Cox Automotive, an automotive services and technology provider, launched Retail360, a suite of tools that enables an omnichannel experience connecting the entire auto retail ecosystem, along every step of the car-buying and owning journey, creating a transparent experience  for car buyers with the deal control dealers need.  

Retail360 includes capabilities from Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, Dealer.com, vAuto, VinSolutions, Dealertrack, and Xtime to be rolled out as a series of innovations over the next several quarters. Through Cox Automotive's proprietary first-party data, Retail360 modernizes marketing, sales, back-office and service lane for dealers and OEMs and brings deal consistency to the audience, shopping, buying and owning stages.  

According to Cox’s consumer research, 83% of consumers think they should be able to continue an online buying experience in-store and 88% think it should save them time in-store.  Meeting those expectations pays dividends for the dealership, 90% of customers saying a positive experience increases their likelihood of a repeat purchase and 80% saying it will bring them in for a service visit. 

“Starting with Autotrader back in 1997, Cox Automotive was built to lead digital innovation in auto retail,” said President of Retail Solutions Lori Wittman. “We believe in the power of bringing buyer and seller together.  Retail360 expands that belief to an omnichannel approach which brings consistency and allows the dealer to personalize all the possible ways today’s buyer may approach their purchase or service visit.  We can now apply specific data intelligence about the consumer, the vehicle, and the deal, all the way through from submitting a lead to the F&I process to contract signing. By uniting the online and in-store steps, we’ve bridged traditional and digital car buying.  Now, consumers and dealers can complete the deal faster, easier and build a lasting relationship.”  

Relieving Friction, Enabling All Paths to Purchase  

Most broken deals are caused by disconnected data and separated workflows when systems can’t follow a shopper’s chosen purchase path, especially if it zigs and zags between digital and in-person activities. The resulting friction leaves consumers frustrated and auto retailers susceptible to new direct-to-consumer models and other competitors.   

Until now, auto retailers forced consumers to choose between an online or an in-store purchase path because dealerships handled those customers differently. However, most car buyers prefer a combination of online and in-store actions that keeps the deal connected along any path they choose. According to Cox Automotive’s latest Car Buying Journey study, 43% of car buyers who purchased in the last 12 months used an omnichannel approach, and 71% of consumers said they are likely to complete their next purchase that way.   

“Research is telling us that 21% of car purchases in the next few years will be completed totally online,” said Kevin Frye, e-commerce Director with Jeff Wyler Automotive Family. “That leaves nearly 80% of car buyers who want an improved experience that still involves working alongside a salesperson at some point; omnichannel allows that.”  

Deal Central 

The first innovation from Retail360 – Deal Central - centralizes the deal process from start to finish, giving salespeople, desking managers and F&I staff one place to view, work and finalize all active deals based on exclusive shopper insights gleaned from Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book and Dealer.com websites. Using a central data source reduces rekeying of customer information across multiple dealer tools, such as Digital Retailing, customer relationship management and dealer management systems. Consumers get a more accurate, transparent car buying experience. Dealers can close more deals without giving up profitability.   

Given the improvement to the customer experience, Cox said early adopters of Deal Central are seeing their leads close with a two times higher close rate compared to other leads. And by introducing shoppers to F&l products earlier in the sales process, they're seeing an increase in back-end gross profits of 10% compared to other leads.    

"With Deal Central, shoppers get flexibility and transparency which is translating into a better customer experience and an increase in gross for our dealership," said Yuriy Demidko Senior VP & Chief Information Officer at Fox Kia North. "Our sales staff are attributing sales directly to the insights the tool provides the salesperson and the empowerment it gives to the shopper. For example, sales managers are closing deals more easily by matching payments to the shoppers’ buying signals information.”  

Thanks to AI-powered F&I intelligence and automation, which leverages the same AI-led predictive insights from Cox’s consumer touchpoints and the largest lender network, dealers can now streamline finance decisions and automate the ID verification and contracting processes. Adding data insights and automating these steps provides consumers and dealers with the flexibility to digitally complete deals at the dealership or off premises.