NEWS

GForces’ Tim Smith explains why social media is gathering momentum as a marketing force Scott Monty is an interesting guy. As well as being the Global Head of Social for Ford Motor Company, he is also a classics major, holds a fascination with psychology and human behaviour, is a husband, father and a rather nice guy. [...]

LIFESTYLE Europe has announced that it is commencing sales of new Fords on its website with the help of GForces. Lifestyle, which has 10 multi-brand dealerships across Kent, Sussex and Surrey, will sell Ford vehicles online, and anticipates that the bulk of web-based sales will be for small mid-sized family models, such as Fiesta and [...]

GForces’ Tim Smith says car buyers are ready to buy cars online, but asks is your website? In the UK alone 42m consumers are now shopping online, a substantial increase on last year’s statistics. This year dealerships should bring their sales focus off the forecourt and into their digital dealerships to captivate and engage with today’s [...]

51 PER cent of dealer website hits occur when showrooms are closed, peaking between 7pm and 10pm says GForces. The firm says that despite this, a ‘paltry’ three per cent of the UK’s top 200 dealers have any kind of out-of-hours enquiry management service – either in the form of telephone call handling or ‘Live [...]

LESS than 10 per cent of the UK’s biggest car dealers tailor their website content for smart phones says GForces. The web management firm carried out the survey and found that just 17 of the country’s top 200 dealers tailor their online content specifically for users of web-enabled iPhones and other smartphones. This is despite one in [...]

GFORCES has seen huge demand from dealers for ‘feature-rich’ new websites and ‘online marketing programmes’. The automotive web management firm has received so much business from eager dealers that it is searching for 25 new IT recruits ‘immediately’, 50 new recruits within 12 months, and has already given placements to 20 undergraduates. Despite tough economic times, [...]

If you read enough reports and studies you’d think today’s car buyer is almost impossible to please. They will have looked at about a million vehicles online and become a ‘prosumer’ in the process, all of which means they’ll know more about the specific make, model and cup holder design than you.  If you are [...]

DEALERS who do not offer a Live Chat feature on their website are missing out on a prime opp to get leads. As less than 1 in 10 dealers actually DO offer chat, this means thousands of potential leads are being lost each day to rivals! GForces says the evidence is clear: websites offering live [...]

  IN the run up to the election Labour invested £1.8bn of taxpayers’ money in British industry. The former Business Secretary Lord Mandelson initiated the spending campaign focusing on industrial seats in marginal constituencies.  Lord Mandelson was said to be behaving like ‘a Bourbon monarch going round in his coach throwing out gold coins’ according [...]

ONLINE car sales will account for 1 in every 5 transactions in just 5 years’ time predict web experts GForces. This could potentially displace the car dealer from having any physical contact with the customer prior to the transaction being completed. However, rather than being worried, car dealers should see it as a big opportunity [...]

GFORCES is sponsoring ‘Fastest Newcomer’ bike racer Steve Mercer in his 2010 race championship. The web management firm will back the Yamaha R1 rider and display its distinctive livery on his bike and overalls. Mercer says both parties are going to benefit. ‘Being sponsored by GForces is a fantastic opportunity for me and my team. [...]

CAR dealers are missing an opportunity by not emulating Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear on their own websites. Just 7 percent of top dealer websites have a video feed, reckons web experts GForces. That’s despite independent internet monitors showing online video websites experienced a 180 percent traffic rise in one year alone. By eschewing the [...]

TIGER Commerce has launched its free new iPhone App to help improve car dealers’ efficiency on the move. The new ‘mCommerce’ App promises to bring greater control to car dealers’ online parts and accessory businesses, giving them 24/7 control if so required. Through it, car dealers can access and respond to real-time data, for instant [...]

WHAT began with a single horrifying car crash in southern California last August became a worldwide automotive incident resulting in an unprecedented recall of millions of Toyota vehicles. Strangely, the question can be posed; could such a crisis actually help a brand’s perception?  The internet and, in particular, social networking sites have reset the rules [...]

UP TO six metres tall and weighing over six tons with a mouth chocked full of nine-inch long bone-crushing teeth, the Tyrannosaurus was a pure killing machine. Anything that stumbled into its territory soon found its day coming to a bad end, fast. Yet, for all its power and ferocity, the T-Rex’s approach was flawed. [...]

TWITTER and Facebook are opportunities missed by the vast majority of UK car dealers reveals one expert. GForces has found that less than 10 percent of the UK’s top 200 car dealers are represented on social networking sites. Methods include having a Page on Facebook, communicating via Twitter, or simply posting thoughts and insights on [...]

GFORCES has launched the UK’s first ‘shop and pay’ system to let car dealers run Amazon-style online shops. The launch of Tiger Commerce has been described as ‘groundbreaking’. It means car dealers can retail parts and accessories on the internet, and accept online payments using a system from paypoint.net. GForces offers this service for £35 [...]

GFORCES has bolstered its senior management team with three new regional account directors. This move will help drive the company’s strategic goal of 100 percent customer satisfaction. GForces boasts more of the company’s top-200 car dealers on its books than any rival. They’ll be supported by the highly qualified trio: •    Scotland and Northern Territory [...]

INTERNET marketing is 4 times as successful in generating sales leads than traditional offline methods. The power of the internet over print advertising and direct mail has been revealed by car dealer web company GForces. In a double bonus, internet marketing is also far cheaper. Offline methods cost nearly 10 times as much per lead! [...]

ASTON Martin Challenge team Nicholas Mee Racing has a new sponsor – car dealer web company GForces. The web management firm gets its logos plastered on the rear of the V8 Vantage GT4 Britcar GT racer. Why the pair up, with the 2009 Aston Martin Challenge-winning team? Well, it’s all because of obvious synergies, said [...]