There are three key reasons why retailers must bring the forecourt experience online in today’s market. Firstly It will help you to sell more cars by reaching a bigger audience. It’s more time-efficient than traditional sales and you can save money by adapting to a digital-first approach. We explore why and how in our latest blog.

Many consumers continue to value physical forecourt experiences from local retailers, yet the pandemic and the emergence of online only players is disrupting the retail landscape. It has accelerated consumer preferences towards transacting online and many have already adapted by establishing new online journeys.

From proactive showroom visitors, to digital adopters. If you want to appeal to all buyer types, you need to apply the five principles of a digital-first approach:

With forecourts reopening this week, we’re already seeing feedback from retailers that replenishing stock is becoming a challenge. This is likely to be the impact of sales performance returning to near-normal levels, overlaid by some retailers gearing up for a return to the market. We provide 3 top tips to establish a winning sourcing strategy in a busy marketplace.

In Q1 2021 we’ve seen the market contract to around 70-80% of normal sales volumes¹. Yet many retailers have reported strong performance with some even suggesting February was a record month, despite the restrictions. We explore how these customers have grown their share of sales in a competitive market.

Test drives. Are they legal under the current restrictions? With continued speculation and conflicting information, we explore how retailers are finding success without them in today’s market.

We take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of vehicle descriptions and consider what consumers need to know, what isn’t necessary and what can actually be detrimental to your chances of selling a vehicle.

We explore the learnings from previous lockdowns and review the outlook for lockdown 3, providing our latest tools and insights to ensure you can continue to attract, engage and convert buyers on Auto Trader.

This week saw another set of restrictions announced by the Government in our battle, as a nation, to overcome the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s frustrating, painful almost and especially challenging when it comes to running a business. I’ve noticed this creeping into conversations I have with our customers, a sense of uncertainty or nervousness.

I’m sure you didn’t expect another message from me quite so soon, however this week we have acquired AutoConvert, a leading finance, insurance and compliance software platform.

I wanted to let you know directly and to explain why I believe it’s more important than ever that we progress with our plans to support retailers to save time and money in their businesses, and to do this in areas beyond advertising.

The free double stock offer ended on Friday (17th July). It was introduced back in March as one of the first measures we offered to support retailers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Many retailers utilised the offer and have benefited since showrooms were eventually allowed to reopen. So it’s great news, that we have introduced another great offer with 75% off extra stock as we continue to emerge, allowing you to capitalise now demand is high and used car prices are rising.

On opening day in England at the beginning of June leads across our platform were up 108% YoY. Retailers for the most part are telling me that they are now experiencing the results of pent up demand, that had built up over the period dealers were forced to closed.

In recent weeks Auto Trader have been monitoring the recovery of international markets to bring you insights on what to expect when lockdown restrictions are lifted. Read the blog to discover how these learnings can support your business and what steps you can take to a quicker a recovery.