Online car sales rise despite industry downturn

AutoDeal.com.ph,the Philippines' No. 1 online automotive marketplace, reported a 39.5 percent increase in the number of new cars sold on its platform despite an industry downturn in new vehicle sales last year.

In a statement, AutoDeal said it recorded 21,002 successful transactions in 2018 compared to 15,059 in 2017.

New car sales data on AutoDeal was collected from several sources; including confirmed purchases remitted by dealers through AutoDeal's online *Lead Management System (LMS) and over-the-phone conversations with confirmed buyers.

Propelling these numbers was a 54 percent increase in visitors on AutoDeal.com.phwhich resulted in more than 30 million website visits and 200,000 online inquiries made by prospective car-buyers in 2018 alone.

Aside from the sales increase, enhancements in AutoDeal's online Lead Management System (LMS) also enabled its over 400 partner dealers to improve their average lead- (inquiry)-to-sale conversion rate.

Of all the customers who inquired in 2018, 10.5 percent made a successful vehicle purchase through the platform compared to 7.3 percent in 2017.

This was further aided by car dealers and sales agents who sped up their customer response time down to just 5.73 hours on the AutoDeal LMS.

“We continue to invest heavily in creating the best environment for the car-buyers in the Philippines,” said AutoDeal Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel M. Scott.

He added that, “our commitment remains to provide the local car buying market a hassle-free and simple method to go about in making his purchase. Our continued enhancement in dealer technology is built with the sole purpose of helping dealers to manage and realize the value of buyers who now prefer to shop this way.”

Increased awareness and competition among top automotive brands and dealers helped propel the company's 30 percent revenue growth last year.

One contributing factor is the surge in advertisers as they are able to drive real-world tangible sales results through AutoDeal. (JAL)