General Motors dealerships began to raise concerns over the automaker’s sole website manager option, CDK Global. The company is GM’s preferred dealer website manager, but dealerships themselves said the websites are “clunky” and called for more options, Automotive News reported on Sunday.
Dealers aren’t forced to choose CDK Global, but GM incentivizes dealers to use the company for consistent messaging for every dealership. Many dealers aren’t happy with the service and called on GM to add more preferred options. GM executives in attendance hinted that solutions are on the horizon.
Aside from the CDK issues, dealers said the meeting was positive, though GM presented little new information. Instead, the focus was on increasing dealership profitability. Many dealers also asked for clarification on the revised Standards for Excellence program, which GM revised. The revision cut salesperson bonuses for 2018 from $225 to $150 per Chevrolet, Buick and GMC sold.
Comments
Maybe it has improved since I last tried, but it is (was) a challenge to find the Build and Price tool on GMs Canada sites. And once you do find it, it looks and feels dated compared to other manufacturers. Definitely a huge weak spot in the car buying/spec-ing experience.
When you pick an options package it should reflect that on the display picture of the vehicle.
So many times I’ve selected crew cab when configuring a truck, then when I select trim level it defaults back to regular cab.
It’s DEALER website, so like Auto Nation Los Angeles Buick and not Buick.com
What I find interesting about the Buick is the lack of good advertising. Being retired I find more time to watch TV and find it rare to see any Buick advertising. I have owned many luxury cars in my life from Cadillacs, Buicks and even the top of the line Jaguars. They all been fine cars. Recently i bought a 2017 Buick LaCrosse Premium with all the whistles and bells and find it to be a fantastic car. It is exceptionally quiet and drives great with more than enough power to get me out of trouble when needed. My only complaint is the 20 inch wheels which makes it ride a little harder than I like, but I love wheel design over the 18 inch. I originally had in mind to buy the new Regal but my wife didn’t care for it and suggested the LaCrosse. I had not even considered a LaCrosse before since I had not seen any adds for the LaCrosse. After researching the internet and reading every magazine report we decided to check one out. Not only was the price a factor (best buy for the dollar) but one great car. I feel if Buick would due a little aggressive advertising on the LaCrosse they would wake up some younger buyers
Dick Russ, wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick, I believe the jingle was something like that. GM might not be spending advertising dollars on the Buick because they are selling so well, I would prefer one to a Cadillac, dollar for dollar. I was disappointed that the Avenir and Riviera concepts were not built, both gorgeous vehicles.
It was frustratingly dysfunctional in the past. If it’s worse now, then it’s really bad!
Call it a hunch, but a mediocre web experience probably isn’t the best way to attract a younger clientele into the Buick fold …
A gathering of accommodating instruments to ensure you have all the GM support you require. You’ll discover everything from data on the worldwide store network to rebates to effective systems administration openings.
As someone who works with the back end of dealership website and CDK global on a daily basis, I can say that it is a horrible experience.
Strictly viewing from the outside-in (I’m sure there are some issues), but Porsche has a really nice, clean consistent web presence, and a quarterly e-newsletter that’s easy to navigate. And reinforces the brand.
Until a real web company like DealerOn is brought in GM sites will be pure trash that all look the same.
They are an absolute pain to manage from the back end. The software design is decent, but usability and adding new features to the site is virtually impossible without calling for support. There is no logical menu layout at all in the website configuration menu.
By far the best dealer web site I’ve been involved with is a company called Remora. Not sure why we’re switching again but we are. This will be my 5’th web site change and provider. Their desk top and mobile site is great. Super fast load speeds. Just hoping this new company is close to being as good as Remora has been for us.
More options for CDK are popping up, providing more clean designs plus, compliant with certification marketing requirements. There are even options out there providing truly multi-language (no google translate bar) solutions in order to reach (mostly) the hispanic community.
Got a demo for GMC at https://gmc.autochoice24.com which it’s been provided by Intersofts.com. Worth checking out.