Kelly and I were sipping coffee at Digital Dealer, greeting participants, and speculating on how the ultimate online buying experience would come to pass. Presenters had talked about Amazon, obviously, and the recent opening of a Hyundai digital showroom on Amazon Autos.
A while back, I organized the various offerings into categories like: online platforms where multiple dealers may list their inventory (basically lead providers) versus eCommerce plug-ins to be placed on individual dealer web sites.
One key variable was whether the site actually holds inventory, i.e., is a dealer, not just a technology play. Carvana, for example, or Shift. Increasingly, what I notice is that the good technology either evolved from a dealership, or – I found this intriguing – they will buy a dealership to serve as a test bed.
Your rapper name is a top twenty dealer group plus a digital retail system.
Roadster came from a concierge buying service which, as far as I know, they still operate. A2Z Sync came out of Denver-based Schomp group. The Gogocar people operate a Kia dealership. This brings me to the next level of dealer technology tie-ups, those where big dealer groups choose an online retail solution and commit to it.
Roadster is working with AutoNation, Lithia just bought a big stake in Shift, and Drive is in all Asbury stores. The Lithia deal is pure genius, because it allows Shift to handle more inventory and slashes their floorplan costs. The many links in this post show support for my prediction using publicly available information.
We philosophically do not believe that software development is our expertise. Instead, we’d prefer to partner with third parties – Craig Monaghan
That prediction is … continuing the consolidation megatrend, we will see dominant groups taking the lead in online retail, but unable to master the technology on their own. This is what I call the “Kodak syndrome.” Incumbent leaders are not agile enough to ride a paradigm shift. This means not only the dealer groups, but the traditional software vendors.
I expect to see the Sonics and Asburys of the world buying up the digital retail people, absorbing their talent, and denying access to their competitors. I characterized this as a “land rush” in the earlier piece. Direct to consumer is the final frontier.
Virag Consulting 
Good insight. If you haven’t, take a look at Alibaba and their car sales and fully integrated credit. They have some advantages over Amazon. Plus who is finally going to break the dealer Lobby. Mike. Ps glad to see you kept your interest in the auto industry.