The 2023 NADA Show took place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas on January 26-29, 2023. The NADA Show is the automotive industry’s premier marketplace of innovations and solutions where attendees can search and shop thousands of products and services from the industry’s top vendors and suppliers, spanning from brand new start-ups to established Fortune 500 companies.
Key takeaways from the 2023 NADA Show:
1. Customer acquisition platforms are back: During the pandemic’s vehicle shortages, dealers cut advertising and adtech spends since additional customer demand could not be fulfilled without supply. Along with today’s more normalized vehicle supply, dealers now face lower consumer demand from increasing interest rates. Dealers must again focus on channeling customer demand into their stores. Expect customer acquisition spend to remain as dealers compete for fewer car buyers.
2. Sales and relationship management softwares are expanding technologies: In today’s post-pandemic environment, dealers face new challenges in re-learning how to sell vehicles and in adapting to most purchases beginning online or fully completed online. Following pandemic staff turnover, dealers are spending on softwares to assist their more novice sales staffs. Further, veteran sales processes have again been disrupted by customers that start in a digital retail channel and then visit the dealership expecting a fully integrated experience from digital to in-store. Expect this space to remain hot as legacy platforms seek acquisitions to fill their gaps in these digital to in-store integrations.
3. Inventory management is hot but with a new driver: Dealers remain actively focused on inventory, but are no longer singularly focused on sourcing vehicles. With interest rates and resulting floor plan expenses rising over the last year, dealers are now focused on flooring and moving the right inventory. Expect inventory management to remain hot as long as interest rates continue raising.
If you want to discuss this subject further, please schedule a meeting with our Director Lawrence Pier.
ComCap also publishes its Automotive Retail Software Market Activity Report that covers key themes, market landscape, recent transactions, and a list of the most active investors within the sector. Please find our Auto Report here.
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