COX Automotive Australia has wasted no time in capitalising on the acquisition of DealerCell by transferring its dealer website operations out of Dealer Solutions. These will now be managed and operated under the DealerCell umbrella and brand.

Cox Automotive says that following the purchase of DealerCell earlier this year, the company has been working on identifying where it made sense to integrate parts of Dealer Solutions’ offerings for dealers and OEMs with the DealerCell platform and business.

The company has decided that the Dealer Solutions website business was a good fit with DealerCell’s business model which is also heavily web-based.

DealerCell is a growing software company that develops and operates sales and customer management software products for dealerships, finance companies and OEMs.

They also provide online sales platforms, finance solutions and lead management systems to enable dealer retail sales.

Cox Automotive said that it made sense for the website business to be managed by DealerCell because most of its products are all about enabling dealers’ websites to do more in terms of prospecting, lead generation and digital retailing.

Dealer Solutions has managed approximately 800 dealer websites nationally. It created the software and the framework for dealers’ sites under a modular arrangement where, depending on the level of support that a dealer wants, Dealer Solutions can manage a total dealer site or dealers can do it themselves.

That is the part of Dealer Solutions that is moving to DealerCell.

That leaves Dealer Solutions with its data aggregation business where it manages the extraction of dealer new and used-car data for distribution and publication on online classified advertising sites like Autotrader, Gumtree Cars, CarsGuide and Carsales.

Dealers Solutions continues to run its stock photography operations whether by visiting dealerships or via its Auto 360 product, which is self service.

Also under the Dealer Solution umbrella is Digipurple digital advertising for dealers and OEMs as well as what they call their insight products, like AutoRadar and Kelley Blue Book.

The new arrangement takes Cox Automotive Australia another step towards being able to offer the industry an end-to-end connected retail proposition.

Cox Automotive says it will continue to strengthen its focus on digitising the online consumer car buying and finance experience for the benefit of dealers, OEMs and finance companies.

“This first step in turbocharging the collective power of their brands is designed to help customers navigate through changing times and benefit from the services of a connected set of Cox Automotive brands,” the company said.

“Both DealerCell and Dealer Solutions worked together to enhance their services for website customers with a number of ‘quick wins’ launched only a few weeks following DealerCell being part of the Cox Automotive family of brands.

“In combination with its existing product range, DealerCell can now offer an even more integrated and powerful experience for customers, designed to deliver more business and help them sell more vehicles,” the company said.

Cox Automotive Australia CEO David Colwell said in a statement: “This is an important development for our plans to maximise the benefits of our products for our customers, especially as part of a broader Cox Automotive offering which will span the entire automotive ecosystem.

“This move will not only give DealerCell another product to add to their range; it will allow them to offer an even more integrated solution resulting in an improved experience and better business outcomes for their customers.

“Providing a more connected online product set is a key component of our Digital Retailing strategy and our customers will see more benefits as we further integrate our brand’s solutions,” he said.

By John Mellor