Cars.com Delivers Three Times More Dealer Website Referrals Compared to Nearest Auto Marketplace Competitors

Driven by 76% Organic Audience,2 Cars.com Leads Third-Party Marketplaces in Direct Referral Traffic1 and Delivers Shoppers Twice as Likely to Buy3

News provided by

Cars.com Inc.

Feb 09, 2021, 10:48 ET

CHICAGO, Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the 2021 Virtual National Automobile Dealers Association Show kicks off this week on Feb 9-11, Cars.com (NYSE: CARS), a leading digital marketplace and solutions provider for the automotive industry, announced today that it sends three times more ready-to-buy car shoppers to dealership websites compared to its nearest marketplace competitors.¹ Internal data further indicates that, driven by its 76% organic audience², Cars.com shoppers who transition from its marketplace to a dealer's website purchase cars at twice the rate of those who solely visit a dealer website.³

"Shoppers want a platform that's easy to use and gives them the opportunity to seamlessly transition back and forth between a marketplace and dealer's website, " said Doug Miller, chief revenue officer at Cars.com. "Dealers have started to realize that chasing magic keywords and 'Likes' doesn't change their end game, and that being forced to compete on price alone is detrimental to their profitability. With the CARS platform and technology, dealers compete on experience, connect with real people who are in-market and ready to buy, and they sell more cars."

Cars.com has enabled a multidimensional online shopping environment that helps dealers compete not just on price, but in everything shoppers value about the car-buying experience: near real-time inventory of 50,000 cars added daily,⁴ virtual services, home delivery, access to reputable reviews, and the ability to connect with local dealers and salespeople. The CARS family of brands equips dealers to engage in-market shoppers with research, selection and connection from Cars.com; online reputation tools from DealerRater; digital retailing solutions from Dealer Inspire; and custom interactive digital video content from FUEL.

The Result: Cars.com Accelerates Sales

With more than 25 million monthly unique shoppers on its site,⁴ new research has revealed that Cars.com delivers three times more website referrals directly into dealership websites, compared to its nearest third-party competitors.¹

In a separate study, it was found that consumers who shopped on Cars.com and then went to a dealer website are two times more likely to buy a car than shoppers who only visit a dealer website. These shoppers also look at 19 more Vehicle Details Pages, and they are less likely to bounce.³ In short, access to the Cars.com audience helps dealer and OEM partners sell more cars faster.

Miller added, "With unmatched organic traffic, Cars.com will continue funneling unique ready-to-buy shoppers into digital dealer sites that convert into sales, and our game-changing websites, reputation management and digital video platforms just elevate these returns. All the pieces work together for big results."

Visit Cars.com and its other properties, including Dealer Inspire, DealerRater and FUEL, at the 2021 Virtual NADA Show on the show platform here.

^{1 Dealer Inspire Case Study (Total referral sessions for more than 3,000 dealership websites), April-September 2020
2 Cars.com Internal Data, Adobe Analytics, Q3 2020
3 Internal Dealer Inspire Data, Roxanne Event Tracking Pixel looking at cross-shoppers on Cars.com and DI websites, Feb. 1, 2021
4 Internal Cars.com data, January 2021}

About CARS

CARS is a leading digital marketplace and solutions provider for the automotive industry that connects car shoppers with sellers. Launched in 1998 with the flagship marketplace Cars.com and headquartered in Chicago, the Company empowers shoppers with the data, resources and digital tools needed to make informed buying decisions and seamlessly connect with automotive retailers. In a rapidly changing market, CARS enables dealerships and OEMs with innovative technical solutions and data-driven intelligence to better reach and influence ready-to-buy shoppers, increase inventory turn and gain market share.

In addition to Cars.com, CARS companies include Dealer Inspire, a technology provider building solutions that future-proof dealerships with more efficient operations and connected digital experiences, FUEL, which gives dealers and OEMs the opportunity to harness the untapped power of digital video by leveraging Cars.com's pure audience of in-market car shoppers, and DealerRater, a leading car dealer review and reputation management platform.

The full suite of CARS properties include Cars.com™, Dealer Inspire®, DealerRater®, FUEL™, Auto.com™, PickupTrucks.com™ and NewCars.com®. For more information, visit www.Cars.com.