2:13 pm, December 20, 2011
THE wait is finally over! Today we can reveal winners of the Car Dealer Ewards 2011 in association with Autotorq.com.
On our website today – and in the latest issue of Car Dealer Magazine – we announce the worthy winners of our coveted Ewards.
We’ve named the winners in eight categories, which are:
Multi Franchised Dealer Website of the Year
Single Franchised Dealer Website of the Year
Independent Dealer Website of the Year
Car Supermarket Website of the Year
Car Manufacturer Website of the Year
IT’S a bit of a tired statement now, but the internet is tremendously important to all of our lives, let alone the way you go about running your business.
The internet is no longer just another method of advertising a car for sale. Those days are long gone. It’s now a virtual showroom, a window into your business, and a shop front for cars all rolled into one.
Your website is a portal in which customers can do their research during the commercial break of Dancing on Ice and it’s a tool with which they can find 70 identical versions of a dealer’s car for sale and know exactly what price to offer for it. They can even find the car of their dreams and share it with all of their friends, asking for advice and opinion.
They can also search for that dream motor on YouTube and find out everything they need to know about it – from a TV review of whether it’s any good to how to take the dashboard apart or change the stereo for an aftermarket one. Consumers accept this now as simply a way cars are bought and sold. Car dealers have had to learn to accept this as the new way of life. Some dealers are forced to constantly play catch-up while others are simply wondering how to make a success out of the internet.
This is precisely what the Car Dealer Ewards – held in association with Autotorq.com – are all about. Now in their fourth year, it’s where we showcase, argue, deliberate and celebrate the best automotive websites out there.
This year we received a record number of entries, and one thing was clear: The flashiest and glitziest websites aren’t always our judges’ favourites. Some of the winners are the simplest – focusing more on an unfussy palette of colours, straightforward structure and easy navigation.
Others have been striking out with social media integration, excellent photography, rich colours, bold homepage campaigns and promotions, and displaying cars using 360-degree video spins.
This year we’ve also added three new awards which got some of our judges scratching their heads. To decide the winners of these awards, the panel met at Autotorq’s Fulham HQ and pitched their nominations to each other. These were then discussed, argued and deliberated over and were voted for in the same way as the other categories – in a Eurovision Song Contest-style points allocation.
So, here they are: The very best automotive websites in the UK; our Car Dealer Ewards Winners for 2011.
