Have you ever taken a look at your vehicle inventory from the standpoint of ecommerce management?  I am not talking about what brand, model, year or price to stock on your dealership’s lot, I am talking about stocking your vehicle listings in the most cost effective and efficient web portals.  Most dealers hire an inventory management company that takes vehicle pictures and posts them on their website and various other sites.  Dealerships are told that these companies will get them more exposure and generate them leads at no cost.  Dealers jump at an opportunity to have their vehicles listed on multiple sites and believe that gives them greater reach, increased frequency, and allows for more prospect opportunities to view and send in requests for information. They do not spend any time on developing a strategy to best show off the dealership inventory or concern themselves with site structure, timeline, content, or lead delivery mechanisms.  They do not investigate what methods these so-called “free sites” use to track effectiveness of placement or if there are associated other sites that also display the dealership’s vehicle inventory.

The bottom line is that dealerships want more opportunities and more leads.  Begin to investigate how many times you are paying for your leads; once, twice, three times or more? Some professionals have published claims that posting your inventory on these other sites dilute your exposure and do not add to the reach or frequency and further diminish the value of your dealerships vehicle inventory.  This may sound crazy but look at it from the standpoint of original lead generation and distribution.  Your inventory is out there in cyberspace and lands in the hands of a wholesale lead provider.  A wholesale lead provider gathers leads from dozens, hundreds or even thousands of other “free sites” that may have your inventory posted. These wholesalers pay for these leads, aggregate the leads, and resell to the highest retail lead vendor that in turn sells the lead to you.  This process is part of what the online lead industry calls the “waterfall” and goes on every day, constantly churning leads for distribution eventually to a dealership. After full examination we find that the “free site” wasn’t so free after all. Major inventory management company’s websites use these claims, on how many more sites they will post vehicle inventory, to compete for your business.

Does the inventory management company get compensated for these postings?  What level of permission have you given them to submit your inventory?  If it is correct that listing on more sites causes a dilution of your inventory visibility on your dealerships website, and you have to pay for the leads from the “free site” isn’t it time to know where your inventory is appearing and develop an eCommerce vehicle inventory strategy?

Your safest vehicle inventory posting continues to be with lead providers that generate unique leads, provide you accurate prospect information, excellent customer service, and measureable ROI.