This collaboration aimed to achieve unparalleled insights into consumer and dealer behaviors, streamline operations, and ultimately enhance the car buying and selling experience. The strategic deployment of Ataccama ONE MDM has empowered Autotrader to achieve remarkable milestones.
Key results
- Unified dealer view: Consolidated data across 30 different disparate systems
- Expansive consumer insights: Enhanced 8 to 10 million unique consumer records
- Better selling opportunities: Targeted marketing approach, leading to higher conversion rates
- Increased revenue from dealers: Autotrader saw an uptick in leads purchased by dealers
- Enhanced consumer experience: Improved single-sign-on experience in the “My Garage” portal based on trusted consumer data
- Lean implementation: A dedicated team of 4 individuals spearheading the MDM project
A fragmented view of consumers and dealers requires data consolidation
AutoTrader’s interim Chief Technology Officer and Chief Architect knows Ataccama well. At each of Jeff Wilts’s previous tenures, such as Canadian Tire, Canada’s third largest general merchandising retailer, he has been faced with data and analytics challenges and consistently turned to Ataccama for support.
At AutoTrader, he faced similar challenges. Disparate consumer data and siloed systems hindered the company’s growth. This prevented a comprehensive view of individual buyers and sellers, as well as dealers, which are critical to the company’s business model. He recognized the critical need to understand the nuances of their diverse consumer base, with over 70% of Canada’s car sales happening through their platform.
“Because our insights into consumer and dealer interactions were limited, we missed opportunities for targeted engagement and revenue generation. Our dual focus on consumer preferences and what dealers want required a robust operational MDM solution.”
Jeff Wilts - Chief Architect Digital, Autotrader Canada
Segmentation before success: A dual-pronged approach
Recognizing an opportunity for change and the interconnected challenges that were impeding their growth, the CTO split his ambitions into two separate yet complementary paths:
- Elevating consumer insights: AutoTrader’s focus consistently leaned towards dealer preferences, inadvertently sidelining the consumer’s voice. The lack of a granular understanding of consumer interactions and behaviors was a gap John was determined to bridge. The inception of the Consumer Actions Tool (CAT), powered by Ataccama’s MDM, would mark the first step towards this transformation.
- Streamlining dealer relations: In parallel, the dealer segment presented a complex data landscape across over 30 disparate systems. This fragmentation resulted in a need for more coherent insights into dealer profiles, tool usage, and purchase history, complicating even the most basic customer service operations. Implementing a dedicated Dealer MDM system emerged as a critical solution to unify this fragmented landscape.
The aim for both was a better, single view of both groups that could be combined later down the line for ultimate visibility—as he had done with Ataccama at previous organizations.
“As the leadership team already trusted our customer-centric vision, it didn’t take long to convince them Ataccama ONE MDM would solve all our problems in one solution.”
Jeff Wilts - Chief Architect Digital, Autotrader Canada
MDM enables better consumer engagement
The Consumer MDM, operational for nearly two years now, is the core solution powering the Consumer Actions Tool (CAT). This platform serves as a dynamic repository of consumer interactions, behaviors, and preferences. It aggregates, analyzes, and leverages consumer data to drive targeted marketing and improve customer relations.
“I wanted data to build a more targeted marketing approach for consumers. CAT allows us to build comprehensive profiles as consumers interact with our platform. From anonymous browsers to verified users, CAT evolves the consumer profile, enabling us to offer personalized experiences across our ecosystem. All this wouldn’t be possible without Ataccama ONE MDM.”
Jeff Wilts - Chief Architect Digital, Autotrader Canada
To achieve this level of success, Ataccama harnessed the power of AWS to ensure robust and scalable operations. We used Kubernetes clusters to orchestrate control planes, seamlessly integrating with EC2 instances for reliable computing capacity. We also relied on AWS’s standard storage solutions to guarantee high data availability & performance and enhanced customer connectivity & security through AWS PrivateLink. This architecture optimizes operational efficiency and ensures our application remains secure, scalable, and highly available.
Implementing Consumer MDM has allowed AutoTrader to optimize its marketing efforts and significantly improve the quality of leads provided to dealers. We managed to enhance the overall efficacy of the sales process and directly contribute to increased revenue through dealer satisfaction.
Improved dealer relations: The road to operational effectiveness
While the Consumer MDM journey reflects a story of completion and success, the Dealer MDM implementation is an ongoing narrative. Launched a year ago, the Dealer MDM currently integrates data for one out of seven business lines, specifically vehicle financing, with the ambition to extend this integration across the remaining lines.
“Our dealer information was scattered across over 30 different systems. The Dealer MDM, or what we call the MDM bridge, is key to consolidating dealer information and simplifying communication. It will facilitate a single billing process rather than processing many bills via different lines of business. Ataccama ONE MDM catalyzed our transformation.”
Jeff Wilts - Chief Architect Digital, Autotrader Canada
The Dealer MDM’s implementation underscores AutoTrader’s strategic vision to achieve a single view of its customers—both consumers and dealers. This initiative is instrumental in resolving miscommunications and overlaps in dealer interactions, thereby fostering more effective engagements and increasing revenue.
Another successful Ataccama integration towards a unified future
The journey with Ataccama ONE MDM is a testament to Autotrader’s commitment to leveraging data for strategic advantages. While the Consumer MDM with CAT has matured, offering a robust platform for consumer engagement and lead generation, the Dealer MDM journey is still unfolding.
AutoTrader aims to standardize and move more critical data into its MDM implementation in the future:
- 6 different billing tools
- 4 instances of CRM tools
- More consumer records, as they have over 50 million active users each month.
“The next step is to achieve a single view of the customer and standardize our systems. We want to incorporate advanced functionalities around financing, full consent, and preference centers to give our business units access to even more trusted data.”
Jeff Wilts - Chief Architect Digital, Autotrader Canada
