Cox Automotive plays a critical role in maintaining the complex network of dealers, manufacturers, and vendors that comprise the modern automotive industry. Not only does the company provide essential services and insights to those in the car business, but it also remains at the forefront of technological innovation and market research, ensuring the sector can continue to evolve and adapt.
On this episode of Inside Automotive, host Jim Fitzpatrick is joined by Ken Kraft, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Cox Automotive. Kraft has been an important part of the company’s efforts to expand its portfolio of solutions and brands and brings more than 30 years of leadership experience to its executive team. His insights into the car business make him one of the industry’s foremost experts on the marketing strategies, business management skills, and third-party products needed to run a successful dealership. Now, he shares details of an exciting new initiative that will re-align the company’s offerings to better serve automotive retailers across the U.S.
Key Takeaways
1. Cox Automotive is reorganizing its services to compensate for changes in the retail automotive landscape and ensure dealers have access to the products they need to achieve success.
2. Through extensive market research, Cox Automotive identified four needs that clients had in relationship to the business products they used. Overall, clients needed more solutions than individual point products, fewer sales and support resources, a seamless experience across the buyer journey, and a single brand from which to purchase their services.
3. To meet these needs, Cox Automotive has streamlined its portfolio of more than 60 brands and products into 13 consolidated, power-house trademarks, creating a more cohesive look through recognizable icons and visible endorsements from the Cox Automotive company. Dealers will now have better, faster access to the tools they depend on to run their businesses.
4. No brands will be eliminated as part of this initiative. Neither will Kelley Blue Book nor Autotrader be affected by this change. However, the company does expect to re-prioritize its focus to the most powerful and in-demand products and services.
5. The 2024 NADA conference in February will be the launching pad for Cox Automotive’s new brand architecture, although dealers will begin to see changes before the conference takes place. Read more about the company’s participation in the event by visiting their website here.
"By staying focused on our clients, our client's needs, and also continuing our team along the journey, we were really able to take emotion out of the equation and really base a lot of our decisions on what our customers' expectations and needs are. And by doing that, everyone at Cox Automotive is super excited about our new approach. We're actually starting to hear now from our clients as well, and the positive feedback has been overwhelming." — Ken Kraft
