Dealership group's online platform a holiday hit

After the coronavirus pandemic triggered a statewide shelter-in-place order and confined many customers to their homes, Jim Ellis Automotive Group made new strides in selling online — through the Jim Ellis Express Way.

The Jim Ellis Express Way, first launched in April 2019, is the online platform customers can use to receive appraisals on their trade-ins, configure finances and build a deal for one of the thousands of vehicles in inventory at the 18-store dealership group in metro Atlanta. After the deal is submitted, Jim Ellis employees complete the order and deliver the vehicle to the customer's home or office.

In May, the dealership group used the platform to hold a virtual Memorial Day weekend sale at all of its stores.

Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, Jim Ellis sold 400 vehicles during the six-day "At-Home Memorial Day Savings Event." That nearly kept pace with the 413 vehicles sold during the retailer's more traditional Memorial Day sales event in 2019.

Jimmy Ellis, group president, told Automotive News that about 18 percent of the event's sales occurred online. Others were carried out completely in-store or through a mix of online and in-store processes.

The point "was for people to come online and engage us during that period in the process as a virtual sale," Ellis said.

And it worked.

Many customers shared their approval of the Jim Ellis Express Way after the sale, he said. Some even sent letters to the company's general managers and vice presidents with variations of this message: " 'I was amazed at how simple and easy and hassle-free it was; I was expecting the worst,' " Ellis said.

Customers added that while they were at first wary of using the platform because of horror stories they'd heard about buying vehicles, they experienced the "absolute opposite," he said.

Jim Ellis Automotive, which represents 14 brands and sold 28,000 vehicles in 2019, donated $35,000 of proceeds from the virtual sales event to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

While the group's online platform has been around for nearly a year, more customers began using it after the crisis hit in March.

Karinn Chavarria, Jim Ellis events and content marketing manager, said about 20 percent of the retailer's sales were at-home deliveries in April. That dropped to 10 percent in May after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp lifted the shelter-in-place order for most residents. But before the crisis, only about 3 percent of sales were at-home deliveries, she said.

"This year, with the pandemic, we simply had to pivot the way our consumers could have access to mobility," Chavarria said.

At-home deliveries have been especially helpful for older, homebound residents, she added.

The Memorial Day event was the dealership group's first online holiday campaign. But going forward, moving more processes online is only natural, Ellis said, because of "the transition of the auto retail environment from an analog world to a digital world."

"Dealer groups around the country have to recognize that if we're going to be successful in competing in the new retail environment, then we're going to have to become more digital," Ellis said. "That's the way it is."