Keith O’Brien

AN innovative dealer management system (DMS) designed and priced to suit the needs of smaller automotive-related businesses is being launched in Australia.

Blackpurl, launched this week in Australia after a soft entry trial in February, is part of Canadian-based DealerVu management solutions company.

Blackpurl’s Sydney-based CEO, Keith O’Brien, said the new DMS is an app aimed specifically at small automotive-related businesses which is less expensive and more flexible than the traditional large-scale DMS products.

“We realised through feedback from dealers that the powersports and motorcycle industry tended to be ignored by some of the bigger software providers in the market,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.

“So we saw an opportunity to solve the problem for smaller dealers who needed software to help grow their business and so that’s why we focused on them.

“The feedback we received is that what is available is prohibitively expensive and the business model is quite antiquated. Dealers are being expected to pay up front for the set up even before they see a product.

“With BlackPurl we have turned that around and made it a try-before-you-buy model and allow dealers to make a decision for themselves to see if it’s right for their business.

Click here to visit Blackpurl

“We have also looked at the model and thought the pricing is just out of the reach for the smaller dealers so we have turned everything around – we have made the software accessible and affordable.”

The product is specifically designed to target workshops and dealerships involved in the sale and servicing of motorcycles, jet skis, recreational vehicles and other powersports equipment.

“Through DealerVu we have been in the powersports industry for 14 years and during that time have created a business that services businesses in motorcycle dealerships including all of the Harley-Davidson dealers in Canada and several in Australia,” he said.

“We also have a number of recreational vehicle clients as well, such as those dealing in Sea-Doo and Ski-Doo. So it is an industry that we know really well and we have developed what we think is an innovative new product for pretty much those markets.”

Mr O’Brien said that the market for the product in Australia is “huge”.

“There are thousands of dealerships around the country – thousands that we know about and thousands that we don’t know about,” he said.

“They may be too small to be easily recognised by statistics that are available. When you look at the opportunities from heavy machinery through to motorcycles, powersports and so on, recreational vehicles, golf carts and so on, there’s no limit to BlackPurl’s use.”

BlackPurl is hosted in the cloud and Mr O’Brien said it can be up and running within 24 hours. Clients pay a monthly fee, rather than an annual licensing charge.

“I think some people still have a fear of cloud-based systems but when we explain that we have built ours on a CRM (customer relationship management) platform, it tends to reassure them,” he said.

“It is a reliable system. Beyond the initial fear, when dealers realised the benefit of being able to access the information anywhere, anytime, then they quickly see that the benefits of a cloud-based system outweighs any fears.

“They are able to log in from home and don’t have to go to dealership to work. That’s something our clients find very advantageous.”

BlackPurl can integrate with third-party systems that the dealership may already be using, including online mail applications, CRM applications, accountancy apps and so on.

“We have built a very robust and reliable core product that the dealer can rely on to run their business,” he said.

“It can be integrated with third-party accounting services, for example, because we took the view that it’s important to the dealer. We are not trying to do things that we are not experts in.”

By Neil Dowling