Manheim enters 2004 with a growing suite of technology services that are allowing its customers to gain real-time insight into market conditions and buy or sell vehicles at every stage of the remarketing cycle.
Currently, there are approximately 65,000 dealers registered with Manheim Online, the company’s hub for Internet-based services, representing two-thirds of all U.S. dealers. Manheim sold more than 200,000 vehicles online in 2003, and has sold more than $8 billion worth of cars electronically since 1996.
“While there were pricing challenges for auto sellers in 2003, Manheim and our customers undertook many successful initiatives to fortify used car prices,” said Dean Eisner, president and CEO, Manheim. “Technology played a vital role. We created new ways of doing business, like Simulcast, which has allowed more participation in our live sales, and is part of assuring that cars at Manheim can be marketed and sold at the most appropriate stage of their remarketing cycle.”
Eisner said 2003 will go down as the year when several technologies hit their strides, and the momentum is building in 2004. Among the Manheim technologies he cited were:
Upstream Selling: The ability to buy and sell vehicles before they reach the end of their contract terms. This remarketing tool allows consignors to manage cash flow and inventory, and cycle vehicles on regular schedules. For dealers, it is a way to establish an inventory of high-quality vehicles weeks or months in advance.
Simulcast: Manheim’s Simulcast allows dealers to remotely access a live auction by using an Internet connection and is available in 305 lanes at 70 of Manheim’s North American auctions. Action is real-time. For consignors, Simulcast brings a wider audience of buyers to the lanes for their sales, exposing their vehicles to dealers across the country and providing yet another convenient sale avenue. In 2003, more than 21,000 dealers attended Manheim sales via Simulcast an average of 5-6 times and recorded more than 307,000 online bids. Of the 1 million cars offered during Simulcast sales, more than 740,000 were sold, purchased by dealers online or in the lanes, demonstrating that Simulcast’s very presence often enhanced the value of vehicles running through the lanes.
Dealer Exchange: Set to launch in 2004, Dealer Exchange will provide dealers a better way to offer aging and unwanted inventory directly to other dealers. By creating an online community with personalization capabilities, Manheim will provide dealers another way to sell to other dealers with the safety, integrity, and larger pool of buyers and sellers that come with auctions.
Cyberlots: A remarketing tool that started in 1996, Cyberlots have been enhanced in recent years to their current level and have proven to be one of the most used applications in online remarketing. Dealers with large or small inventories have a voice with this application. By creating a central bank of used vehicles, Manheim’s Cyberlots continue to offer dealers efficient remarketing options. In 2003, a record 185,000 vehicles were sold through Cyberlots.
Cinema Sales: Cinema-style auctions, a widely used format in Japan, allow dealers to view still images, condition reports. and other vital information on each vehicle projected on large video screens as dealers sit comfortably in a theater-type atmosphere. Cinema sales are almost always coupled with Simulcast sales, so this mechanism draws even more potential buyers to a sale.
