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Dealership Marketing

Tips For Selling More Cars With Digital Merchandising

Important tips on how to improve your vehicle merchandising online to attract more customers and move more inventory.

tiny toy cars lined up on a windowsill

Digital merchandising uses digital tools and strategies to showcase and sell products or services. In retail automotive, specifically, it’s the art of showing off your vehicles in the most appealing way possible.

Gone are the days of spinning car pedestals on your lot and big bows on hoods. Modern car shoppers are online, and converting those browsers into buyers calls for visually stunning photos and videos of your inventory.

So, where do you start when it comes to wowing your customers with your online vehicle merchandising? If you’re looking to outshine and outsell your competition online, these digital merchandising tips are for you!

 

Inventory Merchandising Tips For Dealers (That Work!)

  1. Take high-quality photos and videos. This might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many photos we see with thumbs covering the camera lens or shadows hiding important parts of the vehicle. Modern phones are surprisingly good at capturing quality photos. Still, it might also be worthwhile to invest in proper equipment, training, or creating a dedicated position at your dealership for this role.

  2. More is more! Show off your vehicles from every angle and include close-ups of special features or customizations.

  3. Avoid using stock images or adding watermarks to your photos. If you need to use stock images while waiting for inventory to arrive (when it's in pre-order status), swap in your real photos as quickly as possible.


A recent study by Kelley Blue Book found that 90 percent of customers prefer to view real photos of vehicles they’re interested in buying rather than stock photography.


  1. Be creative. Think outside the box regarding how you present your vehicles online. Use visually appealing layouts, add virtual walk-arounds or 360-degree videos, and consider using interactive features like augmented reality.

  2. Include all the important information. Make sure to include details about the make, model, year, mileage, and other features or amenities that shoppers might be interested in. This will help potential customers make informed decisions and increase the likelihood of a sale.

  3. Be upfront about the condition of the vehicle. If you’re hiding information online, your customers may feel misled when they see the vehicle in person - and reviews about that type of shady business will spread fast.

Make Your Inventory Merchandising Foolproof With FlexDealer

Our number one tip for dealers is to work with a provider that can make your digital marketing efforts as simple and effective as possible. At FlexDealer, we have a wealth of experience in vehicle merchandising and marketing using our LiftKit Inventory platform. We've designed our system to identify and fix common issues that dealers face, helping you properly merchandise your vehicles and promote them to potential buyers.


Don't let missing details or complicated tech hold you back – we help you maximize the impact of your marketing dollars!

Connect With FlexDealer


How Inventory Management and Merchandising Can Help Dealers Sell More Cars

Proper merchandising on your website is critical to ensuring your vehicles are ready to be promoted through various digital marketing channels where they can draw more high-intent buyers to your dealership. But besides the more immediate benefits of “see it and buy it” that digital merchandising provides, there are also some long-term benefits of investing in a trustworthy inventory software provider for new and used car dealers:

  1. Improved online presence. A dealership's website is often the first point of contact for potential customers. By investing in a website and/or inventory software provider that optimizes this process for you, dealers can create a more user-friendly and visually appealing website that stands the test of time.

  2. Personalized recommendations. Your inventory software should provide reports that help you make personalized recommendations to your customers and order inventory that is more highly in demand in your area. Our Inventory Reporting Dashboard has these (and many more!) capabilities, helping our dealer partners provide a curated shopping experience for their customers.

  3. Increased transparency. Digital merchandising can help dealerships build transparency about their pricing, available inventory, and vehicle details. This builds customer trust and makes them more likely to purchase from your dealership for years to come.

Build Your Inventory Merchandising Toolbox With FlexDealer

Inventory merchandising is all about making your vehicles look good online! In a competitive market, utilizing digital tools to effectively showcase and sell vehicles can give dealers an edge and set them apart from their competition. You can greatly impact vehicle sales at your dealership with quality strategies and trustworthy dealer software.

If you’d like to talk more about your dealership’s inventory merchandising and marketing strategies or explore our range of inventory and marketing solutions for car and RV dealers, please don’t hesitate to send us a message, and one of our team members will reach out to you!


Sarah Strehler      

Sarah Strehler      

Sarah is a passionate writer, educator, and marketer. Her creativity knows no bounds and she's eager to help dealers think outside the box - and have a bit of fun in the process.

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