Posts filed under 'Press Releases'
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (February 8, 2010) – HomeNet Automotive has made more Carfax information available to users inside the automotive technology provider’s popular Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite. Users that purchase Carfax Vehicle History Reports see Carfax 1-Owner cars clearly identified in the HomeNet inventory management tool and can sort their inventory list by ownership history.
“It’s clear that the public loves having access to Carfax reports,” said Andy McBride, VP of Business Development for HomeNet Automotive. “For shoppers who express concerns about pre-owned vehicle histories, the dealer can easily find all the cars on the lot with 1-Owner reports and eliminate that objection.”
HomeNet and Carfax-subscribing dealers add vehicle history highlights from Carfax – including the Carfax 1-Owner designation – to window stickers to improve consumer confidence and sell more cars. In addition, visitors to dealer Web sites powered by HomeNet can narrow their used car search to include only vehicles that are Carfax 1-Owner and come with a free Carfax Report. The enhancements help dealers to more effectively market their Carfax 1-Owner inventory and put wary shoppers at ease.
"HomeNet and Carfax are powerful tools for our used car operations,” said Will Green, General Sales Manager at Peach Motors in Roswell, Ga. “We know at a glance which vehicles in our inventory are Carfax 1-Owner and take advantage of all the valuable marketing tools HomeNet provides. The result is more sales, lower carrying costs and ultimately, higher profit for our store.”
"Dealers can now know–at a glance–which vehicles in their inventory are Carfax 1-Owner," adds HomeNet's McBride. "The result is more sales, lower carrying costs, and ultimately, higher profits.”
“Studies prove that Carfax 1-Owner cars sell faster and for more money,” said Larry Gamache, communications director at Carfax. “On average, more than half of a dealer’s inventory consists of Carfax 1-Owner cars. HomeNet’s enhanced IOL inventory management tool helps dealers easily identify these premium units and put more of them in their customers’ garages.”
About HomeNet (www.HomeNetAuto.com):
HomeNet Automotive helps the automobile industry save time and sell more vehicles and is proud to be recognized as a “Top 10 in 2010 Companies to Watch” by AutoSuccess Magazine.. It is the leading provider of inventory merchandising, management and marketing services, led by its flagship product, Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite. IOL is a web-based vehicle marketing solution that helps tens of thousands of automotive dealers to engage buyers online and bring them into the showroom ready to buy by streamlining the process of converting raw vehicle data into consumer-friendly and emotional online ads. With 135 employees, HomeNet has garnered a spot on the "Inc. 1000" for the second year in a row, its third recognition by the prestigious magazine in as many years. HomeNet is a private company based in West Chester, PA, with offices across the U.S. For more information, please visit www.homenetauto.com, call 877-738-3313, or email salesteam@homenetauto.com.
About Carfax (www.carfax.com):
Millions of used car buyers and sellers each year rely on Carfax, the most trusted provider of vehicle history information. Using the unique 17-character vehicle identification number (VIN) found on vehicle dashboards and title documents, Carfax instantly generates a detailed Vehicle History Report on any used car or light truck. Carfax Vehicle History Reports™ provide valuable information that helps used car buyers and sellers make better decisions. For more information, visit www.carfaxonline.com.
February 8th, 2010
February 5, 2010 (West Chester, PA) — HomeNet Automotive earned a coveted spot in the prestigious "Top 10 in 2010 Companies To Watch" from AutoSuccess Magazine. HomeNet CEO, Jesse Biter, will accept the trophy at the AutoSuccess Cocktail Reception (Booth #2307) at the 2010 NADA conference in Orlando, on Saturday, February 13.
"The winners are high growth organizations who have helped dealers dramatically improve their profitability during a difficult time in the automotive industry," according to the magazine.
HomeNet’s newly expanded Inventory Online (IOL) Marketing Suite brings automobile dealers the first total market solution, combining the power of HomeNet’s webIOL with best-in-class strategies and tools which, from one centralized location, allow the dealer to:
- Appraise prospective inventory purchases with local market, real time, and current pricing analytics
- Strategically price both New and Pre-Owned inventory across the Internet with live up-to-the-minute Internet price comparisons and actual transaction data
- Create Search Engine Optimized (SEO), emotional inventory ads that inspire mental ownership and drive traffic
- Distribute engaging, content-rich ads to an unlimited number of selected online media, including more than 250 online classified services
- Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of every ad listing down to the individual vehicle level
- Integrate and manage web-based lead applications like live and system-generated video, online trade appraisal tools, purchase and lease payment calculators, text and mobile marketing applications, and credit pre-qualification tools.
- Purchase high quality leads from top listing agents such as Edmunds.com and eBay, right from within webIOL
Some of the automotive industry’s top dealerships–including AutoSuccess' named "Dealer of the Year," Paragon Honda of Queens, NY–are utilizing the powerful components of HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite to recreate the ‘on the lot’ experience on the web with emotional online advertisements for their inventory, delivering high-conversion leads and dramatically increasing sales.
HomeNet shares its top rankings with other innovative companies like Black Book, eXteresAuto, Car‐mercial, Team Velocity, CallRevu, Tier 10, Level 5 Marketing, VAuto, and Driving Sales.
About HomeNet: HomeNet Automotive helps the automobile industry save time and sell more vehicles and is proud to be recognized as a "Top 10 in 2010 Companies to Watch" by AutoSuccess Magazine.. It is the leading provider of inventory merchandising, management and marketing services, led by its flagship product, Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite. IOL is a web-based vehicle marketing solution that helps tens of thousands of automotive dealers to engage buyers online and bring them into the showroom ready to buy by streamlining the process of converting raw vehicle data into consumer-friendly and emotional online ads. With 135 employees, HomeNet has garnered a spot on the "Inc. 1000" for the second year in a row, its third recognition by the prestigious magazine in as many years. HomeNet is a private company based in West Chester, PA, with offices across the U.S. For more information, please visit http://www.homenetauto.com/ or call 877-738-3313.
February 5th, 2010
Online Vehicle Bookmarking, Tracking, and Comparison Tool To Improve Vehicle Turnover By Allowing Dealers Ongoing Insight Into Customers' Favorites
West Chester, PA - February 1, 2010 — HomeNet Automotive announced the inclusion of its new Virtual Garage in its IOL SEO Hosting service. Virtual Garage is a bookmarking application that allows consumers to bookmark and track vehicles directly on a dealership's website inventory and do side-by-side comparisons or view them later. Dealers, in turn, are able to track which cars that consumer is bookmarking. With Virtual Garage, more than 15,000 dealerships are able to now greatly increase the usability of their website as well as boost return visitors and website conversion rates.
Shoppers can also track bookmarking activity on their saved cars by other shoppers, so as the bookmarking activity goes up on one of their favorite vehicles, they will be more motivated to make a move. Bookmarked vehicles may be added to an RSS feed as well, allowing shoppers to be directly alerted of any new activity.
"By allowing online shoppers to bookmark cars in their inventory, the dealer can see all the cars a visitor has saved, so he can have more meaningful interactions with that shopper," says Tim James, HomeNet's Director of Sales. "And, should those saved vehicles sell, he can offer similar vehicles, ensuring everyone gets the car they want."
Also built in to Virtual Garage is the ability for side by side comparisons of any number of saved vehicles, particularly helpful for shoppers viewing several of the same model.Virtual Garage requires virtually no effort on the dealer’s part to maintain, as it is integrated with HomeNet’s IOL Hosting, which creates dynamically-generated, search engine optimized (SEO) vehicle display pages.
For more information regarding the Virtual Garage tool, dealers should contact the HomeNet Sales Team at salesteam@homenetinc.com, visit http://www.homenetauto.com, or call 877-738-3313.
About HomeNet: HomeNet Automotive helps the automobile industry save time and sell more vehicles. It is the leading provider of inventory merchandising, management and marketing services, led by its flagship product, Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite. IOL is a web-based vehicle marketing solution that helps tens of thousands of automotive dealers to engage buyers online and bring them into the showroom ready to buy by streamlining the process of converting raw vehicle data into consumer-friendly and emotional online ads. With 135 employees, HomeNet has garnered a spot on the "Inc. 1000" for the second year in a row, its third recognition by the prestigious magazine in as many years. HomeNet is a private company based in West Chester, PA, with offices across the U.S.
February 1st, 2010
West Chester, PA (January 14, 2010) – TrueCar, Inc., the authority on new car pricing, and HomeNet Automotive, the leading automotive inventory online marketing solution, announced a partnership today designed to deliver new car pricing data and information to users of HomeNet’s flagship Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite. Under the deal, HomeNet will insert TrueCar pricing tools and window brochure functionality into its IOL solution.
"Our pricing tools will help IOL users to price their new car inventory based on real market conditions, including what area dealers charged for a similar vehicle in the last 30 days," said Scott Painter, CEO of Santa Monica-based TrueCar. "We are excited to team up with HomeNet to bring dealers that level of market intelligence. The better dealers know how to buy and sell inventory, the better their competitive advantage."
Today, TrueCar captures full transaction details for 43% of all new vehicle sales across the country, and that figure is growing. Leveraging this wealth of data, IOL dealers will be able to balance margin retention with sales velocity.
Andy McBride, VP of Business Development at HomeNet, added, "HomeNet’s IOL platform continues to grow in user base, and we are again expanding our product suite to help our dealers sell more cars. TrueCar’s pricing data and analytical tools are impressive—a must-have for the savvy car dealer. In fact, we’re offering our customers free access to TrueCar within IOL until April 1."
Following launch, TrueCar and HomeNet will add advanced analytical tools that combine automotive inventory, transaction, and production data to its IOL solution. Both companies will also explore ways through which IOL users can reach TrueCar’s vast audience of in-market buyers: more than 15,000 TrueCar Price Reports are generated daily on TrueCar.com and its network of syndication partners (such as Vehix and US News Autos).
HomeNet’s IOL Internet Marketing Suite is a vehicle marketing solution that helps thousands of automotive dealers to sell more cars online. IOL’s web-based applications streamline the process of converting raw DMS data into consumer-friendly and emotional online ads. IOL offers rich functionality for DMS polling, Premium VIN Enhancement, video, search engine optimized (SEO) vehicle display pages, price analysis, unlimited photos, text messaging, email ads, automated distribution to 3rd-party services like eBay, Craigslist, and Oodle, mobile lot management, and more. IOL solutions quickly turn every vehicle on the lot into a compelling, online point-of-presence… and a gateway into the showroom.
About TrueCar: TrueCar (www.truecar.com/) is the authority in new car pricing. TrueCar aggregates data from multiple sources to show car buyers and dealers how much people actually paid for a particular car in their geographic area. TrueCar is offered online, free of charge — so anyone can know at any time what is considered a good or great price. Consumers no longer need to walk into the dealership only partially informed and fully suspicious: with TrueCar they can walk in knowing the price of a fair deal. Dealers also benefit by gaining real-time, unbiased information about marketplace pricing, helping them price their cars to increase volume of sales and gain market share from other dealers. Led by a highly experienced team from the automotive and technology industries, TrueCar is based in Santa Monica, California.
About HomeNet: HomeNet Automotive (www.homenetauto.com) is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management companies, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in FL, GA, TX, TN, CA, IL, IA, MI, NC, OR and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com. For more information, dealers should contact the HomeNet Sales Team at salesteam@homenetinc.com or 877-738-3313.
January 18th, 2010
January 11, 2010 (West Chester, PA) - HomeNet Automotive, the leading online inventory solutions provider for auto dealerships, and Edmunds.com today announced a partnership that allows dealers to list their inventory on Edmunds.com and receive high quality leads in return from consumers visiting Edmunds.com. HomeNet is offering this lead program to users of its Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite customers, which facilitates the listing of inventory online for over 15,000 automobile dealerships nationwide.
Dealers who participate will be able to sell more cars with less effort, according to HomeNet’s Neal Gann, Vice President of Strategic Relations. "It is well known in the industry that Edmunds is one of the premier auto shopping sites and that Edmunds leads have among the highest closing ratios," says Gann. "Consumers who visit Edmunds.com are affluent and educated, and they have great credit. These are every dealer’s dream buyers."
In fact, Edmunds.com indicates that of the 15.8 million unique visitors to its site each month, 80% own their home, and 70% are married. In addition, Edmunds.com is the most visited automotive site for consumers earning over $100,000 as well as for people with investment portfolios of $250,000 or more.
"HomeNet continues find ways to help our dealers get the most from our online inventory marketing solutions, and so we’re always looking for best-in-class marketing opportunities for them to get their inventory in front of more buyers. This is definitely one of those opportunities," adds Gann.
With the Edmunds.com inventory-based lead program, dealers only pay for the leads they receive, so it is a self-sustaining arrangement, according to Sean Peoples of Edmunds.com. "Dealers have nothing to lose with a per-lead revenue model, and they gain free exposure with Edmunds’ nearly 16 million monthly visitors to boot," says Peoples. "Unlike sites that charge a flat monthly subscription, even with no lead activity, HomeNet is only charging dealers based on that dealer’s success, so the dealers can’t lose."
HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite is a vehicle marketing solution that helps thousands of automotive dealers to sell more cars online. IOL’s web-based applications streamline the process of converting raw DMS data into consumer-friendly and emotional online ads. IOL offers rich functionality for DMS polling, Premium VIN Enhancement, video, search engine optimized (SEO) vehicle display pages, price analysis, unlimited photos, text messaging, email ads, automated distribution to hundreds of 3rd-party services like eBay, Craigslist, and Oodle, mobile lot management, and more. IOL solutions quickly turn every vehicle on the lot into a compelling, online point-of-presence… and a gateway into the showroom.
About HomeNet Automotive: HomeNet is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management companies, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in FL, GA, TX, TN, CA, IL, IA, MI, NC, OR and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com. For more information regarding Edmunds.com inventory lead program, dealers should contact the HomeNet Sales Team at salesteam@homenetauto.com or 877-738-3313.
About Edmunds Inc.: Edmunds Inc. publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Inside Line launched in 2005 and is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace launched in 2006 and is an automotive social networking Web site. AutoObserver.com launched in 2007 and provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.
January 11th, 2010
Reprinted from 12/09 AutoSuccess Magazine, p 28
By Tim James
Director of Sales
HomeNet Automotive, Inc.
Everyone wants to come up at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), but the truth is, in this industry there are millions of pages sharing similar content and most of your keywords. The search engine optimization (SEO) tricks of the yesteryear no longer work well, and many will get you penalized, some so badly you’d be better off with a new domain name and website.
For instance, it used to be popular to add blocks of keywords at the bottom of pages in the same color as the page’s background, making those words invisible to visitors but indexed by search engines. Such practices littered search results with worthless and unrelated pages, and the public abandoned those search engines (remember Alta Vista?). In order to make money, search engines depend on ad revenue, which depends on quality search results, so search engines are always honing their ranking algorithms and methodology.
Here are some SEO recommendations that you can employ now to pull more traffic to your site, rank higher in SERPs, and increase conversions (visitors taking some action indicating interest in your site, like clicking on a link to go further into your site, watching a video, or contacting you):
Know the goal for each page of your site, and create its page title, URL, keywords, alt tags, etc. accordingly. Is your aim for vehicle display pages to direct traffic to your showroom? Then your site should include a landing page for every car in your inventory, and the configuration of those pages should be individually search engine optimized to appeal to the person who is searching for that vehicle. Alternatively, there may be sections of your site where your goal is to build community, your brand, and customer loyalty. Not everyone who visits your site is a solid prospect at that moment, but that is no reason to ignore them. Woo future buyers by presenting them with compelling content, an engaging community, and keywords specific to what they may be searching for.
Content is king, queen, and pied piper. No matter what other SEO tricks you use, the fact remains that high quality, relevant content is still your number one tool to not only interest your visitors but ensure that search engines deem you—and your web pages—credible. According to Edmunds.com, 85% of all prospective buyers search online first before buying a car. Think of it as having one chance for you to establish credibility and trust, as well as to get them to happily follow you into the showroom.
Place the most important content “above the fold,” which means readily visible in the standard browser window without scrolling down. Search engines consider this your most essential information, and it earns higher ranking stature than content residing “below the scroll line.” Not to mention, what greets people once your page loads had better be your most relevant information! Rather than have long pages that incorporate disparate information, you’re better off with shorter, highly focused pages.
How-to articles and blog posts are good content for SEO as well as informative and entertaining for your prospective customers. Imagine how both will love your glossary page entitled, “Automobile Service Terminology for the Automotive-Challenged“ or a blog post called, “66 Winterizing Tips for Every Rochester Car Owner,” or a weekly Q&A from your service manager. From within your blog posts, link to deeper pages on your site, as cross-linking adds SEO reliability to your deeper pages, especially if those links are followed. While you’re at it, be sure to include service coupons, pictures, and videos on those blog pages.
A picture is worth 1,000 words—and many clicks, particularly when you use page-relevant alt tags on all your photos. In addition, the more photos you have, the more consumers will perceive your operation as transparent and, therefore, trustworthy. On vehicle landing pages, I recommend no less than 24 pictures of any one car, and even then, I would go for 30 or more, particularly for pre-owned vehicles. What shoppers can see with their own eyes, they feel more secure—and passionate—about. Along those lines, be forthright and include photographs of anything out of the ordinary on the vehicle to avoid accusations of non-disclosure (if there is any body damage, even a scratch, post a close-up of it).
Video is the new darling with sales managers because it creates tremendous emotion with shoppers. It’s the new darling of SEO experts, too, because video causes clicks as well as visitors to linger on your page. Videos (and photos) also ensure you get into blended search results (blended search results include related news, images, videos, books, maps, dictionary listings, etc., in addition to the standard blue text listings). Optimize videos using branded and non-branded alt tag phrases.
Analytics: Make it a goal to understand the numbers behind the traffic coming to your site from search engines. If your numbers are declining, why? There are many places to do keyword research (check out Google Insights) to test the value of your keywords. To avoid mixing oranges in with your apples, it’s best to measure brand engagement (the percentage of visitors who searched for you or your product by name) separately from traffic that used some of your top 10 keywords in their search. Regularly evaluate low-ranking pages, and don’t hesitate to change your keywords, title, URL, content positioning, add video, etc. on poor performers.
Bounce rate is a single page visit that results in the visitor leaving your site altogether. To a search engine, a high bounce rate means the content on that page is unrelated to its title, keywords, alt tags, etc., and it penalizes that page. Generally speaking, a bounce rate of >30% is good, 50% is concerning, but any pages near 70% should be immediately reworked.
Site maps help search engines easily index your site and find all those pesky internal pages. For instance, the Googlebot crawls the web by following links from one page to another, so if your site is new or isn't well linked, it may be hard for search engines—and prospects—to discover it.
Page load time may be coming soon to Google’s search ranking methodology. That said, slow page load times won't negatively impact your rankings, but fast load times may have a positive effect. Search engines want to ensure a quality experience for browsers, and next to content, fast load times are a big part of that. People today are used to broadband speed, and if they aren’t getting it, they’ll bounce (see #8).
Finding the millions of online browsers who will be buying a car in the next twelve months is an ongoing challenge. By implementing these ten suggestions in 2010, however, you can increase your chances that they’ll find you.
About HomeNet: HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite is a vehicle marketing solution that helps thousands of automotive dealers to sell more cars online. IOL’s web-based applications streamline the process of converting raw DMS data into consumer-friendly and emotional online ads. IOL offers rich functionality for video, search engine optimized (SEO) vehicle display pages, price analysis, unlimited photos, text messaging, email ads, automated distribution to 3rd-party services like eBay, Craiglist, and Oodle, mobile lot management (IOL2Go), and more. IOL quickly turns every vehicle on the lot into a compelling, online point-of-presence… and a gateway into the showroom.
Visit HomeNet at www.homenetinc.com. For more information, contact HomeNet at salesteam@homenetinc.com or 866-738-3313.
© 2009 HomeNet Automotive, Inc.
December 9th, 2009
Cover Story Reprinted from Auto Success 10/09
By Tim James
Director of Sales
HomeNet, Inc.
Over the last couple of years, we have seen individuals — both those new to the auto industry and industry veterans alike — defy the conventional wisdom that “the best you can do is survive in this economy” and skyrocket their dealerships into top performers. So we’ve sat down with a few of these superstars and searched out some of the fundamentals that seemed to be common to each.
Start With the End in Mind
There are a lot of places and ways to list your cars online these days. There are so many cool gadgets out there to plug into your Web site for this, that or the other. The fact is that it is easy to lose track of what we are really trying to accomplish. The Internet, like television or radio, is simply another means of communication. People connect to the Internet looking for information or entertainment, just like they do when they turn on the TV or radio. This has created new media sources that provide consumers with the information or entertainment that they desire (some being more popular than others), and thus create the opportunity for you to advertise your inventory.
So where does that leave you? The same place you’ve always been. Your goal is to create ads for your inventory that get people to your lot. The great thing about it is that your own Web site and inventory display pages, if used properly, are also “media sources,” and can now be included in the “channel guide” (a.k.a. search engines) to drive even more people directly to them.
We know that the more information and emotion we have in our ads, the more likely it is they will rank high on the search engines, and the more likely it is that they will satisfy the consumer’s search for information. If this is the case, they will generate more emotional response from the consumer, and this will make your Web site a trusted source of information. The consumer will more likely come back to your Web site later in the buying cycle.
So before adding any new products or services, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
• Does this add (or make it easier to add) more information to my ads?
• Does this add (or make it easier to add) more emotion to my ads?
• Can I accomplish the same results with the resources and tools I already have?
“A couple of years ago, online advertising was a luxury; now it’s a necessity,” said David Metter, chief marketing officer of MileOne. “I think that everyone talks about online advertising being cheaper. Online advertising really is more efficient. It’s certainly more on-demand than anything else. With other media, you hope and pray that people see what you’re doing. Online is great because, whether it’s 2 a.m. or 6 p.m., you have the ability to be in front of the consumer when they want it.”
Joe Healy, the Internet director of Houston-based Lone Star Chevrolet, knows how important using effective online advertising can be. “We’ve moved up to be the No. 3 Chevy dealer in the nation, and part of it is we’ve changed our media mix,” he said. “We still do some branding with newspaper ads and television and a little bit of radio, but we’ve placed probably 300 percent more emphasis on the Internet. There’s no billboard department here. There’s no newspaper department here. But there is an Internet department. We’re able to measure those results very quickly. It’s grown for us rapidly; about 37 percent of our overall business is done through the Internet with only nine salespeople. I have about 18 percent of the sales force, and we’re doing 37 percent of the business.”
The ability to use a number of photos also is a huge selling tool, Healy said, and one that many dealerships don’t take advantage of. “Most of our competitors show nine or 10 photographs. We have a bare minimum of 36 photographs,” Healy said. “ On eBay, we’ll do up to 70 photographs. The customer likes full disclosure, especially because we may ship the car out of the country, so we’ll identify even a minor scratch. We’re proud of the product we put out there, so we’ll take the pictures. Basically, we’re selling the emotion. We want to put that customer in the car.”
Measure Twice, Cut Once
Starting with the end in mind, you now know that your goal is to create ads for the Internet that drive more traffi c to your Web site and more consumers to your lot. Once you invest your time in creating the best ad that you can create for each and every car, you can focus the majority of your time properly following up on leads and selling cars. This means the more you can automate the process for creating the information and emotion of your ads, the more time you have to sell.
Your goal should be to create business rules — the same business rules that are already in use at your dealership — into your inventory management system to automatically create information and emotion in your ads. The data for those ads can then be integrated throughout your online media and marketing partners’ platforms to create content-rich and highly emotional ads that you can incorporate into your vehicle display ads, manufacturer incentives, vehicle specials, parts and service specials, consumer reviews, video presentations, vehicle test drive videos, text marketing, mobile Web site displays, window stickers, online credit applications, CRM-driven follow-up and life cycle marketing campaigns and so on. Ideally, if you do the work one time, and do it correctly, you can let the technology do the rest for the best results.
“Having one message across your media just makes sense,” Metter said. “It makes it easier for the consumer to remember your brand name or whatever you’re pushing. It’s somewhat subliminal. They walk past the TV and they see your message. They go online and they see the same message. They’re listening to their radio and hear the same message. You can’t help but to be in their consideration when you do that and you do it well.”
Emotion Sells
It’s too easy to forget how emotional the auto purchase process is for the consumer. You sell hundreds of cars a month, but the average consumer will only purchase a handful of cars in their entire lifetime. It is equally easy to get caught up in “information overload” by repeating vehicle features over and over, and not create unique emotional content to sell the consumer.
To the consumer, every car is different. We must create ads that highlight (with photos and dealer comments) all that is unique and different about every car, thus increasing our ability to justify the value, create trust and urgency, and inspire mental ownership.
“Dealers have one of two choices,” Metter said. “Either we can treat our inventory as commodities, or we can really try to build emotion around the car. Customers, as a rule, are emotional about their car purchase. The car is an extension of a someone’s personality. If we really build the story around the car, and how that car might make someone’s life better — whether it’s work or family or whatever — I think certainly helps.”
Healy has seen what emotion can do to move specific vehicles. “I have a brilliant marketing guy, Stuart Russell, who uses a lot of emotional words in our advertising,” he said. “That’s what differentiates us from a lot of dealers. I look at dealers’ ads throughout the country, and a lot of people just use the basic descriptions. Stuart examines every car and personalizes each and every ad. He incorporates a lot of great words and phrases, like ‘exhilarating performance,’ or ‘ice-cold air conditioning,’ and that emotion gets a lot of people to read and look at all the details of that particular vehicle.”
Video can greatly increase the emotional response from the consumer by turning your static, site-based ad into a dynamic, visual ad, provided the video contains the same rich content and emotion needed to “sell” the car vs. “tell” about it. “Trying to ‘three dimensionalize’ the car for the customer makes it easier to make a decision on a certain vehicle,” Metter said. “Again, if that differentiates that car over a competitor’s car, that certainly gives us an advantage.”
Time Is Money
The world moves at supersonic speed today. You can create an ad for a vehicle and have that ad live on multiple Web sites (and in front of thousands of potential buyers) within minutes. More importantly, the data contained in that ad can be used to drive even more traffic to your Web site or any destination that you desire. You spend $5,000, $10,000, maybe even $100,000 per month to advertise on the Internet. Why would you let a car sit on the lot for even one day without being online, let alone a week to 10 days? Think of all the potential buyers who are searching the Web in your market every day, and how many you miss out on when you don’t have your ads online.
Healy said that his dealership makes sure a vehicle is put online as soon as it has been detailed and ready for sale. “Obviously, the quicker we can get it online, the quicker we can sell the vehicle through AutoTrader, Cars.com, the Lone Star Chevrolet web site, etc.,” he said. “It cuts down the number of days the car sits in inventory, plus obviously, the car is never going to look as good as it does right after it’s been detailed.”
Tim James is the director of sales with HomeNet Automotive, Inc. He can be contacted at 866.924.6573, or by e-mail at tjames@homenetinc.com.
November 30th, 2009
October 13, 2009 (West Chester, PA) - HomeNet, Inc., the leading online inventory solutions provider for auto dealerships, and GetAutoAppraise.com today announced a partnership that allows consumers who are shopping online for a new car to get an instant appraisal on the trade-in value of their old vehicle. Valuations are based on dealer-determined ranges attached to vehicle data from NADAguides, the oldest trade valuation tool in the industry. HomeNet is integrating the GetAutoAppraise features with its Web IOL software, which facilitates the listing of inventory online for over 15,000 automobile dealerships nationwide.
Consumers may also upload unlimited photos and videos of their trade-in, which guarantees a stronger conversation between the dealership and the buyer, according to Barry Brodsky of GetAutoAppraise.com. "The quality of these leads is excellent because shoppers who go through the trade-in valuation exercise are ready to buy. In fact, if a shopper on your site is sending you pictures of their trade-in, what they’re really saying is, ‘You have a car on your lot that I want. Here’s my old car. How do we make this happen?’"
With the GetAutoAppraise functionality, available for a monthly fee to dealers using HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite of solutions, dealers may also add their own, custom rebates, coupons, and other incentives, so as shoppers complete the valuation process, they are presented with compelling reasons to visit that dealer now.In addition, when buyers indicate what type of vehicle they’re interested in, they are presented with actual inventory options from the dealer to peruse, and they may then make an appointment with a salesperson to visit the showroom.
"We believe dealers who add this feature to their Web IOL subscription will close more deals more quickly because customers trust dealers who provide this level of transparency," says Neal Gann, Director of Development at HomeNet, Inc. "And we’re excited that GetAutoAppraise uses the highly regarded NADAguides as their valuation tool."
HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite is a vehicle inventory management and marketing system, designed to help automotive dealers sell more cars online. IOL’s suite of web-based software applications streamlines the process of converting raw vehicle data from the DMS (dealer management system) into consumer-friendly emotional online advertisements. Complete with DMS polling, Premium VIN Enhancement, an intuitive online interface, automated distribution to 3rd-party services, and much more, IOL is the most comprehensive solution serving the automotive industry.
HomeNet, Inc., the leading online inventory solutions provider for auto dealerships, and GetAutoAppraise.com today announced a partnership that allows consumers who are shopping online for a new car to get an instant appraisal on the trade-in value of their old vehicle. Valuations are based on dealer-determined attached to vehicle data from NADAguides, the oldest trade valuation tool in the industry. HomeNet is integrating the GetAutoAppraise features with its Web IOL software, which facilitates the listing of inventory online for over 15,000 automobile dealerships nationwide.
About HomeNet, Inc.: HomeNet is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is innovative technology solutions that help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management companies, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in FL, GA, TX, TN, CA, IL, IA, MI, NC, OR and UT. For more information, please visit http://www.homenetinc.com/
About GetAutoAppraise.com:Based in Phoenix, AZ, the company has secured an exclusive license from NADAguides, the leading industry provider of automobile information. The product provides automobile website users with a trade-in value range for their car. The product is unique for car-buying prospects because it provides a narrow value range that is current to the day of the inquiry. It is unique for dealers because it captures complete prospect contact information. NADAguides has developed a technique that enables them to install their product in any URL in less than 15 minutes.
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Press Contact:
Gretchen Kennedy
Marketing Director
610-738-3313, x882
HomeNet, Inc. and GetAutoAppraise.com Announce Strategic Partnership
October 14th, 2009
West Chester, PA, October 1, 2009 – HomeNet’s Video Online (VOL) Marketing Suite is a video-based Internet marketing system that allows automotive dealerships to create dynamic video commercials for every vehicle in their inventory. By utilizing HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite, Video Online offers features like API- driven automated video creation and live video upload which allow dealers to take actual videos of their inventory and quickly upload them to their webIOL data files, allowing virtually real-time display on HomeNet IOL Hosting platform which many dealers use as their “online display” of their inventory.
“More and more every day, dealers are understanding that it is the “content” of their videos (vs. just having a video) that gets the consumer emotionally involved and increases their conversion rates,” says Tim James, Director of Sales at HomeNet. James adds, “Just as a dealer’s other online ads have to emotionally highlight the unique and different features of each car to create value, build trust, and inspire mental ownership, the same is true for video. The real power of video is that it allows the dealer to truly sell a car online. With this in mind, we’ve added features to our Video Online Marketing Suite that make it easier for a dealer to create the maximum amount of emotion with the minimum amount of effort.” Some of the recent features added to HomeNet’s Video Online Marketing Suite are:
• Live Video: dealers may shoot actual videos of a vehicle and quickly add that video to their webIOL vehicle data to be distributed across the web
• Video Ad Hosting: dealers are able to upload “non-vehicle-specific” video ads into webIOL that may then be distributed with their vehicle data or as standalone video ads across the webSatellite Videos:
◦ Code Generation: HTML code is generated for each video allowing the dealer to easily embed it on websites across the web
◦ Viral Marketing: built-in video player functionality allows each consumer viewing a video to see “similar videos” of other vehicles a dealer has in inventory as well as save, bookmark, embed, or email each video
◦ Video Slideshows: dealers easily create various sizes of dynamic “banner ads” that can easily be placed on the dealer’s website or 3rd party websites
◦ Video Player Banner Ads: dealers are able to create vehicle-specific banners to enhance the emotion and call-to-action of each video
◦ Multiple Voice Options:
▪ High Quality Text-To-Speech (TTS) driven from a dealer’s webIOL vehicle description
▪ Custom Voiceover allows a dealer to quickly and inexpensively create a professional voiceovers for each vehicle
▪ Human Voice Data-Driven Scripts utilize webIOL vehicle data to generate a voiceover
▪ TTS Data Driven Scripts utilize webIOL vehicle data to generate a high quality TTS vehicle voiceover
Brian Cox, President of HomeNet’s video partner, FlickFusion, comments, “Videos provide visual stimulation and an emotional response; however, provoking an action from a video only happens when people can find it. Having a good video on your website dramatically increases conversion ratios and time spent on your website, but the general population is not on your website day in and day out. FlickFusion and HomeNet have built our video system to be in as many places as possible, all the time. Besides YouTube, you (or the consumer) can embed your videos on sites like Facebook, Craigslist, eBay, social blogs, and pretty much anywhere. Each video then acts like a satellite in cyberspace, a magnetic Point of Presence (POP), for people to find you. When you create a good quality video that sells a car and then multiply your POP exponentially using the power of the Internet, you can see your sales start to increase exponentially, too.”
HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) Internet Marketing Suite is a vehicle inventory management and marketing system, designed to help automotive dealers sell more cars online. IOL’s suite of web-based software applications streamlines the process of converting raw vehicle data from the DMS (dealer management system) into consumer-friendly emotional online advertisements. Complete with DMS polling, Premium VIN Enhancement, an intuitive online interface, automated distribution to 3rd-party services, and much more, IOL is the most comprehensive solution serving the automotive industry.
About HomeNet: HomeNet, Inc. is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management companies, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in FL, GA, TX, TN, CA, IL, IA, MI, NC, OR and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com.
For more information regarding “Video Online”, dealers should contact the HomeNet Sales Team: salesteam@homenetinc.com or 877-738-3313.
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October 1st, 2009
West Chester, PA – August 12, 2009 – The rapid growth trend continues for HomeNet, Inc., as the automotive technology provider has been named to Inc. Magazine's annual list of the 5000 fastest growing companies in America for the third consecutive year. With an average 366.5% growth over the past three years, HomeNet moved up 349 places to #798 on the 2009 list. HomeNet also ranked #53 when compared to other software providers on the list.
"We are very excited to be included on the Inc. 5000 list for the third year in a row," commented HomeNet CEO Jesse Biter. “HomeNet's consistent growth year after year is indicative of the hard work that our team puts forth each day in support of our customers. It's been a lot of fun to see the ranking improve each year. We are now in the triple digits and hope to finally crack the 500 next year!"
HomeNet's proprietary Get. Edit. Deliver. technology distributes enhanced vehicle inventory data for thousands of automotive dealers throughout the United States and Canada. HomeNet’s signature solution, the Inventory Online (IOL) Marketing Suite, is an industry-leading vehicle inventory management and marketing system. IOL’s suite of web-based applications helps dealers to efficiently manage their entire online inventory from one centralized location and distribute emotional vehicle advertisements to any online destination. The IOL system also streamlines the inventory aggregation and enhancement process, enabling vendors to better focus on lead generation for their dealership customers and not inventory management/support. As one of the most respected data aggregators in the industry, HomeNet has built successful partnerships with dozens of leading automotive companies. IOL currently processes more than 2.5 million vehicles each day for over 17,500 dealership locations.
About HomeNet, Inc.
HomeNet, Inc. is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management firms, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in AZ, FL, GA, IA, IL, TX, and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com.
August 12th, 2009
West Chester, PA – July 13, 2009 – HomeNet, Inc. is pleased to announce that its rapid growth and success has continued, despite the economic challenges that have plagued the automotive industry, as well as the global economy as a whole. The Pennsylvania-based automotive technology provider has reinvested substantially into its popular Inventory Online (IOL) Vehicle Marketing Suite, injecting an array of enhancements and powerful new features aimed at helping more than 17,500 dealership locations throughout the United States and Canada to be more competitive in the face of the economic headwinds.
“It’s unfortunate to see how the economic turmoil and uncertainty within our own industry has affected the livelihoods of so many hard-working people, many of which have become our loyal customers and friends,” stated HomeNet CEO Jesse Biter. “We view the current climate as an opportunity to raise the bar and challenge our team to make substantive improvements to our products with one goal in mind – helping our customers to sell more cars online. We’ve nearly doubled our staff in the past year and have been fortunate enough to hire some exceptional talent with valuable industry experience. Our team is absolutely dedicated to doing our part to help dealers to survive and ultimately thrive in these difficult times.”
HomeNet's proprietary Get. Edit. Deliver. technology distributes enhanced vehicle inventory data for thousands of automotive dealers throughout the United States and Canada. HomeNet’s signature solution, the Inventory Online (IOL) Marketing Suite, is an industry-leading vehicle inventory management and marketing system. IOL’s suite of web-based applications helps dealers to efficiently manage their entire online inventory from one centralized location and distribute emotional vehicle advertisements to any online destination. The IOL system also streamlines the inventory aggregation and enhancement process, enabling vendors to better focus on lead generation for their dealership customers and not inventory management/support. As one of the most respected data aggregators in the industry, HomeNet has built successful partnerships with dozens of leading automotive companies. IOL currently processes more than 2.5 million vehicles each day for over 17,500 dealership locations.
About HomeNet, Inc.
HomeNet, Inc. is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management firms, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in AZ, FL, GA, IA, IL, TX, and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com.
July 13th, 2009
WEST CHESTER, PA – March 20, 2009 – Two members of HomeNet's executive team will serve as featured speakers at the upcoming 6th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition at the Mirage, Las Vegas, April 19-21, 2009. Given the current economic climate, the event is aptly titled "How to Endure, Survive, and Even Thrive in Tumultuous Times." HomeNet's CEO Jesse Biter will be making his first speaking appearance at the conference while Director of Sales Tim James will be marking his fifth speaking appearance.
“It truly is a privilege to have an opportunity to speak directly to dealers at this important event," commented Biter. "As the conference title suggests, dealers really are facing tumultuous times right now. The goal for both Tim and myself is to do more than simply share our unique perspectives and insights on the automotive industry. We will provide valuable and actionable information that attendees can take home with them and apply to their business, in an effort to maximize the ROI from their Internet Marketing investment."
The last spring conference in Orlando in April drew over 1,000 attendees and featured 60 exhibitors in almost 100 booths spaces. There were over 540 registered dealers, GMs, Internet Sales Managers, e-Commerce Directors and BDC/CRM Managers, and unlike the NADA Convention & Exposition, every one of them was there to learn more about Internet and technology-related issues, both from speakers and from exhibitors. For more information on the event, please visit www.digitaldealerconference.com.
March 20th, 2009
HomeNet CEO Jesse Biter wrote an article that was published in the March edition of AutoSuccess magazine. The article entitled "Don't Let Fear Drive Your Business" encouraged automotive dealers to remain focused on core long-term business strategies, amid the current economic climate.
"There’s no sugar-coating the very serious challenges that are currently facing the automotive industry, as well as nearly every other sector in the global economy. The credit crisis has led to abysmal vehicle sales figures and the near-term economic forecast does little to evoke confidence in the possibility of a rapid recovery. Not to mention, it’s more than a little unsettling to watch CEOs from the Big Three US Automakers trek to Washington, tin cup in hand. But while the challenges may prove insurmountable for some, opportunities for success and even growth will still be available. For those dealers that choose to face this adversity head-on and adapt their business accordingly, the reward may ultimately include capturing market share from more fear-stricken competition."
CLICK HERE to read the entire article.
March 6th, 2009
HomeNet's Director of Sales, Tim James, was a featured guest on the popular automotive radio show/podcast - "Straight Talk with Jimmy Vee & Travis Miller." This interview is a part of a special series created exclusively for auto dealers who want to drive more traffic and find success in the ever changing new economy.
The interview covered a variety of topics that are vital to the success of dealers in this challenging economic climate. James noted that while 2009 will most likely prove to be a tough year for the industry, it could also be a year of opportunity for dealers who are willing to accept the fact that it's not 'business as usual'. According to James, successful dealers must streamline their internal processes and view the Internet as 'marketing' as opposed to 'technology'.
Vee and Miller pressed James for three concrete ideas that will help dealers to thrive in the current economy. James' response:
- Become the best media source in your market. You are in the 'media business' now, so it's your job to drive traffic to your website and satisfy the consumers thirst for on-demand information.
- Get your inventory on the Web right away! You are losing money ever day your vehicles sit on the lot without being advertised.
- Embrace the next generation of marketing, specifically 'mobile marketing'.
CLICK HERE to download a FREE copy of this very informative podcast.
February 13th, 2009
West Chester, PA – Dec. 1, 2008 – HomeNet, Inc. has announced the integration of Experian Automotive’s AutoCheck vehicle history reports with HomeNet’s popular Inventory Online (IOL) Vehicle Marketing Suite. This agreement between HomeNet and Experian Automotive will bring nearly 15,000 automotive dealers throughout the United States and Canada the ability to utilize a seamless, one-step process to access AutoCheck vehicle history reports straight from their Inventory Online (IOL) accounts.
“We are pleased to partner with Experian Automotive in an effort to better serve our mutual customers,” commented HomeNet CEO Jesse Biter. “Integrating AutoCheck with IOL will equip dealers with another convenient, time-saving feature. Ultimately, this will help to further streamline the inventory management and marketing process for dealers.”
“In a market that is becoming increasingly digital, a dealer’s online inventory is one of the most vital assets in maintaining a competitive edge during these trying times the industry now faces,” said Scott Waldron, president of Experian Automotive. “Partnering with HomeNet gives dealers the chance to quickly and easily access vehicle histories for their used vehicles in order to make more educated decisions on how to best manage and market their used inventories.”
HomeNet's proprietary Get. Edit. Deliver. technology distributes enhanced vehicle inventory data for thousands of automotive dealers throughout the United States and Canada. HomeNet’s signature solution, the Inventory Online (IOL) Vehicle Marketing Suite, is an industry-leading vehicle inventory management and marketing system. IOL’s suite of web-based applications helps dealers to efficiently manage their entire online inventory from one centralized location and distribute emotional vehicle advertisements to any online destination. The IOL system also streamlines the inventory aggregation and enhancement process, enabling vendors to better focus on lead generation for their dealership customers and not inventory management/support. As one of the most respected data aggregators in the industry, HomeNet has built successful partnerships with dozens of leading automotive companies. IOL currently processes more than 2.5 million vehicles each day for nearly 15,000 dealership locations.
AutoCheck vehicle history reports allow dealers to review valuable information on a vehicle’s history, including possible undisclosed or unknown problems such as title brand records, prior accident history, or odometer issues that can influence an automobile’s safety and resale value. In turn, being able to clearly convey this information to customers allows dealers to instill the confidence they demand when purchasing the right used vehicle online. AutoCheck vehicle history reports also help make evaluating and selling vehicles easier by including the industry’s only vehicle history score, the AutoCheck Score SM. A numeric indicator between one and 100, the AutoCheck Score calculates and weighs key areas of a vehicle’s history so dealers and consumers can quickly and easily understand a vehicle’s past and compare it to similar vehicles, creating added peace of mind on both sides of the used vehicle sale.
About Experian Automotive
Experian Automotive, a part of Experian, delivers information services to manufacturers, dealers, finance and insurance companies, and consumers. Experian® helps automotive clients increase customer loyalty, target and win new business, and make better lending and vehicle purchase decisions. Its National Vehicle Database, housing more than 500 million vehicles, along with Experian’s credit, consumer and business information assets, meets the industry’s growing demand for an integrated information source. Experian’s advanced decision support services help clients turn this information into improved business results. Experian technology supports several top automotive Web sites, including eBay Motors, CarsDirect.com, CarMax.com and NADAguides.com. For more information on Experian Automotive and its suite of services, visit our Web site at www.experianautomotive.com.
About HomeNet, Inc.
HomeNet, Inc. is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management firms, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in AZ, FL, GA, IA, IL, TX, and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com.
December 1st, 2008
In an effort to better service its burgeoning Inventory Online (IOL) customer base, HomeNet, Inc. announced today that the automotive technology provider has established a new in-house Call Center at its West Chester, PA headquarters.
The Call Center’s core objective will be to serve as the frontline division of HomeNet’s Client Services team. Call Center Representatives will greet incoming callers, provide 1st tier customer service, and transfer calls to the appropriate team members. Jason Solomon has been promoted to direct this new initiative.
“As our customer base continues to grow, so do the demands on our Client Services team,” stated HomeNet CEO Jesse Biter. “We are 100% committed to providing best-in-class service to our customers. That includes giving our valued customers the respect they deserve by having a live person available to take their call. The addition of the Call Center will help HomeNet to maintain its commitment to our customers and continue to grow responsibly.”
CLICK HERE TO VIEW FULL PRESS RELEASE
HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) is a vehicle inventory management and marketing system, designed to help automotive dealers sell more cars online. IOL’s suite of web-based software applications streamline the process of converting raw vehicle data from the DMS (dealer management system) into consumer-friendly virtual advertisements anywhere on the Web. Complete with DMS polling, Premium VIN Enhancement, an intuitive online interface, automated distribution to 3rd-party services, and much more, IOL is the most comprehensive solution serving the automotive industry.
HomeNet, Inc. is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management firms, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in FL, TX, MO, and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com.
February 5th, 2007
HomeNet, Inc. announced today that the automotive technology provider will launch a pilot program for its new mobile lot management device. The device known as Pocket IOL will interface directly with the Inventory Online (IOL) marketing suite.
The Pocket IOL software program can be installed on most PDA devices running Windows CE. It allows dealership personnel to prepare inventory listings for online distribution from a handheld device anywhere on the lot. Pocket IOL will seamlessly synchronize with any standalone digital camera to upload vehicle photos into the IOL system and also give users the ability to print window stickers from the handheld device.
“Pocket IOL gives every automotive dealership across the country the ability to efficiently manage their online inventory in-house,” commented HomeNet CEO Jesse Biter. “There will always be a market for service-minded digital lot management firms. But for those dealers who want to ensure that their online inventory is accurate and up-to-date each day, Pocket IOL is an affordable and effective solution.”
HomeNet plans to release two versions of Pocket IOL. A retail version will be marketed directly to dealerships who are seeking a comprehensive, in-house solution for online inventory management. The enterprise version will be geared towards digital lot management firms that need a solution that supports multiple locations as well as an integrated billing component.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW FULL PRESS RELEASE
HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) is a vehicle inventory management and marketing system, designed to help automotive dealers sell more cars online. IOL’s suite of web-based software applications streamline the process of converting raw vehicle data from the DMS (dealer management system) into consumer-friendly virtual advertisements anywhere on the Web. Complete with DMS polling, Premium VIN Enhancement, an intuitive online interface, automated distribution to 3rd-party services, and much more, IOL is the most comprehensive solution serving the automotive industry.
HomeNet, Inc. is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management firms, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in FL, TX, MO, and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com.
February 1st, 2007
HomeNet, Inc. announced today that the automotive technology provider has launched a beta program for its new IOL Auction software. The new tool integrates with eBay Motors and enables users to effectively manage multiple vehicle auction listings on eBay from within the Inventory Online (IOL) system.
“Providing a full-featured auction management system that is integrated with eBay Motors has been one of the most common requests from our customers,” commented HomeNet CEO Jesse Biter. “Our Development team has done an outstanding job building a system that not only gives the customers what they want, but is a tremendous addition to the IOL Marketing Suite.”
The initial beta period will be limited to an exclusive selection of IOL power users who will test the software to identify any major shortcomings. HomeNet expects to invite additional users to the beta program shortly after NADA.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW FULL PRESS RELEASE
HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) is a vehicle inventory management and marketing system, designed to help automotive dealers sell more cars online. IOL’s suite of web-based software applications streamline the process of converting raw vehicle data from the DMS (dealer management system) into consumer-friendly virtual advertisements anywhere on the Web. Complete with DMS polling, Premium VIN Enhancement, an intuitive online interface, automated distribution to 3rd-party services, and much more, IOL is the most comprehensive solution serving the automotive industry.
HomeNet, Inc. is a privately owned automotive technology provider. Founded in 1996, HomeNet's core focus is providing innovative technology solutions to help automotive dealers increase online sales. HomeNet offers its products to a variety of customers including dealers, OEMs, website providers, CRM providers, digital lot management firms, finance/leasing agents, auction agents, and more. The company is based on Christian principles and is headquartered in West Chester, PA, with satellite offices in FL, TX, MO, and UT. For more information, please visit www.homenetinc.com.
January 31st, 2007
Kentucky-based CarJockey.com, the Internet's largest wholesale used vehicle network for franchised dealers, this week said the company has exceeded 3000 vehicles in its dealer network. CarJockey.com is powered by HomeNet's Inventory Online (IOL) system.
Network fees are completely success based; members pay no setup fees, no monthly fees, and no listing fees. Dealers eliminate excess inventory without additional maintenance and purchase retail-ready vehicles with confidence from reputable franchised dealers, the company said.
"Our dealers now have access to 10 times the number of franchise dealer's vehicles they might see at a traditional auction on a weekly basis. They are available 24 hours a day and all vehicles come with a guaranteed vehicle condition report," said John Moore, founder of CarJockey.com.
"We will increase the inventory immensely over the next year, but the growth in usage, the increase in completed transactions and our overall dealer response is most encouraging."
In a recent survey, more than 90 percent of CarJockey.com dealers rated the service as good to great, the company said in a press release. "We have found the system an excellent tool for both buying and selling vehicles. We have sold vehicles over 400 miles away and have access to retail ready vehicles from other franchised dealers," said Ryan Burton of Cain Motors in Canton Ohio.
CarJockey.com's unique system provides dealers a human component to the process and allows buyers and sellers to complete transactions at market values efficiently. Utilizing the dealers' current data management systems, CarJockey.com automatically loads the dealer's excess inventory in the Network. Buyers can search the inventory and make offers based on market values for vehicles that fit their desired inventory or customer specific vehicles. CarJockey.com's automated notification system then alerts sellers when a legitimate offer has been established.
Currently most vehicles in the system are in a six state area, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Ohio.
"We have spent the last six months learning from our dealers and building the system around their needs, we will be expanding our marketing in the very near future. We hope to grow our presence in California, Florida and the Southwest markets soon. Based on recent growth and our expectations, we plan to have over 1500 dealers and 20,000 vehicles by the end of 2007," said Moore.
November 9th, 2006
HomeNet, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has recently partnered with Chrome Systems Corporation, a DealerTrack company, in an effort to create the new standard in automotive vehicle inventory management software.
As of April 1, 2006, Chrome will discontinue its Chrome Inventory Everywhere (CIE) software suite in order to focus its efforts on providing the best vehicle data available in the automotive marketplace. HomeNet’s recently upgraded Inventory Online (IOL) technology, powered by Chrome data, will now become the preferred vehicle inventory management solution for both HomeNet and Chrome customers.
“I really think that both IOL and CIE customers are the real winners in this deal,” stated HomeNet’s CEO, Jesse Biter. “With HomeNet and Chrome each focused on their respective core competencies, dealers get a true best-in-class inventory solution.”
Click here to read the full press release.
March 9th, 2006
HomeNet, Inc. is pleased to announce today that the Pennsylvania-based automotive technology provider has been awarded an exclusive partnership with Mercedes-Benz USA .
Mercedes-Benz dealerships will now utilize HomeNet’s Inventory Online (IOL) technology to streamline the process of uploading vehicle listings to their manufacturer-provided website. Mercedes-Benz has granted HomeNet permission to enhance vehicle listings with corporate “build-data”, ensuring dealerships can now showcase the most accurate and robust vehicle data available to online customers. Under terms of the agreement, Mercedes dealerships can upgrade to HomeNet’s IOL Pro package and use the same technology to seamlessly distribute vehicle inventory to other online services.
Click here to read the full press release.
January 16th, 2006
HomeNet will showcase its next-generation VIN decoder along with the recent update to the popular Inventory Online (IOL) tool at the 89th annual NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) Convention and Exposition in Orlando, FL., Feb. 11-14, 2006.
IOL is a vehicle inventory solution for automotive dealers and vendors selling vehicles on the web. It is a tool box of PC-based and web-based software applications designed to simplify the process of managing and maintaining vehicle inventory, from the dealer management system (DMS) to the Internet. IOL is complete with DMS polling, VIN enhancement, web access, broadcasting capabilities, and more.
Click here read the full press release…
January 9th, 2006
