More than 225 GM dealers in California have agreed to the pilot program.
When General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said that online shopping was coming during a press conference last month, it was before the details were agreed with eBay. Now they have been resolved and couple of hundred participating California Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Pontiac dealers will be open for business online.
The new car shopping website, gm.ebay.com, will be available to consumers from August 11 through September 8, 2009 will make online shopping a reality. It comes at a time when GM marketing is having trouble with sales; they are off 19% in July while the industry was off only 12%. It is not immediately clear, how the program differs from those of the many dealers who are already independently conducting business online, except that it offers easier access to many dealers at on web site.
Consumers will be able to browse hundreds of dealer online showrooms, ask questions, negotiate prices, and arrange financing and payment to purchase a new 2008, 2009 or “select” 2010 car, crossover or truck models.
More than 225 GM dealers in California have agreed to the pilot program. GM says that shoppers can at any given time expect to see a wide selection of up to 20,000 new GM vehicles at “very competitive prices.”
Vehicles will be offered through eBay Motors’ standard formats such as “Buy It Now,” where shoppers agree to pay the advertised price, and “Best Offer,” where buyers indicate the price they are willing to pay and can negotiate online with the dealer.
GM says the site also will allow consumers to compare pricing across models or participating dealerships, get tips and advice with a Buyer Checklist, and determine the value of their trade-in or whether their current vehicle may also qualify for government funded “Cash for Clunkers” incentives.
“With 12 million individual car shoppers visiting our site every month, eBay Motors has unique insight into how people prefer to buy their cars,” said Rob Chesney, vice president, eBay Motors. “Through this program, we are helping GM dealers to extend their physical showroom while at the same time delivering to our buyers the great deals and broad selection they expect from eBay.”
A recent J.D. Power & Associates study said more than 75% percent of new-vehicle buyers in 2008 used the web during their shopping and research process, compared with 70% in 2007. The study also found that 2008 marked the largest year-over-year increase in online automotive shopping since 2001.
Complete program details including participating GM dealer inventory available through individual GM brand websites that can be found at gm.ebay.com, chevrolet.ebay.com, buick.ebay.com, gmc.ebay.com, and pontiac.ebay.com.
While providing Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC dealers an efficient method to use ebay to extend their sales reach….I am not sure that calling it GM.ebay.com is the right solution.
The brands that people can buy are Chevy, Caddy, Buick, and GMC….you can not buy a GM. Money spent to promote the GM name is really not money well spent. While most Americans are aware that GM had a bankrutcy…and do not think that is a good thing…they are less likely to attach that stigma to one of the individual brands…unless GM continues to reinforce the attachment by grouping all of their brands on a single GM site.
The individual brands and their products need more exposure and better advertising. GM as a business entity does not need any advertising. It needs to improve its performance by having its individual brands succeed. If they want to work to see that GM stock will have some takers when it is offered to the public, a open and honest PR effort will yield better results than a clever and expensive advertising effort.
Build strong and differentiated promises for each of the 4 brands, keep well designed, high quality cars flowing, and respond in a timely manner when there are changes in the marketplace. If they can accomplish this, even GM may succeed.
good point, but they’re saying the GM/ebay co-branded site is kind of an entry portal to distinct eBay sites corresponding to the four GM brands. But I see your point.