Thanks to a more formalized approach and dealer specific functions, Kijiji has become an effective tool for auto retailers to attract new customers
As the world becomes more connected, the very notion of buying and selling goods and services is changing, rapidly. The advent of social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter present a challenge to many, but also an opportunity.
In terms of automotive retailing, there’s been a major paradigm shift in the way classified advertising is delivered. As little as a decade ago, relying on traditional trade papers to advertise your inventory for sale was still the most popular method. Now things have become much more fragmented. Print-based advertising has become a much smaller part of the picture, with online verticals increasingly taking front and centre stage.
Besides using their own websites, dealers are also turning to third party verticals, such as Kijiji to attract potential customers. And in many cases it’s proving a successful strategy.
Using a familiar platform
In Canada, Kijiji is best known as a free online buy and sell classified website, where people can trade everything from cars to antique furniture. However from an automotive retailing perspective it has some useful tools to help dealers in their quest to move metal.
“Dealers can post their ads on our dedicated site – autos.kijiji.ca, either themselves or via a third-party source or API,” says Bart Molenda, Head of Marketing for Kijiji Canada.
“Our autos site is based on a subscription mode commonly used by others. However during the course of the last 18 months, we’ve revamped the site into a more formalized business vertical, adding a specific dealer category that lets individual retailers have their own, specific inventory page.”
Visitors to the site are able to search the exact vehicle they’re looking for, via categories including, body style/configuration, make, model, year, price and mileage, plus whether the vehicle in question is certified pre-owned or has a CarProof report. The vehicle search feature also provides a direct link to an online dealer network, which allows consumers to search for vehicles all across the country and then contact those dealers directly if they find a particular car or truck they’re looking for.
Real-time updates
In addition, a Facebook plug-in and real time updates allow potential shoppers to get the latest information on vehicle availability and pricing.
“We’ve been labeled as a best kept secret for a while,” says Molenda, but “since formalizing the site and adding dealer specific features, that secret has been getting out. We’ve tried hard to maintain a very competitive pricing strategy to ensure dealers get the most bang for their buck from the site, particularly on a per lead basis.”
And it appears to be working; Molenda says that Kijiji autos is currently showing 30 percent growth year over year. “That equates to around 22 million visitors to the site each month and around four million potential buyers.”
Whichever way you look at it, that represents a high volume of traffic. With four million potential buyers in the marketplace at any one time, being able to cater to them effectively is absolutely critical, that’s why services like Kijiji autos can prove a real asset to dealers.
“We have the traffic, we have the buyers,” says Molenda. “And by providing outstanding value and high quality service with an effective pricing strategy, more and more dealers are seeing the benefits of using a service like ours. If we can get people into their showrooms, then for us we’ve done our job. We’ve been getting more and more feedback about the service and value we provide, which bodes well not only for us, but also for our dealer clients and their customers.”
For more information: visit www.autos.kijiji.ca
