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Thompson tells us that despite the difficult backdrop of the cost-of-living-crisis, the business decision to run a hybrid physical and online auction programme since the end of Covid restrictions means Aston Barclay has in fact grown both its vendor and buyer base, and sold more used cars and LCVs. He says: "The provision of physical auctions should not be underestimated. It is valued by our dealer vendors and buyers. For us, physical auctions provide several key benefits: "An enhanced customer experience - we welcome buyer engagement. Customers can buy with confidence when they can look, touch, and smell the vehicles.
"Improved conversion and price - we create an interactive experience and offer a personalised selling approach.
"Builds relationships - getting to know buyers drives performance. We focus on relationships, not one-off transactions."
We go on to ask what the main growth areas with fleet at Aston Barclay were. Thompson first tells me about the LCV Launch of 'EV-only' auctions. He says: "It has been well-documented that EV prices have fallen in late 2022 and 2023, but rather than just sharing the news with vendors we have been proactively trying to manage the situation to help and support them in this area.
"We started by launching a monthly 'EV-only' auction at our Donington branch, alongside educational workshops with the Energy Saving Trust. These are available to both buyers and vendors, giving them a forum to ask questions, take away valuable information and share thoughts and ideas.
"Aston Barclay has a goal of becoming the trusted partner for EV Remarketing and we are well on our way to completing our EV strategy and road map to future-proof our business to ensure we meet and exceed our current and new customers' remarketing needs.
"We are working in partnership with vendors, buyers, and industry experts to take balanced views from all. Since launching our three EV exclusive sales at Donington, CAP performance and conversions have improved with every sale. Because of this, we are looking to expand our EV sales programme to other centres - the EV market has been a big area of growth for us and will continue to be a huge focus for the business moving forward.
"We have now trained our 160 staff to IMI level 1 in EV to improve the electric conversations they can have with buyers and vendors. This ensures all operational colleagues have a consistent level of EV knowledge. We will be rolling out LCV-specific training in the new year, working in partnership with NetZero.
"We have also appointed a new EV lead - Albert Parnell - to educate vendors, buyers, and Aston Barclay colleagues on all aspects of EVs. Our theory is that the more dealers that understand used EVs and their target audience, the more will buy stock at our auctions.
"We have increased our LCV sales in the last 12 months to more than 10,000 units, which is a record for us.
"We have achieved this by increasing our LCV auction footprint to include Chelmsford and Donington, in addition to Leeds and Westbury, and now run four weekly LCV sales.
"Offering a hybrid physical and online sale environment has helped a great deal as many LCV buyers still prefer to inspect vehicles before they bid and buy. This gives us a competitive edge against some of our rivals, who continue to sell online only."
Which of this year's many innovations is Aston Barclay most proud of?
"The Buyer's App continues to go from strength to strength. Our leading technology enables buyers to purchase vehicles live from wherever they are in the world, as well as allowing them to keep up to date with all what is happening around the Aston Barclay group. We have on average 2.2k sessions each day and have seen buyers bid on and buy vehicles from as far away as Pakistan."
Can you give us any hints of future developments for 2024?
Thompson tells us Aston Barclay's main priority is to continue to invest in new technology and people across the business for the benefit of buyers, vendors, and colleagues throughout the business. He says: "As more volume hits the market, we have invested in buyer executives to help attract new buyers to our sales and to enhance existing relationships with our current buyer base. Working more closely with buyers and knowing what they want to buy will help generate new bids in the auction halls and help vendors increase conversion rates, at a time when there is more stock in the market to choose from.
"We are in the final stages of rolling out a new vehicle inspection and imaging piece of technology across our auction network to further the consistency and quality of our inspections and our imagery that is uploaded to our website and Buyer App.
"We are also looking to further expand our EV auctions, as well as continuing to build our LCV auction programme."
Aston Barclay won the 'Best Remarketing' award at this year's Business Car Awards, but we go on to ask Thompson what he thinks makes the business stand out against its opposition. He says: "Our EV sale, our people, and our focus on providing vendors and buyers with what they want from a remarketing service, rather than dictating to them what they can and can't have.
"Typically, there have been some big decisions to adjust our business in line with market conditions, led by the likes of Covid, or we have asked our customers what they want from us, how they would prefer to trade with us a business and what we can do to help support them. They appreciate being asked for their feedback and because we have then made decisions based on their feedback, they know we are more in tune with their needs."
Aston Barclay has won this award for the second year in a row, so we ask Thompson how they plan on keeping hold of it next year. He says: "It's the second year running that we have won the award so we must be doing something right in the eyes of the judges!
"At Aston Barclay, we aim to be the most trusted car and van remarketing brand in the UK. And that means we must deliver the best customer experience in the marketplace. We will continue to invest in technology and people during 2024 that will give us an edge against the competition and help put us in a good place to make it a hat trick next year."
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