TRADER Corporation and Motoinsight publish the performance data of the digital retail pilot on autoTRADER.ca

TRADER Corporation is analyzing and reporting the valuable performance data of more than 255 dealers currently benefiting from digital retail on autoTRADER.ca, and sharing these findings with the Canadian dealer community

autoTRADER.ca is one of the first marketplaces globally, and the first in Canada, to offer digital retailing functionality, which is powered by the Motoinsight MotoCommerce platform. The integration allows consumers to seamlessly build and complete transactions directly from autoTRADER.ca marketplace listings and dealer websites. Six months of performance data shows dealers using the MotoCommerce functionality on their dealership websites experienced an 80 per cent growth in lead-to-sale conversion.

Dealers utilizing the MotoCommerce software on their dealership website also have the ability to deploy the same functionality to their autoTRADER.ca marketplace listings, allowing them to provide nearly 10 million monthly marketplace shoppers with the ability to configure and complete transactions from a vehicle details page (VDP). Dealers with the ‘Buy Online’ feature activated on their VDPs have seen 12 per cent more views and 36 per cent more total leads than advertisers without the feature.

The incredible consumer response underscores growing demand among Canadians in conducting more of the car buying process digitally. A survey of autoTRADER.ca marketplace users, from April 2020, revealed 41 per cent are interested in purchasing a vehicle online, while 61 per cent would be interested in purchasing vehicle accessories online. Appetite for digital retail has also grown amid the pandemic more recently with two in three respondents expressing a desire to purchase a vehicle online since the start of COVID-19.

“Dealers using digital retailing have witnessed a significant increase in qualified traffic, enabling greater operational efficiencies through omni channel execution, and improvements to overall profitability and customer satisfaction,” says Matt Lawson, vice-president, dealer software and OEM, TRADER Corporation. “We want to empower every dealer in Canada to reach the most qualified in-market shoppers and provide consumers with access to buy cars easily with a click of a button.”

TRADER Corporation was the first to launch a digital retailing solution on an automotive marketplace to dealers in May 2020. The autoTRADER.ca digital retail integration features include:

A “‘Build My Deal’ button allowing customers to enter the MotoCommerce platform directly from the dealer’s vehicle details page to configure pricing, review accessories and protection plans, complete trade-in appraisals, apply for financing, and lastly deposit and finalize agreements.

A ‘Buy Online’ badge on search results page listings, to drive awareness with buyers that the dealership offers an online vehicle purchasing option.

A ‘Buy Online’ identifying badge and a ‘Buy This Vehicle’ widget on vehicle details pages adds an additional layer of awareness for each retailer’s digital offering.

To learn about activating digital retail on autoTRADER.ca, please visit trader.ca/DigitalRetail