As consumers grapple with tighter vehicle affordability and dealership margins compress, the 104-year-old Niello Company is responding by investing heavily in customer data platforms (CDPs).
Driving the news: "We're looking at our expenses and bringing in tools that are going to allow us to really cut our dependency on maybe some third party advertising sources," Dennis Gingrich, sales and finance director at The Niello Company, told Daily Dealer Live at last week’s NADA Show in Las Vegas.
How it works: CDPs allow dealers to build customer audiences from their own data and trigger personalized advertising based on specific behaviors.
"At any given time, 3% of our book of business is looking to buy a car," Gingrich said. "With AI and everything that's going on, we will know when that's happening and we'll be able to get in front of them and earn another opportunity to earn their business."
And the most meaningful opportunities could be in the dealership service department, where service appointments and maintenance intervals create a natural messaging cadence.
"There are just so many use cases that can trigger these marketing moments," he explained.
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Why it matters: Vehicle affordability pressure is shifting Niello's sales mix. New-vehicle volume has dipped while used volume has stayed slightly above flat, making every customer touchpoint a higher-stakes interaction.
“The consumer is really squeezed,” Gingrich said. “I think that people are starting to look at pre-owned vehicles as a solution to fight the affordability crisis.”
Between the lines: The crisis came up in the Volkswagen dealer meeting at NADA too, Gingrich said, adding that the automaker’s direct-to-consumer model “rightfully” has dealers concerned.
"You're telling our customers that it's not a good idea to go into a dealership and buy a car, that you should just buy it directly from the manufacturer," he said. "Do OEMs really want to work with a customer when things aren't going good? We do that for a living."
What's next: Niello is moving forward with CDP implementation while continuing to evaluate AI tools for compliance and operational efficiency in California's heavily regulated environment.
"We just try to make it simple so [employees] don't have to make decisions," Gingrich said. "When you make a decision, you can make two types: good and bad.”
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