Steve Southin's Blog (28)

What Apple Learned from Their Automation Failure

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…

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Added by Steve Southin on June 16, 2020 at 9:51am — No Comments

The Socially Distant Next Digital Era

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…

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Added by Steve Southin on June 12, 2020 at 9:34am — No Comments

AI + HI = Intelligence

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…

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Added by Steve Southin on June 9, 2020 at 9:48am — No Comments

Out of Work? Train Yourself Free!

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…

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Added by Steve Southin on May 29, 2020 at 9:54am — No Comments

When the Easy Button is Broken, Sales Can Be Lost

As we see digital retailing becoming more desirable to consumers, it has never been more important for dealers to ensure that their processes and technologies deliver on the promise for consumers. There is nothing more frustrating to a consumer than attempting to transact online with any company just to encounter obstacles and frustration. It only adds to…

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Added by Steve Southin on May 26, 2020 at 9:39am — No Comments

Making the Best of Time During the Worst of Times

The retail car business in North America can be incredibly taxing on its employees. From 12-hour days to uncertain paychecks – salespeople can go from hero to zero quickly. As we all deal with this COVID-19 virus, many dealerships have experienced incredibly severe consequences. Some have had to close completely while under lockdown which, in some instances,…

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Added by Steve Southin on May 22, 2020 at 10:03am — No Comments

The Not-So-Perfect Storm Part 2

In my last blog, I discussed the many consequences that the COVID-19 virus will bring to the auto industry. That list was not all inclusive and there is a factor that I did not include that will affect sales and inventory: consumers.

 

What do I mean by that? We all know that consumers in the United States have received Stimulus checks. In…

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Added by Steve Southin on May 19, 2020 at 10:24am — No Comments

The Not-So-Perfect Storm: When the Auto Industry Reopens From COVID-19

There have only been a few times in automotive history that a disruption has caused so much harm to the world’s economy that has dramatically affected it. We are in one of those times right now.

 

Let us explore a few of the variables:

 

1. Dealer Inventory – Most dealers buy vehicles on credit (i.e. floor plans.)…

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Added by Steve Southin on May 14, 2020 at 10:13am — No Comments

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