Canadian auto dealer catches up with Leanne Kripp, Head of Autos, Kijiji Canada to talk about digital retailing, industry trends, the company’s DealerTalkx conferences, and growth plans
Canadian auto dealer: Kijiji Autos wasn’t sitting still last year. There were new product launches, new partnerships and the continued growth of your Dealertalkx conferences. How was 2017?
Leanne Kripp: 2017 was absolutely a busy year. Our key strategies focused around continuing to elevate the brand, elevate the team, innovate with product and partnerships as well as a site redesign. We saw significant movement in all of those areas. We also launched our New Cars product in 2017 and that was one of the most significant product launches. We had an exclusive partnership with FCA, which was fantastic they have been great partners and that got the New Cars product off the ground. We introduced our Autos landing page on Kijiji which really sets the auto vertical apart from within the horizontal site.
It was an exciting year with strong momentum for the brand, the team and great engagement from our dealers.
CAD: The New Cars project is a new venture. Many people see Kijiji Autos as a good place to go search for used cars. But what was the thinking behind bringing the New Cars product to market?
LK: The launch of New Cars had been on our mind for a while. We had a lot of our franchised dealers reach out to us and ask us what our plans were. We did some research with our consumers to see if that’s something they wanted to see on Kijiji. We spoke to users and did some testing and asked consumers on the site when they were searching for a vehicle whether they wanted to search for new or used — or both. The response from that told us, that depending upon the month that we were in, it was anywhere from 1.6 to 2 million unique visitors a month said, yes, absolutely I’d love to see new cars on your site. That gave us a great level of confidence that bringing new cars onto Kijiji made sense and would make consumers happy in terms of something they were looking for to be able to see total inventory in the market. Consumers also wanted the ability to understand what a car might cost by month, so to shop by monthly payment, which we’re rolling out now. We are all budget conscious and want to know what a monthly payment is going to be on a vehicle. Our engagement since we have gone live has been fantastic. There are 500 dealers already participating in the product and we have more dealers and OEMs proactively reaching out to us to learn more and get involved in the product. We are really thrilled with how it’s going.
We had a lot of our franchised dealers reach out to us and ask us what our plans were
CAD: Was there some resistance from dealers or OEMs for the New Cars product? Did they say they wanted people going to the dealer sites or the OEMs site to do their shopping?
LK: We have not faced that at all. When we have been in presentations, whether it’s at individual dealers, dealer groups or at OEMs, what we offer to the market is access to traffic and to exposure. At every meeting we have, when they understand six million unique visitors a month just for the cars and trucks category of Kijiji is an incredible opportunity for exposure to all their inventory, not just to their used but to their new. There has been excitement about that to help them promote their inventory, get more exposure, drive more VDPs, more leads and more walk-in traffic to the dealerships so they can move that inventory. It’s how our brand is evolving, and what dealers are looking for based on the engagement we’ve had since the product launched. We have a great cross-section of brands currently on the site. There are just under 70,000 vehicles on the site.
We are focused on getting the best selection of inventory for our users.
CAD: To handle all these new projects, you’ve had to add to your Kijiji Autos team. Tell us about how your team is growing to meet the growing demand.
LK: After the year we had in 2017 with strong growth, it was clear that we needed to grow the team to have a stronger presence in the market and continue to elevate our brand. We built out a dealer group channel with key account managers focused only on dealer groups. We have also added additional support in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Halifax. We also have a larger dedicated B2B Autos marketing team, which I’m super excited about, and a dedicated Autos squad which does all the development work for product and everything to do with Autos on Kijiji.
CAD: Kijiji is also investing in industry research, and exploring digital and consumer trends impacting the retail auto industry. Tell us about this research.
It’s so important to us that dealers walk away with two or three tangible insights that they can instantly take back to their dealership to make an impact
LK: Our focus is on long-term relationships with our dealers and helping them to be successful. We are listening to them. We meet with them just to hear what their pain points are and to understand the key challenges they are facing. That helps us shape our strategy as well. We did two recent research reports, one was a dealer study and one was a consumer insights study. It provides valuable insights for the dealers about what consumers are actually thinking versus what the dealers perceive that they are thinking. We are doing a six-city road show rolling out this research and sharing these interesting insights with dealers. We are looking to share that research throughout the year as part of our thought leadership efforts.
CAD: Kijiji also invests a lot in holding major DealerTalkx conferences across Canada, supporting a Dealertalk.ca website, and providing research. Why does the company invest so heavily in educating dealers about emerging trends?
LK: We are very invested in helping the dealers understand, and shape their own strategy, to keep pace with how quickly this industry is changing. We are very serious about DealerTalkx being an educational event. It’s so important to us that dealers walk away with two or three tangible insights that they can instantly take back to their dealership to make an impact. We want to share our research with them to help them understand consumer insights so they can pivot on strategy and try something different in the dealership. We are very much invested in our dealer community and helping them succeed. We want to be transparent and solid partners with them. Everyone wins in the end.
CAD: You also have new partnerships. Tell us about SpinCar and LotLinx and how those partnerships will benefit your dealer clients.
LK: SpinCar is a partnership that we are very excited about. It’s leading-edge software. In under three minutes dealers can capture live video, up to 200 photos and get that seamless spin. They are absolutely the best in the market at what they do. Dealers can upload the images wirelessly and see their vehicle images live within 15 minutes. You think about the importance of getting your merchandise online quickly in helping turn rates. The biggest benefit to dealers is that quick access to get their inventory online. LotLink is another partnership we are excited about. They have a variety of products within their suite. Their Vin View Optimizer tool provides insight and transparency at a VIN level to the dealer. The dealer will be able to see all the traffic sources and understand, at a VIN level how many VDP views are being driven by which traffic sources. It will help the dealer spend their marketing dollars much more effectively and on the VINs that need the attention so that they can move faster off the lot.
