By Todd Phillips
Canadian dealers have choices to make over which website platform to build their digital businesses upon, and TRADER Corporation says it hopes their new made-in-Canada solution fits the bill.
In February 2019, TRADER and Cox Automotive ended a reseller agreement that had TRADER selling Dealer.com websites to Canadian dealers. Now, Cox Automotive is selling Dealer.com directly to Canadian dealerships.
TRADER acquired a Vancouver-based website firm Convertus to build a new platform for dealers. Convertus was created in 2013 by two entrepreneurs who built the digital marketing department for the Jim Pattison Auto Group, according to the Convertus website. TRADER acquired the company in August 2018.
“We are extremely excited to now be live in the market with the all-new TAdvantage Solution. It has been a tremendous rollout so far,” said Matt Lawson, Trader’s Vice-President, Dealer Software & OEM. “Our primary focus is on Canadian dealers and helping them attract and influence buying decisions of the Canadian automotive consumer.”
Lawson said the company consulted with dealers for many months to get input on the types of functionality they wanted for their websites. “We felt it was important for us to listen to their feedback and invest in something to respond to their needs,” he said.
Lawson said Canadian dealers have been looking for more flexibility, and specifically a mobile-first responsive framework. “The new TAdvantage website solution will include a lot of enhancements that dealers have been asking for,” said Lawson.
That includes features like VIN specific payments that align with active OEM programs in market, a flexible CMS that can be accessed from any device to make real-time changes without the help of a support agent, and greater user personalization.
Lawson said it was also important for the company to develop a made-in-Canada solution. “Bringing innovation of that website platform back home to Canada where we can ensure that focus for Canadian dealers is the top priority,” said Lawson. “Now that we have more influence and control over the innovation for Canadian dealers, we can’t wait to roll out some of these features in the coming months ahead.”
Lawson said dealers and OEMs also say they are excited to see the roadmap and the site enhancements.
Lawson explained that when you subscribe to the company’s “bundles”, which includes inventory listings on the autoTrader.ca site, you get credits. “That’s one of the advantages to working with Trader,” said Lawson. “The bundling of our solutions offers cost efficiencies for dealers.”
The company says its TAdvantage platform will integrate with the TRFFK digital advertising platform. That advertising suite lets dealers advertise their dealership’s inventory across media channels such as listings marketplaces, Google, programmatic display, retargeting, Facebook and others.
Lawson said the company also provides tools and strategies to help dealers better understand the performance of their digital marketing. “The digital landscape is very complex,” said Lawson. “Understanding when you make investments into different channels, trying to understand the value you get back from those can be very complicated.”
In addition to reps that have regular relationships with dealerships, the company also has a network of online strategy consultants to help their website customers. “They are qualified at understanding all digital channels,” said Lawson.
As for the autoTRADER.ca marketplace, Lawson said the company continues to invest in innovation and technology improvements. “autoTRADER.ca is a household brand. It’s been top of mind for Canadian automotive consumers for over four decades now. Our brand awareness is as strong as it ever has been,” said Lawson.
As for dealers, they will continue to listen to the various vendors in the marketplace, and decide which approach and partner makes the most sense for them.
