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One of the most unpleasant situations for a consumer is buying a car. Many of us would rather have a root canal than venture onto the lot and dodge the neverending waves of sales people. You have to hand it to some of the sales professionals, they can pop out from behind a convertible like a ninja and run across the lot faster than Usain Bolt. Generally it is not the fault of the sales department that consumers have such an aversion to car buying, a majority of car buyers believe that they are being taken advantage of in one way or another. This has nothing to do with the sales team, but unfortunately they are the ones that take the brunt of the negative emotions. The way we buy cars is changing however and if your dealership is not involved, it is time to get on board. What we are referring to is, effective automotive inventory merchandising.

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Effective Automotive Inventory Merchandising

While the main premise of inventory merchandising is getting your product out there for the consumer to see, we have also come to depend on merchandising as a way to connect with consumers on another level. Most of the car buyers that walk onto the lot at a dealership have already looked at the website, they may have a distinct idea about what they want in a vehicle, or they may not. At some point in the car buying process, the odds are good that a customer will consult the internet before making the final decision. Connecting with the customer before they even walk on the lot is the goal, and a way to effectively make a sale. Once a potential auto buyer has found a vehicle at a dealership they like, it is critical that the vehicle on the lot matches their expectations. At CarData we offer a wide range of automotive inventory merchandising options to connect with your customers including:

Photography Services

Video Services

Interactive 360° Walkaround

Window Labels/Buyers Guide

One of the most efficient techniques for connecting with potential customers is through photography. Many dealerships will send a kid out with a smartphone and snap some pictures. After all, what is good for social media is good for your inventory right? Wrong. Photography that is intended to sell, not only reflects the professionalism of your dealership, but it engages with customers who may not have a distinct vision of what they want. They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” may be the ultimate cliche, but in this case, it will get traffic through your lot. Regardless of your current image strategy, if your vehicles do not match what is in the photographs, it could reflect badly on your dealership and possibly damage the sale. The automotive inventory photography experts at CarData are in tune with the current climate of automotive inventory merchandising, particularly image and image optimization. With image optimizations like branding and photo clipping, we know how to get your images in front of the right customers at the right time. Take a look at some of our photography services and if you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to contact us today.

Pre-Detail Photos

When a trade rolls through, you probably want to get it out on your website as fast as possible. While the vehicle may not look like it is ready for the showroom, generating interest with photographs that are creative, while also making the car look exceptional before detailing, is critical to generating interest. In the eyes of a CarData Photographer, your recent trade will be well represented and potentially attract interest. We have the experience to make any car look good, no matter what the condition. Of course, while we can't work miracles, we will work harder to get you the sale. Next time you need pre-detail inventory photos for your trade to put on your website or another listing website, think CarData professional images instead of rushed smartphone images. Use this opportunity to build as much interest around your trade as possible.

Post Detail Photos

Once the vehicle is all prepped, detailed and ready for sale it needs to be treated to its full photoshoot. This step is incredibly important, in that many online shoppers will bond with the vehicle through these professional images. The professional photographers at CarData are experts at photographing cars, trucks, and SUVs in the most marketable way. When a potential customer is searching for a vehicle on your website or a 3rd party vehicle merchandising site, they are looking for a vehicle that not only speaks to them, but that they can see themselves owning. This connection is only possible when the buyer is presented with the proper information. Details that are often overlooked in vehicle photos are critical to creating a bond with the customer between the dealership and the vehicle. Highlighting special features, dashboard shots, and engine bay photos are simple ways to get your vehicles notices in the noise of online car buying. The CarData way is to pay close attention to details and give the buyer the best overview of the vehicle without actually being there. We want them to be ready to buy before they get to the dealership.

Photo Clipping

As we all know, putting the photo subject in the right location is the key to getting the point across. In automotive photography, the context is just as important as the subject, in this case, your dealership sign is just as important as the gleaming red convertible in front of it. Of course, what if you have some amazing images of one of your inventory vehicles but they just happen to be on the back lot surrounded by your other inventory? That is where CarData Photo Clipping comes to the rescue. The concept of photo clipping is taking an already amazing image and making it even better. We can add effects, create atmosphere, and even add your dealership or sign to the image. It may seem like a waste of time to create an image when the vehicle is the main focus, but make no mistake, photo clipped images are much more likely to make a potential customer stop and take notice. Getting your inventory in front of the right eyes while making them stand out, CarData photo clipping is the ideal solution, whether you have a large or small dealership.

Photo Branding

When you are clicking around on automotive merchandising sites on the internet, what is it that draws your eye? Is it a dynamic picture of the car? How about a dramatic setting? If you have everything in order from CarData, you already have all of those variables covered. But what if you need your image to stand out even more? With the Photo Branding option from CarData you will give your potential vehicle buyers all of the information that they need to make the right decision and buy from your dealership. With our photo branding services, we will take your existing photos and add dealership specific branding to your image. The best way to think about the process is to picture the internet as a virtual car lot and your vehicle must stand out among the excessive inventory from all of the other sources. Every vehicle on your lot probably has branding. Items like license plate frames with plastic dealer plates inside, window decals, and dealer tags affixed to the windshield and rear glass, these are all proven branding techniques. You images need to be just as distinct and engaging as your lot branding. CarData is your number one source for branded images for your online marketing campaigns.

YouTube is now one of the most powerful search engines in the world and the power of video is now more apparent than ever. When consumers need information they are more likely to click on a video for information. The mobilization of electronics has made for the rise of videos as a valuable selling tool when it comes to vehicles. The benefits can be seen through the sheer number of videos that are out there pertaining to car dealerships. Video is truly the next horizon in automotive inventory merchandising and CarData can help you take advantage of this revolutionary way to sell a vehicle.

The popularity of instructional videos and FAQs has spurred more and more car dealerships into the video arena and the benefits can be extremely rewarding. Now, you may think, “if they can do it, so can I,” but making a video, or videos of your inventory, is much more difficult than simply recording a quick image on your smartphone. The video industry is much more complex than it once was and to set your dealership apart from the rest, you need to enlist the help of a professional video team, like the one at CarData.

Just like images, your video offerings will set the tone for those clients that will choose whether or not to visit based on their impression of the video. Your video must convey the overall feel of your dealership and that is not something you can do with an iPhone. Every car lot or dealer has the ability to leverage their inventory into views, which in turn can shift into sales.

Walkaround Video

While a virtual tour is designed to highlight the dealership, the walkaround video is an opportunity to showcase the cars that will make your dealership relevant. Modern car buyers are much more interested in kicking the tires from afar before first venturing into the dealership. The walkaround is the perfect device for this kind of customer. While it can be set up many different ways, this type of video can be used to highlight individual vehicles or give an overview of a model. Much like post detail images, videos are used to highlight the features on an individual car and influence the client with what the vehicle has to offer. It lets the buyer explore the vehicle on their own terms and, if needed, visit the dealership to see the actual vehicle.

Spincar 360

One of the truly revolutionary features that we offer is the Spincar suite of vehicle video software. This can truly be a gamechanger for dealerships of all sizes, especially for those wanting to expand their automotive inventory merchandising. When you choose to do a 360 you can literally open the hood, sit in the back seat, turn on the radio, and even look inside the trunk, all from your smartphone. There is no better way to showcase a vehicle than with Spincar and the experts at CarData are ready to assist you in successfully merchandising your vehicle inventory.

Window Labels & Buyers Guide

While you can spend much of your time marketing online, don't lose sight of the fact that the majority of car buyers will actually come down to the lot to make the final purchase. When that happens, it is best to have all possible bases covered. While most buyers are dead set on the vehicle they want, there are those that are still on the fence and one way to reach those lot browsers is through buyers guides and window stickers.

These invaluable pieces of merchandising can really make the sale, save time, entice more interest, and even convince a buyer to search elsewhere. For the dealership, a window label is the silent sales professional, increasing interest through simple information available at a glance. Sometimes the most effective marketing tactics are the easiest, and adding a window label and buyers guide to your arsenal will generate interest with very minimal effort. At CarData, we produce the most dynamic window labels in the industry. Do not keep using those blank pieces of copy paper with virtually no branding, instead work with us and build your own dynamic buyers guide and window labels.

Dealership Advantages

While CarData is geared towards the everyday dealership, we can handle any size of inventory and will strive to create the finest merchandising material for your operation. When you have quality images, videos, multimedia like Spincar, and window stickers from CarData, you are truly investing in your own success.

With the influx of media in advertising today, it only makes sense to give yourself the advantage of high quality media. At CarData, we pride ourselves on following a core value we like to call our Velocity Philosophy. We feel that in order for us to effectively assist in our client’s success, we must be held to a higher standard than our competition. The Velocity Philosophy consists of three indicators which are:

Service Visits – At CarData, we know that success is a matter of timing and when you need a job done by a qualified professional, you should not have to wait a week for them to be available. That is why we strive to visit our clients several times a week, when our competition only comes sporadically or one or two days a week.
Time To Market – Getting your vehicle in front of the right set of eyes is critical to the success of your automotive business. We understand this and strive to provide a worry free automotive inventory merchandising experience. We offer fast turnaround so you can post your vehicle online as soon as possible.
24/7 Support – When we say 24/7, we mean it from our regional offices, all the way up to the corporate headquarters in Pompano Beach Florida. We know that a partner in business is someone you can count on and we intend to make that happen for your operation. So call us anytime — no really, we mean it.

If you are still on the fence about seeing what CarData can do for your automotive business, it is time to give us a call and see the difference working with CarData Automotive Inventory Merchandising can do for your bottom line.

If you are looking for a merchandising company that truly cares about our clients, CarData is the leader in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. We pledge to stick to our Velocity Philosophy and provide you with the finest customer service in the industry. So let’s get started and let CarData show you how to drive conversions using high quality images, video, and media. Contact us today!

CarData Services

Effective Automotive Inventory Merchandising

Photography

Front End of A Gray Hyundai By CarData

Pre-Detail Photos

Blue Mercedes Benz at Haims Motors.com by CarData

Post Detail Photos

Kendall Toyota Banner from CarData

Photo Clipping

Miami Used Supercenter silver Toyota Ad by Cardata

Photo Branding

VIDEO SERVICES

Virtual Tour

Walkaround Video

Spincar 360

Window Labels & Buyers Guide

Dealership Advantages

Velocity Philosophy

Service Visits:

Time To Market:

24/7 Support:

Velocity Philosophy Advantages:

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