ADESA begins Web site switch
Goals: More online capabilities, features
 | Kelly: Sought dealer input |
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ADESA has a new, enhanced remarketing Web site that eventually will replace its current adesa.com.
The new platform strengthens the nation's second-largest auction company's position in online vehicles sales and makes it more competitive with Manheim, the nation's largest auction company.
Dealers who log on to the current adesa.com can still use it to view vehicle listings and buy and sell used cars and trucks online -- for the time being -- or switch to next.adesa.com, created by Openlane, a wholly owned subsidiary of ADESA.
The new site debuted Dec. 12 and is the only site available to dealers who log on to openlane.com, also owned by ADESA. ADESA's parent, KAR Auction Services Inc., acquired Openlane, an online-only remarketing site in October 2011. Openlane supports ADESA's online platform.
Openlane CEO Peter Kelly says the new site is a step toward integrating ADESA's and Openlane's existing Web sites and marketplaces into a single site.
"We solicited a lot of dealer input," Kelly says.
Once the Web site merger is complete -- either late in the first quarter of 2013 or early in the second quarter -- the new site will take the name adesa.com. The names openlane.com and next.adesa.com will be discontinued, Kelly says.
For years, ADESA has had a strong presence in physical auctions, but its online auction presence lacked similar strength. KAR acquired Openlane to beef up ADESA's online technology capabilities and online auction sales.
Openlane was expected to generate approximately $100 million in revenue and sell more than 300,000 vehicles to dealers in 2011.
Neither KAR nor Manheim reports annual unit auction sales. But in its 2011 annual report KAR said ADESA, not counting Openlane, represented about 22 percent of the 7.7 million vehicles sold by National Auto Auction Association members. That document also estimated that Manheim accounted for up to 50 percent of those sales.
ADESA's third-quarter 2012 online sales, which included Openlane, accounted for 28 percent of its overall sales, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November. ADESA has 53 auction sites in the United States.
Manheim, in its 2012 third-quarter update located on its Web site, says 25 percent of its sales are through its online properties. It has 67 sites in the United States, including one in Puerto Rico.
Dealers using next.adesa.com can post vehicles for sale online from their computers. They can see how many people are viewing their listings and vehicle bid history and can adjust a vehicle's price. Next.adesa.com's mobile site also allows dealers to see a history of their past vehicle purchases, a feature that is not available on the old mobile site.
You can reach Arlena Sawyers at asawyers@crain.com.
