John White, CMO of buying group and BrandSource parent AVB, hosted an AVB Marketing webinar entitled “The Full Stack” for membership last week that outlined a series of initiatives aimed at bolstering members’ e-commerce and digital marketing skills during the pandemic.
The measures presented, he said, were designed to keep the momentum of BrandSource dealers’ online shopping performance numbers, achieved in 2020, going strong. He said that during the pandemic, the group had generated a 718 percent increase in purchases from ads.
“We are using digital programs to change the way dealers reach customers,” said White.
In a nutshell, some of the plans shared with members to help sustain their sales performance through 2021 were:
• An upgraded Alta website platform. Some added capabilities include an email cart button with enhanced functionality relating to price quotes; predictive search, to smooth consumers’ search efforts; and the incorporation of easier ways to check out using services such as PayPal and Amazon Pay. Optimizing payment gateways is vital to members’ business, said Eric Hunter, director of ecommerce and one of the webinar’s presenters.
• Acustomizable enhancement to LINQ, the AVB online portal for merchandising. Called LINQ 2.0, the update can quickly effect processing of price changes and other informational updates. It is website management “in your pocket,” said Laura Dake, LINQ senior product manager.
Hunter added that the enhancements were instituted because of the changing nature consumer shopping patterns – which have become more of an unpredictable, anytime-of-day behavior during the COVID era. “You need to be where they are, when they are there,” he said. “Merchandising your website is the single most important thing – it keeps buyers on your site.”
Other AVB Marketing innovations beyond these were revealed to members in the highly condensed, rapidfire presentation. “These advancements were steered by data,” remarked White. He added, “you need to live by this playbook. It is designed for a tech-forward landscape.”
The full event can be accessed here: avbmarketing.com/newsroom
Nancy is a contributing editor for Dealerscope.
