NASHVILLE, TN – Dealerskins, a division of Dominion Enterprises and a leading provider of automotive dealer web solutions, announced today a partnership with DataOne Software to bring its iMarketAuto™ Pricing Intelligence tool to Auto Dealers. Pricing Intelligence provides dealerships and dealership groups the ability to quickly see if their vehicles are priced too high or too low relative to all competition within a 50-100 miles radius. It warns dealerships, through a daily email, if any of their vehicles are poorly priced in several online markets. Dealers using the tool are able to gain invaluable insight into the prices consumers are viewing, determine how to price identical vehicles and thus enhance lead generation.
iMarketAuto™ Pricing Intelligence increases lead generator leads by providing a price rating for each vehicle, every 24 hours, based on real time Internet price scanning. The tool scans a dealership’s entire inventory against virtually any where that a car is listed online and produces a snapshot report that details how each vehicle compares to the median price for identical vehicles within 50-100 miles of the dealership. The tool will be priced at $300/month and Dealerskins is rolling it out to its dealers with a free 30-day trial.
“Dealerskins’ partnership with DataOne Software provides our dealers with an easy to use tool to help them sell more cars. With the sophistication of today’s car shopper, competitive pricing information is vital. I’ve known dealers who spend many hours crawling around the Internet to ensure their inventory is priced correctly. Intelligent Pricing simplifies the entire process,” commented Tim Madel, Dealerskins’ General Manager.
Jock Pereira, Managing Director at DataOne Software added: “We have always had an outstanding relationship with Dealerskins from top management right on down to the support staff and engineers. Pricing Intelligence is a perfect compliment to their technology solutions for dealer sites.”
Pricing Intelligence produces a report with a graph for each vehicle showing its price versus the competition, how many are in the market and how many are certified. It provides the top five competitor names with exact details on their listing including price, number of photos posted, mileage and trim level. The dealer can simply click to a details page and see what creates a difference in the price, such as optional equipment.
Dealers can ensure they are comparing apples to apples; the listed vehicle may be cheaper, but it may only be a 4 cylinder version. It also allows the dealer to make informed decisions – perhaps the vehicle is priced a little higher than the competition but there are only 5 other vehicles listed, for example a Chrysler Sebring in July. With the limited supply and the demand in the market, a higher price may be justified. A new historical reporting feature also allows dealers to track performance and view reports for vehicles, including a 30 day history.
According to Pereira, the results of Pricing Intelligence can be surprising; “we find that many times smaller independent dealers that would never have otherwise been considered competition, are copying the behavior of the larger dealers and pricing their inventory say $200 lower, so it is showing up first on AutoTrader.com. Understanding what consumers are viewing is invaluable if a dealer wants to stay competitive in today’s market.”
About DataOne Software
DataOne Software, a division of Dominion Enterprises, was founded in 1999 and has continued to expand solutions and scope in order to fulfill unique needs in the automotive marketplace. The company develops solutions for both automotive dealerships and industry solution providers. In 2002, DataOne Software formed an initiative to productize tools and data for distribution to application service providers.
Today, DataOne Software provides services to nationally ranked top 100 auto dealer stores and groups, and supports many of the top dealer service providers with tools and data services.
DataOne Software also provides data services to most segments of the automotive industry including Auto Portals, Insurance, Transportation and Newspaper and Print as well as many state and municipal agencies.
About Dealerskins
Dealerskins, a division of Dominion Enterprises, provides automotive dealers beautiful, powerful, distinctive web solutions. The company’s expertise comes from real-world dealership experience and a passion for listening and responding to dealers’ needs. In fact, company founders designed, built and used the first Dealerskins websites while employed at a top-50 dealership group. Dealerskins recognized that automotive dealers require high-caliber, dynamic websites to meet car buyers’ needs. Dealerskins was founded in July of 2000 to serve those needs. Dealerskins` websites have won numerous awards for excellence.
About Dominion Enterprises:
Dominion Enterprises, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., is a leading media and information services company serving employment, real estate, automotive, recreation and industrial markets in the United States. The company operates a variety of technology businesses that offer Internet marketing, Web site design and hosting, lead generation, CRM, and data capture and distribution services including Advanced Access, PowerSports Network, and DataOne Software. The company has more than 500 paid and free magazine titles such as For Rent, Harmon Homes, The Employment Guide, Boat Trader, Cycle Trader and RV Trader with a combined weekly circulation of over 5 million, and more than 40 market-leading Web sites such as ForRent.com, EmploymentGuide.com, Homes.com, and TraderOnline.com reaching more than 8 million unique monthly visitors. The company has nearly 6,600 employees nationwide and 2006 annual revenue of over $850 million.
