Want to buy your next car during your lunch break, from the comfort of your office? Don’t like sales calls and trawling the internet for the best deal? Meet KarFarm, the brainchild of Taeyang Yoon. With co-founder Matthew Tamayo he has worked to “empower consumers to shop multiple dealerships in a hassle-free environment, without having to worry about disclosing too much personal information and then being bombarded with sales calls”
During his 9 year stint as e-commerce director of a major auto-dealership group Taeyang became frustrated that the e-commerce solutions in his industry were burdening both customers and dealerships, and that the buying process lacked transparency, and resulted in inflated pricing and poor customer service. The process also took too long and exposed customers to aggressive salesmanship, through numerous sales calls and email, and increased the cost of sale for dealerships.
In a solution that benefits both customers and dealerships, only limited customer details are required and dealers bid against each other online, in real time, rather than face-face or on the phone. The streamlined process reduces stress and time-wastage on both sides and drastically increases transparency (dealers can see each other’s bids), as well as helping customers achieve the best price.
Customer RFQs go direct to individual salesman, who can be selected based on customer reviews. This builds trust and rewards top service and competitive pricing. Calls and face time are reduced, with customer queries answered online through the KarFarm communications function.
Testimonial: Using traditional e-commerce channels a customer was struggling to achieve appropriate levels of service and price on her hire purchase of a Nissan Cube. After a process that took numerous sales calls and 3-4 days a minimum cost of $400 per month had been achieved. Using KarFarm she was able to achieve a price of $272 per month, in a process that took 20 minutes and she didn’t have to pick up the phone once or send a single email. And the kicker - the winning quote came from the same dealership that had provided her previous ‘best offer’ of $400!
After founding KarFarm back in 2011, the service has just been launched, after a resounding beta test where 34% of site traffic was converted into sales leads, and 32% of those leads converted to actual sales. These results are over 600 percent better than industry averages (under 2%), according to shop.org. Currently they are working with Nissan in San Francisco, but will be adding Honda, Subaru, Hyundai, and Kia dealers in the coming weeks.
More About KarFarm
KarFarm is an online automotive marketplace where consumers shop anonymously with confidence and ease, while dealers do the bidding. KarFarm aims to provide no-hassle shopping experience and transparent pricing for consumers looking to purchase cars online. KarFarm has also developed a suite of products and services focusing on reducing lead-generation costs for dealers while rendering comprehensive market and data analysis for the automotive industry. KarFarm is free for consumers and participating dealerships. To keep up with KarFarm news, please find KarFarm on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KarFarm, or on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/KarFarm.
Media Contact: 001 650-489-5102 / media(at)karfarm(dot)com
