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CAR Conference – March 2011 Technology Panel Discussion. Our Technology Panel Members. Online Remarketing Technology. Areas of Discussion Mobile Applications, Smart Phones Bandwidth, Video , Vehicle Representation, Auction Attendance Social Media and Social Technologies.
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CAR Conference – March 2011 Technology Panel Discussion
Online Remarketing Technology Areas of Discussion • Mobile Applications, Smart Phones • Bandwidth, Video, Vehicle Representation, Auction Attendance • Social Media and Social Technologies
1. Mobile Apps / Smart Phones • What are some of the trends in mobile / Smart Phone technologies that you see as having the greatest impact andpotentialfor buyers? • What about for Sellers & Remarketers? • Greater real-time participation of seller using their smart phone to rep vehicles as they would online or in the physical lane • What is your firm doing in these areas that we might find of interest?
Mobile Apps / Smart Phones • What kinds of applications will be enabled by the World’s mass migration to portable devices like the iPhone, Droid, and BlackBerry powered devices, the iPad and other tablets PC’s, with greater access to high speed Internet, Wi-Fi? • Are buyers able to surf your company’s web systems, previews cars, and bid on them from their phones easily? Does this work across all Smart Phones or is it app-based and limited to just a few. If not, will they be able to do so soon?
Mobile Apps / Smart Phones • Explain the difference between building mobile-web applications for Smart Phones that is agnostic of a specific mobile operating system versus one that is specific to only a particular device? • Which direction is your company moving towards in this regard? • Stated and asked differently, are you building separate iPhone apps and Droid apps and BlackBerry apps or are you building mobile web-apps that are agnostic to the Smart Phone OS’s?
2. Bandwidth, Video, Vehicle Representation, Auction Attendance • Technology has generally improved business processes and increased transparency in the auction remarketing industry. Are there any areas where you see that could stand more technology innovation and improvement? • What about in the area of standards and data exchanges?
Bandwidth, Video, Vehicle Representation, Auction Attendance • How is technology affecting liquidity in the lanes if we compare its effects from only 3 years ago to the present, and then try and understand what this might all look like in three to five years? • Let’s look at attendance in the lanes in 2007 as compared to online attendance. Let’s compare that with attendance in the lanes in 2010 as compared to attendance online. Finally, where are you forecasting online versus physical attendance by 2016? (Let’s also talk total numbers as well as % changes). • What do we need to do, as an industry, to manage for these physical vs. online attendance changes, if anything at all? • What % of vehicles do we forecast will be sold to an online buyer 1 year from now. 3 years. 5 years. 10 years.
Bandwidth, Video, Vehicle Representation, Auction Attendance • How does our continued appetite for “more and better” technology affect our costs to remarket? Overall, are there any technology advancements that could decrease remarketing costs, or should we always expected it to be a “zero sum game”?
Bandwidth, Video, Vehicle Representation, Auction Attendance • Do wholesale buyers and sellers want video CRs or do they just want better, more consistent, static CRs with searchable elements? Both? • The salvage industry seems to have moved in this direction and are using video CRs quite commonly. • Would buyers in the whole car market spend time watching or benefit from viewing video CRs, and is anyone here considering a move in that direction?
Bandwidth, Video, Vehicle Representation, Auction Attendance • There are many advances in technology that could further impact the way sellers offer or represent vehicles online? Let’s discuss: • Advances in the media handling capabilities used to describe vehicles • e.g. video, richer imaging, voice • Inspection diagnostic technologies enabling more extensive description of non-observable issues • assurance on electrical/mechanical • Using real-time data sources to create richer data mash-ups, which can and has to some degree been empowered by Web 2.0 systems. First, who would like to take a stab at describing Web 2.0 to the businesspeople in the audience? • e.g. vehicle history, retail market data • Pricing models and modes • e.g. static vs. dynamic pricing, using real-time behavioral and portfolio analytics to match pricing to market on the fly
Social Media and Social Technologies • Fact: 72% of online users have a Facebook account. 65% are active on Facebook. 45% have “liked” at least one company! • Do social technologies have much benefit for business to business services like ours, or are they only relevant to more consumer-centric businesses? • How are social mediums and technologies being used in your company and customer base? How has or will social media impact the online wholesale auction business. • How will “social” be leveraged in remarketing in the near and mid-term future?
Social Media and Social Technologies • Will dealers use social media to trust each other more and to enable dealer to dealer sales, and to exchange/purchase/trade dealer vehicles
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