This piece, the full version of which appears in the upcoming Dec. 15 print edition of Auto Remarketing, delves into the recent quarterly results and developing trends at publicly traded online auto marketplaces CarGurus, Cars.com and TrueCar.

Each of these companies released their third-quarter results in November and held accompanying earnings calls.

We share the top-of-mind trends at each company; next up is TrueCar in Part III. 

Part I can be found here 

Part II can be found here

TrueCar ups focus on Millennials, women

TrueCar in 2020 will up its advertising spend to attract millennial and women car shoppers, the company said during its third-quarter financial highlights conference call. A rebranding effort is in the works for release in first-quarter 2020, one of several initiatives to provide incremental value to consumers.

“The rebrand is designed to broaden appeal amongst two crucial segments, millennials and women,” said interim president and CEO Mike Darrow. “Research suggests millennials will represent approximately 40% of new car sales in 2020. It also points to women influencing or purchasing 80% or more vehicles sold in North America.”

The company’s rebranding will feature a new TrueCar logo designed to appeal to and attract more buyers from within these two groups. “I’m excited by the positive results that we expect it to drive next year and into the future,” Darrow said.

TrueCar is also developing products to give consumers more choice into how they engage and communicate with dealers.

“So far, we’ve learned that when we give consumers more control, they are more satisfied with their overall experience and convert to a car sale at a much higher rate,” Darrow said. “We believe we have the opportunity to more intelligently guide consumers through their car-buying experience journey.”

The company has tested machine learning to help it segment audiences, tailor marketing messages and deliver a more personalized shopping experience. For its OEM partners, TrueCar said it is “looking to understand what is in consumers’ current garage. Our trade-in product helps us understand this, and as you can imagine, the OEMs are interested … to win a conversion,” Darrow said.

For its third-quarter 2019, TrueCar, from its financial highlights report, reported:

  • Third-quarter total revenue down 3% from a year ago at $90.6 million
  • Total dealer count of 16,953 dealers, up 6% year-over-year
  • Total franchise dealer count of 12,711 dealers, up 1% year-over-year
  • Monthly franchisee revenue per franchise dealer of $1,786
  • Total independent dealer count of 4,242 dealers, up 22% year-over-year
  • Monthly independent revenue per independent dealer of $831
  • TrueCar users purchased 267,821 units from TrueCar Certified Dealers, flat year-over-year
  • New-car market share of 4.7%, down 10% year-over-year

Darrow cited several initiatives designed to help TrueCar deliver an improved customer experience and retain customers. These include product innovation, stabilization of truecar.com traffic, increased share “grab” in the used car market, “with unit volumes up 20% year-over-year in the quarter, and sales through affinity partner such as Sam’s Club and American Express, for example,” he said.

He said TrueCar’s new dealer products, sponsored listings and TrueCar reach have been adopted by more than 500 dealers. “Dealers who have adopted sponsored listings are on average receiving three times more leads and five times more vehicle detail page or VDP views for the vehicles in the program,” Darrow said.