Canadian auto dealer connected with several suppliers in the auto retail sector to better understand what these companies are doing to help dealers in Canada amid COVID-19.
Suppliers in the automotive retail space were quick to react to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic when businesses started to close across Canada.
Many sent out communications to advise dealers of their current situation, and provided offers that include discounts and savings, webinars and training, and other resources. Here’s a look at what some of the suppliers are doing to help dealers during the crisis. By no means is this a comprehensive list, there are too many stories to share and not all of the efforts are public. But thanks to all suppliers who stepped up to help our industry move forward.
IA Dealer Services
In March, Canadian auto dealer reached out to Steve Clelland, Vice President of iA Dealer Services, to discover that his company is manufacturing and providing free hand sanitizer to dealers.
“Through our team of chemists in Toronto, we managed to find an effective formulation of hand sanitizer, and we felt that it would be in the best interest of our dealer partners who are struggling, from a supplier perspective (and from a public perspective), that we would provide them with a case of hand sanitizer at no cost to them, to help them through this difficult time,” said Clelland.
Cox Automotive Canada
In another interview, Chelsea O’Donoghue, Director, OEM Partnerships & Dealer Solutions at Cox Automotive Canada, said the company recognized that the current pandemic is not only a challenging time for dealerships, but for vendors as well. “We’re all in this together,” said O’Donoghue.
To help manage the situation, she said Cox Automotive offered “50 per cent off our website rates, as well as our digital retailing rates, for the months of April and May to offer some relief to dealers without any interruptions to their services through this time.”
O’Donoghue said the company also developed, among other initiatives, a number of COVID-19 resources that were made available to dealers, ranging from advertising templates to landing page content.
automotiveMastermind
Andrew Rains, Chief Commercial Officer at automotiveMastermind, said the company set a goal to add more value for its customers during the COVID-19 pandemic than any of their other partners.
“We thought it was important for us to hear from the market, and so we quickly put together a COVID dealer advisory council of 10 customers and we’ve met with them every single week,” said Rains.
automotiveMastermind is a unit of IHS Markit and a provider of predictive analytics and marketing automation solutions for the auto sector. Some of the things the company is doing include offering webinars, training, and providing resources for dealers.
Digital Air Strike
Alexi Venneri, Co-founder and CEO of Digital Air Strike, said the company is hosting webinars and providing other offers to help its U.S. and Canadian dealer customers survive and thrive during the COVID-19 crisis.
“What we’ve done during this time is, for any new dealer client that wants to work with us, we are giving away a lot of our technology at no-cost for them to try it for the next 30 or 60 days,” said Venneri, adding that they have also partnered with a number of manufacturers, and launched a brand new virtual retailing program. “It’s very applicable, whether you are in the U.S. or Canada.”
Digital Air Strike is based in Arizona. The company describes itself as a social media, intelligent lead response, and targeted advertising technology partner.
Other suppliers offering savings and resources for dealers during the COVID-19 crisis include TRADER Corporation (autoTRADER.ca), Kijiji Autos, RouteOne, AutoVerify, Quorum, CARFAX Canada, DealerSocket, RapidRTC, Strathcom Media, PBS Systems, SERTI Dealership Systems, Car Media 2.0, CarGurus, Podium, Reynolds and Reynolds, Roadster, A&R Solutions, MNP and more.
