficiency of…
Read MoreModern Dealer Audit Technology: the Evolution of Dealer Self Audits
The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the adoption of technology-enabled audits by funders, with travel restrictions limiting the ability for auditors to visit dealership sites. However, for some time before then, funders increasingly recognised that traditional, paper-based manual audits are no longer enough, with many floor plan funders exploring new technologies to support the audit…
Read MoreCreating Your Stock Audit Plan: What to Check Before You Start
Deciding to create a new stock audit procedure is not an easy one. Even if you’re upgrading an old framework, numerous options may influence the quality of your future audits. As a result, careful planning may save you time and money in the long run by streamlining and improving the efficiency and accuracy of your…
Read MoreStock Control as a Strategic Issue: Flexible Funding
Gone are the days when dealers relied on their own capital or regular bank lending to stock their forecourts. As competition has increased, business owners have looked for more flexible ways in which to fund a larger number of vehicles, in order to attract more customers. In today’s environment, with rapid stock turnover and huge…
Read MoreStock as a Strategic Issue: Rocketing Values
During the last 18 months the word ‘unprecedented’ has become ubiquitous and, arguably, overused in many contexts. There are, however, good reasons why its application to the car industry, both globally and locally, is well justified. The pandemic has had a tumultuous impact on both the supply and demand side of the industry and throughout…
Read MoreStock Control as a Strategic Issue: Taking an Omnichannel Approach
The lockdowns of the last year have resulted in the ‘shortcutting’ of consumers’ comfort with, and expectations of, buying online. This has been true across almost all categories of product, including big ticket items such as cars. In the Autotrader Market Report November 2020, 41% of research respondents stated that they would consider buying a…
Read MoreStock Control as a Strategic Issue: A Need for Agility
The industry has discovered its Achilles heel – vehicles so heavily reliant on processing power that they are literally immobilised by the scarcity of semi-conductor chips, causing a huge impact on the new vehicle supply chain. At the same time, increasing consumer confidence and unexpected access to cash from savings during lockdowns have combined with…
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