Driving explains strategy behind dropping stock price to £1k

By Tom Seymour
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16 April 2013

Driving.co.uk's new general manager Jim Murray-Jones has spoken to AM about why the business has lowered the price of entry to advertise stock on the website to £1,100.

Driving.co.uk launched with a focus on premium brands and while the majority of stock on the website is still over £10,000, one third of the 74,427 cars listed are now priced below that.

The price threshold drop is the second time Driving.co.uk has lowered its entry level price since the website’s launch in October 2012. Stock on the website started at £14,000 at launch and then dropped to just below £10,000 in December 2012.

Murray-Jones, who has been in the position of general manager at Driving.co.uk for two months after joining from RBS, told AM: “The decision followed on from customer focus groups and feedback from dealers.

“Premium being linked to a specific pricing band was acting as an artificial barrier. We realised we needed to be in this space to give our customers a wider range of volume and choice.”

Driving will now list stock from franchised dealers, indepedent used car dealers and used car supermarkets.

When asked whether the website was moving away from focussing on premium, Murray-Jones told AM: “The focus for us now is providing our users with a quality experience.”

He said “bleeding edge” search functionality, stylish design and quality editorial content from celebrity writers like Jeremy Clarkson and Jay Leno will be the way Driving will continue to differentiate from competitors like Auto Trader.

Murray-Jones admitted changing its price threshold to £1,100 does bring Driving into closer competition with volume competitors like Auto Trader, but insists the business has no ambition to go after a specific competitor.

Dealers were offered a four month free trial of Driving.co.uk when the website launched in October 2012 and this was extended until April 1. Murray-Jones said 2,000 dealer sites are now paying customers.

Murray-Jones said: “I think 2,000 dealers is a good starting point for us to grow on.

“The trial was a great way for us to get dealers to test us. We’ll now be working hard to optimise the quality and quantity of our leads in order to grow the business further.”

Stocking

Author: Tom Seymour

Freelance writer

Freelance writer for AM, Tom Seymour has been a specialist B2B journalist covering the automotive sector for over 14 years. He started his freelance career in 2015 and currently writes for a variety of automotive, business and technology publications.

Comments (7)

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Comments

David Long - 16/04/2013 15:01

I very rarely comment on articles, but couldn't resist on this one. Being the MD of www.carsite.co.uk, I'd like to say well done to The Times, for moving with the times, even if you end up with egg on your face. All you need to do now is get as much traffic as us and you might stand a chance of surviving.
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Stephen Jury - 16/04/2013 15:14

No one saw this coming did they?
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Auto Guru - 16/04/2013 19:49

This basically means that in order to deliver on premium brand display campaigns ( which is where the cash is ) they need more stock ( inventory ) which simply gives more page impressions and CTR ( click through rate ) and 74,000 cars priced at 10k upwards does not help achieve this.....Driving will simply become another copy cat of AT instead of sticking to its launch USPs which have lasted about 5 minutes !
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Auto Guru - 16/04/2013 19:51

This basically means that in order to deliver on premium brand display campaigns ( which is where the cash is ) they need more stock ( inventory ) which simply gives more page impressions and CTR ( click through rate ) and 74,000 cars priced at 10k upwards does not help achieve this.....Driving will simply become another copy cat of AT instead of sticking to its launch USPs which have lasted about 5 minutes !
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Philip Nothard - 17/04/2013 12:24

There's definitely opportunity for growth and market share in this sector, as both dealers and consumers want choice. The coming 5-years, and certainly 2013 will be thought-provoking in this sector of the industry.
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Orla - 24/04/2013 17:32

I won £100 on a bet as a result of this news... If I'm honest, I give driving.co.uk no longer than 6 months before it becomes another Tesco Cars.
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David Griffiths - 30/04/2013 22:27

I've been using Driving since launch. The reality is that it just doesn't work, even at the low, low prices they're now charging. I'll stick with my tried and trusted outlets - Autotrader (too expensive, but it does work) and PistonHeads (really effective, and good value). I give Driving another 6 months, maximum.
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