Sonic adds leaders for online retailing push

Sonic Automotive Inc. has hired two new executives to help expand its online retailing efforts, an initiative company leaders say is key to their strategy to more than double the dealership group's annual revenue by 2025.

Last month, Steve Wittman joined Sonic, the nation's sixth-largest new-vehicle retailer, as its first chief digital retail officer, and Stephen Conrad joined as vice president of e-commerce, also a new position.

Wittman, who will report to President Jeff Dyke, will oversee expansion of the company's online retailing platform at franchised dealerships and EchoPark standalone used-vehicle stores.

Wittman most recently was vice president of global e-commerce for Hertz Corp. for about two years and before that worked as associate brand director for Proctor & Gamble Co., among other positions with the consumer goods company.

Conrad, who will report to Wittman and work with outside vendors, comes to Sonic from Belk Inc., where he was director of e-commerce digital experience and site operations for the department store chain.

Sonic also named Marti Eulberg, who was instrumental in creating the EchoPark brand, as its first chief creative officer. Eulberg, 56, had been director of the company's brand management since 2012. She will report to Dyke and will work with Wittman, Conrad and Chief Marketing Officer Rachel Richards to align the company's online sales platforms with its "guest experience and brand management standards," according to Sonic.

The new positions follow a July announcement that Sonic had partnered with Darwin Automotive and Cox Automotive to create a digital retailing platform for EchoPark and its franchised stores.

Dyke, in a call with analysts late last month, said Wittman and Conrad will lead the evolution of Sonic's omnichannel platform. Omnichannel refers to the online shopping technology that helps provide customers a seamless buying experience whether they shop online, in store or both.

In the third quarter, about 15 percent of EchoPark vehicle sales started online before customers went into a store to pick up a vehicle, the company said. Sonic plans to build EchoPark to 140 or more locations in five years, up from 13 today.

"Our goal is to ensure car buyers can purchase a new or pre-owned vehicle in the way that suits them best — online, in person or a hybrid of both," Dyke said in a statement.

Dyke, in the Oct. 29 call, said Sonic is working on a more complete and easier-to-use digital retailing platform that could be rolled out by the end of 2021.

"The best-in-class right now has 10 to 15 touchpoints," Dyke told analysts. "We're building out a solution that allows the consumer to go end-to-end, with no touchpoints, buy a vehicle, do it very easily, very few clicks and deliver on that promise."

Sonic hasn't disclosed how much it is investing in the digital retailing expansion effort.

J.P. Morgan analyst Rajat Gupta, in an Oct. 30 note to investors, mentioned the hires and the upgrades coming to Sonic's online technology.

"We believe having a robust digital platform to complement the company's EchoPark expansion plan will be key to hitting long-term targets," Gupta said.