Cobalt Group Reports 1999 Auto Dealer Web Site Traffic Soared 106%
17 February 2000
The Cobalt Group Reports 1999 Auto Dealer Web Site Traffic Soared 106 Percent
SEATTLE--Feb. 16, 2000--Marketing Fuel the Increased Use of Dealer Sites
The Cobalt Group , a leading provider of Internet solutions and business-to-business services to the automotive industry, today announced that average monthly traffic to its dealer customers' Web sites more than doubled in 1999.
Monthly page views hit a record high of 16.5 million in November, finishing December at 15.3 million -- a 106 percent increase over year-end 1998.
Since the majority of online car shopping Web sites do not link their visitors to dealer sites, this surge in dealer volume can be attributed to traffic passed along from manufacturer sites and generated through dealers' own marketing programs. Capitalizing on this increase in consumer interest, dealers with existing sites are upgrading their Web capabilities at a pace well ahead of Cobalt projections.
"This remarkable growth rate demonstrates that dealers are firmly in control of their own destinies on the Internet," said John Holt, president and CEO of The Cobalt Group. "They are creating Web-based sales and service solutions that attract Internet-savvy consumers, and building loyalty through advanced customer relationship management techniques."
To illustrate that dealers are moving ahead aggressively, Holt cited Cobalt customer AutoNation, Inc. whose Internet vehicle sales increased tenfold in 1999. That volume generated more than $1 billion in revenue from car sales to online shoppers.
Holt added that smaller dealerships are experiencing significant growth in Web activity as well, noting that during the course of the year one of Cobalt's most successful Internet customers, Atlanta Toyota, attracted more than 60,000 home page views - an average of nearly 165 unique visitors per day - and nearly 500,000 total page views.
To help dealers further extend their leadership in automotive e-commerce, the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA), which represents more than 19,500 franchised new-car and -truck dealers in the U.S., recently endorsed two Cobalt Web solutions packages, and Cobalt is creating a comprehensive consumer automotive portal for NADA that will provide easy access to NADA dealers' Web sites and new and used vehicle inventories.
"Consumers see through the hype around third-party online car shopping services. They know that they can achieve superior sales and service results by working directly with Web-enabled dealers they know and trust," said Holt. "When it comes to e-commerce, it's clear that dealers are doing it for themselves."
About the Cobalt Group
The Cobalt Group(TM) , based in Seattle, is a leading provider of Internet-based products and services for the automotive industry. Through Internet-based application development and hosting, data management, and online referral services, Cobalt helps dealers, dealer groups and automobile manufacturers harness the power of the Internet to realize new efficiencies, win new prospects and better serve their customers.
With approximately 5,200 dealer Web site clients, over 10,000 dealers using its parts locating system, and relationships with 16 automotive manufacturers and more than 50 of the 100 largest dealer groups in the United States, Cobalt is one of the leading technology companies serving the automotive industry. Cobalt operates MotorPlace.com(TM) (www.motorplace.com), a business-to-business vertical portal for the automotive industry; DealerNet(R) (www.dealernet.com), one of the best-known automotive destination sites on the Web; and PartsVoice(R) (www.partsvoice.com), a leading OEM auto parts locating and data management service. The Cobalt Group also owns IntegraLink Corporation the auto industry's premier provider of advanced data extraction and reporting services.
Cobalt offers Web site services that are endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association.
For more information, please visit The Cobalt Group at www.cobaltgroup.com.