Dealer Pricing Insights
A pricing tool for car dealers that became our most-used dealer insight in Germany and Italy.
Know your rivals
I was tasked with understanding how dealers price their listings against their competition, and how AutoScout24 could add value through our suite of insight tools for dealers. I led UX design, working with a team of engineers, a UX researcher, a content designer and a PM.
Pricing by eye
After reviewing existing research, I built a research plan to fill the gaps in our knowledge. Along with our UX researcher, we ran interviews with dealers in Italy and Germany.
We discovered that dealers searched consumer marketplaces for hours to find their competitors' listings. Prices were reviewed weekly, sometimes daily. They eyeballed differences in equipment and condition across listings, then made a gut-feel call on price. Research also showed dealers had a fixed idea of their competition, which didn't always match the options buyers were considering. And they were sceptical: they trusted their own experience over data they couldn’t check.
- Check the stockLook through their stock to spot which cars need attention
- Search the marketplaceOpen a consumer marketplace and hunt for similar cars
- Compare by eyeWork out which of those cars have similar equipment
- DecideJudge whether a price drop is needed
- Adjust the priceGo back to their own tools and change it, if needed
Competition, where they work
2018 BMW 530i Touring, listed at €31,900
- Ranks 19th of 26 against the cars buyers also viewed, €1,900 above average
- 28,000 km less than average, so fairly priced for its mileage
- A missing head-up display explains why it isn’t higher
- Dealers can make the whole call at a glance
I turned these insights into ideas and built alignment through workshops with the product team. When we tested the prototype with dealers in Germany, Italy and Belgium, they found it tackled an important problem, but switching between their stock list and the competition view was a hassle. So I built it right into the stock list, a click away from any car.
Rather than ask dealers to pick their rivals, we defined the competition from buyer behaviour: the cars people browsing that listing also looked at, filtered to the same make and model, locally. To make that set credible, we showed how it was built on screen, listed the actual cars rather than just averages, and placed the dealer’s own listing among them.
After the initial launch, I designed a follow-up that let dealers refine their competition even further, narrowing it to cars closer in mileage and age. 72% of the dealers who opened the filter saved a refined set, showing really strong engagement.
The reason to upgrade
We launched it as the flagship feature of our new tiered pricing system. Within six months, it was the most-used feature in our whole suite of insight tools for dealers, in both Germany and Italy.
It became a core part of the value story for the tiered packages, a programme that brought in €528k of upcharge revenue in Germany and €241k in Italy in a single month.
Dealers on our Dealer Council said it helped them justify pricing decisions and adjust their strategy. Sales teams saw the value too. Asked how much each feature helps convince dealers to upgrade to the top package, sales in Germany and Austria rated it at least 7 out of 10.
Closing the loop
Trust remained the work. Dealers still flagged comparisons that didn’t feel like for like, such as a top-trim car against base models, and the team is following up with a new competitor model to solve it. Dealers also asked for the evidence that closes the loop: transaction and sold data, and proof that a price change turns into a sale.