DENVER -- Marti Eulberg likes what she sees on social media reviews of EchoPark, Sonic Automotive Inc.'s used-only car dealership.
"Every month we do word clouds and look at what the customer is saying the most about us," said Eulberg, brand director for Sonic. "It's 'experience, experience, experience.'
"If you look at any of the reviews that are on social media, it's all about the experience, which is ultimately what we're trying to deliver."
Sonic opened its first EchoPark store here seven months ago and followed it with two satellite stores, also in the Denver area. The dealership group aims to eventually have EchoPark stores in more than 50 markets nationwide.
So far, the stores are meeting Sonic's expectations. The group's leaders declined to give financial specifics, but they said the stores are profitable in sales and finance and insurance and are building customer-pay service revenue.
Eulberg led the development of EchoPark. She is a former CEO of Maserati North America who also has worked in sales and marketing for Volvo in both North America and Europe and for BMW and Jaguar in North America. She joined Sonic in 2012.
Over 18 months, she traveled 15,000 miles and shot 160 hours of video, visiting various retail stores, high-end hotels and rival dealerships, including the nation's largest used-car retailer: CarMax Inc., which has two stores in the Denver market and will open two more there in mid-June.
She adopted best practices from all of them for EchoPark.