Salt Lake City, Utah — Accelerate Automotive released "The Master Series, Automotive eCommerce," a documentary that explores the impact the Internet has had on the car business and how the most successful dealers are leveraging the Web for growth. The two-disc DVD set includes a 45-minute feature on the convergence of the auto industry and the Internet, and three hours of tutorials by the industry's foremost eCommerce experts. It is available for purchase online at www.accelerateautomotive.com.
"With this documentary we were able to dispel the objections that many traditional dealers have that doing business online brings lower gross, lower closing rates and is only for niche markets," said Jared Hamilton, Accelerate Automotive co-founder and president. "We proved that the Internet is profitable for dealers and that every dealership can and should be online."
Hamilton's inspiration for the documentary came from his own background in retail auto sales, which began with odd jobs at his father's dealership. He came up through the ranks working in sales for a number of dealership groups. Today Hamilton is the general sales manager at Henry Day Ford, one of the largest Ford stores in Utah. He and his team researched and produced the documentary, including traveling the country to film interviews with online auto retail specialists on his days off.
"The Master Series, Automotive eCommerce" leverages industry studies from Cobalt, Polk, Yahoo and UC Berkeley, along with 20 years of National Automobile Dealer Association (NADA) data and large-scale mystery shops and surveys conducted by the film's producers.
The tutorials are based on interviews with 37 of the most successful experts in automotive eCommerce such as AutoNation, Autobytel, Dealer.com, Auto Dealar Traffic, AutoUSA, Dealix, Izmo, Call Coach, Lead Logix, CallCommand, ADP and CarsDirect, who cover the facts, trends and best practices relating to online success. Google, eBay and several progressive dealerships from around the country were also interviewed for the film.
"Jared has done an outstanding job with this documentary. It provides dealers with a clearly defined roadmap to achieve online profitability," said Auto Dealer Traffic President and CEO Todd Swickard. Auto Dealer Traffic, a search engine marketing firm, is featured in a documentary segment that discusses search engines, tractability, effective use of dealer advertising spend and achieving a definitive ROI.
Another industry eCommerce expert that contributed to the film was Phil DuPree, president of Internet lead provider AutoUSA. He shows dealers how they can make the shift from spending offline to spending online, maximize the value of third party leads and create an effective follow-up strategy that increases close rates. "This documentary is an invaluable resource and educational tool for dealers who want to become Internet masters themselves and are looking for easy-to-follow, proven strategies," said DuPree.
Other topics covered in "The Master Series, Automotive eCommerce" include the 14 marketing disciplines that successfully connect dealers with online consumers, five organizational structures dealers are using to grow their business regardless of economic conditions, seven common process points that maximize closing rates and next generation marketing tactics such as blogs, video, viral and social networking.
"In the last couple of years we have seen the Internet grow from a niche market to the most influential medium for new and used car buyers," said Hamilton. "This documentary is a comprehensive look at the online opportunity, and exactly how to seize it."
