The move into listing trucks for dealers and private sellers is the second string in a plan to expand into other commercial and leisure fields and follows the successful launch of its car site, Only Cars (previously known as Cartopia) in 2021.
Credit One Group managing director Michael Rojek told GoAutoNews Premium that the classified sites were an extension of his business.
“Credit One is my main business and through its finance broking activities, it has built good business relationships with truck dealers,” he said.
“They suggested an alternative to other classified sites was needed in the marketplace and so we created Only Sales as an unlisted public company as the vehicle for online sales platforms with dealer needs as a priority.”
“Now we have dealers with equity in the business which gives them a sense of ownership which translates to more listings and a higher profile for the site.”
Following Only Cars and Only Trucks is Only Trailers and plans for a site for earthmoving equipment and specific leisure products, including jet skis, in a vertical integration of services.
“The truck site is a big one, although we are having excellent response from caravan dealers prior to creating a recreational vehicle site,” Mr Rojek said.
“There’s a few good truck sites, including those with classified listings, but we’re different because we take in the vertical aspects.
“We intend to have, for example, listings of forklift dealers in a site that only deals with forklifts.
“In trucks, we have almost 2000 trucks on the site and it’s growing because of support from the dealers which has just been fantastic.
“Truck guys are our biggest ambassadors.”
One request from dealers when the sites were being created was to allow their names and business contact to go with the classified listing.
“By dealer demand, the things on their wish list included ‘I wish I could show my business name and address’. That wasn’t permitted on some sites.”
Mr Rojek said: “The shareholding model gives dealers a real sense of ownership and helps contribute to new ideas.” Dealers are rewarded with shares in the parent company, Only Sales, based on advertising support.
He said contacts for the classifieds comes mainly from the dealers around Australia that work with Credit One as a brokerage, although the relationships are spreading to those dealers who have yet to be customers thanks to an expansion of digital marketing and a regional Australia TV ad campaign.
“Of course the site isn’t restricted to dealers who work with Credit One,” he said.
“Certainly the response across the board has been incredibly positive.
“This includes inroads into some of the OEMs represented in Australia, even though it takes a little while for them to come onboard.”
By Neil Dowling
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