MAKING MOTOR RETAIL EASIER FOR EVERYONE

How iVendi uses digitalisation to transform businesses and boost success

Since 2009, iVendi has been digitally transforming the way vehicles are bought and sold, uniting online and showroom sales processes into a single, seamless vehicle-buying journey.

At iVendi, we make motor retail easier for everyone, and our cutting-edge technology is used by around five million consumers every month alongside thousands of motor retailers, manufacturers and finance providers.

We are the acknowledged market leader in our sector thanks to a concept we call Connected Retailing. Our solutions link together the consumer, retailer and lender to create an experience that meets and exceeds the expectations of even the most demanding digital customers. In essence, we connect all the complex pieces of vehicle sales into a single, userfriendly experience that helps consumers buy the vehicles they want while keeping retailers and finance lenders in control at every step of the sales process.

The new car-buying process

“We believe the best way to help dealers is to make it easier for customers to buy their

iVendi in numbers

vehicles, not just online but in the showroom,” says James Tew, CEO of iVendi. “Today’s customers are omni-channel, making use of both digital and real-world interactions with the retailer as part of the car-buying process. We make it possible for these customers to follow the exact buying journey they want to create.”

“Against this background,” continues James, “we provide dealers with the tools to define these journeys, delivering easily adopted, cost-effective technology that makes it stressfree to set parameters that meet the needs of their business and maximise the productivity of their sales team. There are thousands of dealers across the UK and Europe who can attest to the ways in which Connected Retailing helps them drive forward their businesses in a practical and measurable manner every day.”

The right solution for businesses and customers

One of these dealers is Draytons, a widely respected car dealership based in Acton, South London. Established for more than 20 years and an iVendi customer

• The iVendi platform helped our retail partners make over £2.1bn in vehicle sales.

• We’ve helped retailers sell over £34m of value-added products (VAPS), including dealer guarantees, warranties, paint protection and much more.

• Over 480,000 finance applications were submitted through the iVendi platform to more than 24 financial lenders.

The iVendi Connected Retail range

ENGAGE is designed to help consumers find the right vehicle by rewriting the rules for online car, van and motorcycle search using the natural language adopted by the majority of vehicle buyers.

CONVERT facilitates the process of transforming initial online consumer interest in a vehicle to a sale through a range of essential features.

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“We didn’t need to do much research in choosing them to support our strategy as we knew after only one month’s trial that CONVERT and TRANSACT were right for our business and our customers. We are very happy with everything we do through iVendi and love the streamlined customer processes they’ve allowed us to create, so would happily recommend them to other dealers.”

The ideal business partner since 2017, Draytons uses the CONVERT and TRANSACT products from the Connected Retailing range, which play an important role in helping the company meet evolving carbuyer needs.

TRANSACT develops online consumer interest in a specific vehicle through to a final transaction while managing the complexities of the sales process. This includes iVendi’s innovative Digital Deal.

“Over the years, iVendi has given us a huge amount of help and support,” says Draytons sales manager Jamie Prest.

Established in 2007, Herts and Essex Van Sales are a familyowned business specialising in vans and other light commercial vehicles. Joe Dickins, sales manager, says there’s direct evidence that iVendi is helping to drive his business.

“Probably the best metric we use is that lead-to-customer conversions have improved, and I think that will grow further,” he says. “More simply, our sales have increased. iVendi’s products are brilliant for our customers, giving them an effective route to purchase rather than having to come down to the showroom and do the deal in-person. I know that we will be able to achieve what we want with iVendi’s help.”

For more details visit www.ivendi.com, email enquiries@ivendi.com or call 0345 226 0503

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CO-CREATE PRODUCTS WITH EXISTING CUSTOMERS

The businesses that thrive during a recession sell the products or services that their customers can’t live without, so why not co-create a solution with your best customers, asks Partaker. “When it comes to business and product development, it’s easy to focus on acquiring more customers instead of creating more value for existing ones,” he says. “Spend time with your existing customers to really understand their pain points then design solutions that solve them.”

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DON’T SLASH ALL YOUR MARKETING

In a recession, marketing and PR spend is often the first thing to go. Carl Reader warns that this could risk damaging your business in the future. “Business owners often panic and try to take costs down to a bare minimum, but there are buyers out there during a recession, and you may have rivals that are better capitalised who will overtake you.” He recommends getting rid of the ‘nice-to-haves’ such as website redesign and focus on the marketing that generates real ROI.

08

GET RID OF THE “DRONGOS”

At Timpson, every member of the team is assessed on their skill and enthusiasm. Only the people who achieve seven out of 10 or more keep their jobs. “We always say goodbye to the drongos,” explains Sir John. A “drongo” is a worker who would rather not be at work and saps the morale of everyone around them. This approach may sound harsh, but it makes for a really strong and nurturing workplace culture. “You make life better for everyone when you get rid of these individuals,” says Timpson.

As the UK hurtles towards recession, it’s never been more important to ensure that everyone on your team is engaged and hard-working.

For more help with running a business and the full range of IMI resources, go to www.theimi.org.uk

Colin Denton has a real passion for training and giving the next generation a chance. It’s why he’s determined to make North London Garages GTA the best learning environment possible

WORDS_ JOHN CHALLEN IMAGES_WILL AMLOT