The latest and greatest digital shift since COVID-19 hit has reshaped the retail landscape faster than could have been imagined. It has brought new opportunities and challenges alike. Major retailers are closing physical storefronts and investing heavily in digital platforms with very…

All dealers are suffering from the lack of used vehicle inventory. Consumers are being forced to gravitate to used vehicles for multiple reasons – They are less expensive plus the manufacturers aren’t pumping out nearly as many new vehicles as they are normally depleting available selection. To add insult to injury, even if the manufacturers WERE continuing…

Automation has become a key element of digital transformation.  This shift could replace nearly 70% of manual, repetitive tasks, according to a Brookings Institute Report. Automation, in fact, has been slowly transforming the…

Kevin Systrom, one of the co-founders of Instagram attributes the creation of the powerhouse Photo Application and social network to a particular yet simple life event. He had chosen to study in Italy his Junior year of college, and a professor had replaced the state-of-the-art modern camera he had around his neck with the iconic but ultra-simple Holga…

One of the most popular metaphors in business is how leaders are the pilots of their organizations: in the driver's seat, handling turbulence, and getting employees and customers to their destination. This is an easy metaphor to apply to automation, especially since aviation’s adoption of automation follows a similar path as it does with the automotive…

Last year, U.S. e-commerce sales generated about $365.2 billion in revenue. With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in changing shopping habits as nonessential businesses endure mandated closures, there is more incentive than ever to invest in growing…

These days, more channels are open for consumers to buy vehicles without leaving their homes. Whether that occurs through dealerships, independents, or online services, it is of concern, from a safety standpoint, that consumers know that their chosen vehicle is safe.

No consumer wants to spend thousands of dollars on a “lemon,” nor a vehicle…

With most of the country in quarantine, people are more reliant upon digital applications like Netflix and Amazon than ever before. Netflix reportedly had 16 million new subscribers in the first three months of 2020 due to the coronavirus. It’s no…

Due to the current pandemic, customers are increasingly doing more shopping online. The current transformation to a digital retailing manner of car buying saw dealers scrambling to adapt to their current state’s requirements. Some dealers were shut down completely, others were able to sell online and some didn’t close at all. Regardless, dealers were still at…

Before the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis, dealers have been struggling to adopt and perfect digital retailing and the need has accelerated at staggering speed. Data from McKinsey & Company show…

With Covid-19 creating a ripple effect across the socio-economic fabric of America, life as most of us know it has been disrupted, especially that of the retail customer journey which has migrated into the digital landscape. As a new normal materializes, even the more technophobic consumers have taken to digital retail platforms and applications to meet…

With the advancement of technology and sudden wave of consumer adoption, the automotive retail sector is experiencing a global revolution and that can only be attributed to digitization. Thanks to digital platforms and solutions, dealers have experienced many recent changes.

Total retail sales in the United…

In today’s times, people are concerned about COVID-19 as are businesses. Technology has become more important than ever for both consumers to shop as well as businesses to stay afloat. Many dealerships were restricted from sales being open while some were allowed to only sell online. How, exactly, do you sell a car completely online to consumers who are…

COVID-19 has reformed and redefined the customer experience (CX), and now dealers need to think beyond short-term fixes and look forward into the new normal of an increased desire by consumers for digital retailing options, according to…

User Experience, by definition, addresses all aspects of an experience within automotive shopping, purchasing and owning of a vehicle from the customer's perspective. From interacting with an ad, to interacting with a website and to parking their new vehicle in their driveway, user experience guides the interaction of the customer throughout mobile apps and…

Back in 2012, Apple executives attended a meeting in China where they watched a video of an experimental fully-automated assembly line for the iPads. They watched as iPad parts traveled along conveyor belts and were cut, polished and then…

Digital retail has just had an unexpected growth spurt. While stay at home mandates disrupted worldwide economies, it has also forced many business and consumers to abandon technophobia and welcome digital retail solutions with open arms. Companies like…

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic forced many retail businesses to either shutdown or embrace automation, AI and digital retail solutions in order to continue to generate revenue. Almost immediately, artificial intelligence has gone from a niche concept to a one that many automotive dealers and businesses need to strongly consider even as many of us begin…

In one of my latest blogs, I talked about the opportunity that out-of-work or furloughed individuals had to educate themselves to increase their job skills regardless of whether the skills are in their current field or in another simply to open up more job opportunities in the future. We don’t know what’s going to happen when (or if) society returns to…