Cars Commerce Platform Helps Retailers Sell More Cars, Faster

Company's Connected Platform on Full Display in Booth 1426 at the 2025 NADA Show This Month

CHICAGO, Jan. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com Inc. (NYSE: CARS) (d/b/a "Cars Commerce"), an audience-driven technology company empowering automotive, shares new data about the value of its connected platform. Dealer customers taking advantage of more than one of the platform's four core capabilities (Marketplace, Digital Experience, Trade & Appraisal and Media Network) on average receive up to 2x more leads and connections from consumers and sell inventory at least 10% faster than those using only one of the platform's capabilities.¹

"We've built an interoperable platform that helps our customers sell cars — plain and simple. Considering the most pressing challenges retailers are facing this year center around used-car acquisition strategies to drive more profit, audience targeting and competitive differentiation, I'm confident the Cars Commerce platform is the solution to drive sales, operational efficiency and profitability for our customers," said Alex Vetter, CEO of Cars Commerce.

According to a recent Cars Commerce survey, the top concerns of auto retailers in 2025 mimic challenges faced in 2024 — only their concern of acquiring more used cars more profitably grew 20 ppts year over year.² The top three 2025 dealer paint points are:

1. Acquiring more used vehicles, more profitability
2. Targeting higher quality in-market shoppers
3. Differentiating our dealership from competitors

The Cars Commerce platform offers technology and solutions to advertise inventory and unique dealership brands, target and reach in-market shoppers, manage reputation, efficiently acquire used inventory directly from consumers, promote and differentiate dealerships across marketplace and websites, and, ultimately, operate more efficiently with a single provider.

The Cars Commerce platform four core capabilities include:

• Marketplace: As the No. 1 most recognized automotive marketplace and largest automotive review platform³, Cars.com customers have the opportunity to showcase the full value of their inventory and consumer experience — beyond just price — to approximately 25 million unique, ready-to-buy shoppers each month. Generating the most website referrals per dealer compared to its closest competitors⁴, Cars.com confidently refers shoppers directly to the retail environment, where sales and service is best left to the pros.
  
  
• Digital Experience: Cars Commerce offers a next-generation digital experience through its industry-leading brand Dealer Inspire, with a recently upgraded website platform offering. Importantly, retailers who leverage a Dealer Inspire website and add a Cars.com marketplace package can sell their inventory, on average, four days faster than those leveraging only a Dealer Inspire website, gaining an approximately 10% lift in inventory turn time and seeing 40% more key events (forms, chat, click to call) to their website compared to dealers with only a Dealer Inspire website.⁵ Retailers attending NADA can access a new Website Health Report in the Cars Commerce booth to review performance and identify areas for optimization.
  
  
• Trade & Appraisal: With AccuTrade, retailers can gain a scalable appraisal profit engine. In 2024, retailers completed more than 2.5 million appraisals through AccuTrade with 45% more used-car acquisitions year over year.⁶ These dealers also unlocked new, profitable growth for their business by acquiring inventory directly from their service drives. Pairing AccuTrade's trade and appraisal technology with the Cars.com marketplace delivers a 90% lift in total leads, and those leads convert to double-digit higher sales.⁷ For retailers attending NADA, a new personalized Marketplace Inventory Score Report uses data science to determine whether a dealer's inventory could be at risk based on pedigree of the vehicle, supply and demand, and the dealership's ability to sell specific kinds of vehicles. For deeper insights to provide optimal exit / pricing strategies and the technology needed to manage poor or performing inventory, Cars Commerce will offer a sneak peek of their new inventory management system, AccuTrade Inventory Intelligence Platform, at the booth.
  
  
• Cars Commerce Media Network: In a new, simplified dealer product suite debuting at NADA 2025, the Cars Commerce Media Network offers four performance and brand media solutions powered by Cars.com's powerful audience. The offering aims to deliver on outcomes most important to retailers, including Awareness, Consideration, VDP Traffic and Turn Rate. According to a recent case study of 25 Cars Commerce media customers, it was found that Cars.com shoppers convert 5x higher than Google's audiences and Cars.com's cost-per-click is 32% lower than dealer first-party data.⁸ In addition, marketplace and/or website customers who add a media package consistently see double-digit improvements in connections.⁹

To follow Cars Commerce platform updates, visit here. To witness the Cars Commerce platform in action, visit booth No. 1426 at the 2025 NADA Show, the largest U.S. automotive event of the year, held at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Jan. 23-26.

¹ Based on an internal analysis of Cars Commerce ~18,000 customer base, October 2024
² Cars.com Internal Data, 309 survey responses from dealers and dealership personnel, November 2024 
³ Cars.com Brand Tracker, Q4 2024
⁴ Cars Commerce Internal Data, Dealer Inspire plus Marketplace referral data, Q2 2023
⁵ Internal Cars Commerce data and analysis looking at key events from 2,189 Dealer Inspire customers and 1,527 Dealer Inspire plus Cars.com marketplace customers, October 2024
⁶ Cars Commerce Internal data, Total Appraisals and Total Appraisals Won, January-December 2024
⁷ Cars Commerce internal data, January 2024
⁸ Cars Commerce Case Study with 25 Dealer Inspire plus Cars.com marketplace customers, October-December 2024
⁹ Cars Commerce internal data and analysis of Marketplace and Website customers plus addition of Media, January 2024

ABOUT CARS COMMERCE

Cars Commerce is an audience-driven technology company empowering automotive that simplifies everything about buying and selling cars. The Cars Commerce platform includes the flagship automotive marketplace and dealer reputation site Cars.com, innovative digital marketing technology and services from Dealer Inspire, industry-leading trade-in and appraisal technology from AccuTrade, an exclusive in-market media network, and powerful and predictive AI technologies that enable more efficient and profitable retail operations. Cars Commerce is the essential partner to stay one step ahead in automotive. Learn more at www.carscommerce.inc.

SOURCE Cars Commerce