Dealertrack’s Paul Whitworth offers advice to dealers
Dealers, Pick a Business Model, Any Business Model
Monday December 18, 2017
Article Highlights
- Paul Whitworth, senior vice president-dealership management systems for Dealertrack, rebuts a suggestion that car dealers are limited in choosing ways they can stand out in the auto-retailing marketplace.
- The menu of ways dealerships can differentiate themselves is long and varied, Whitworth says. He goes down it during an interview here at Dealertrack’s DMS Edge User Conference, an event held for dealership personnel to get the most out of their computer systems
- In cart-before-the-horse advice, he urges dealers to devise or in some cases revise their business strategies first, then acquire the appropriate computer systems, not the other way around.
Paul Whitworth rebuts a suggestion that car dealers are limited in choosing ways they can stand out in the auto-retailing marketplace.
The short-list argument is a dealership may distinguish itself by focusing on, say, big inventory, low prices, top service or deep community roots. But the bill of fare to pick from isn’t much longer than that, right?
“I’d challenge you a bit on that,” says Whitworth, senior vice president-dealership management systems for Dealertrack, a provider of computer operating systems. “There are many different business models, particularly for dealer groups.”
The menu of ways dealerships can differentiate themselves is long and varied, he says. He goes down it during an interview here at Dealertrack’s DMS Edge User Conference, an event held for dealership personnel to get the most out of their computer systems.
“The niche of a dealer group near my home in San Diego is to have nearly every luxury franchise,” Whitworth says. “They are luxury specialists.”