EMG – www.emgmotorgroup.com

Autoworld – www.autoworld.co.uk

Skurrays – www.Skurrays.co.uk

Alex Lawrie Skoda – www.alexlawrieskoda.co.uk

GSV Service – www.gsv-service.com

Martins of Hawkhurst – www.martinsofhawkhurst.co.uk

Tiger Commerce – www.tigercommerce.co.uk

Last month we submitted some entries into the MotorTrader Awards 2010. It is with great pleasure that we confirm that EAG and Harwoods have been shortlisted for the Website Of The Year Category, GForces (Tiger Commerce) for the Product of the Year Category and GForces (LeadBeast) for Online Innovation for the Motor Trader Awards

The winner will be announced at the Motor Trader Awards gala dinner at the Grosvenor House in London’s West End on Wednesday 14 July.

]]> http://blog.gforces.co.uk/motor-trader-awards-finalists-2010/832/feed 0 http://blog.gforces.co.uk/local-sponsorship/782 http://blog.gforces.co.uk/local-sponsorship/782#comments Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:42:33 +0000 GForces http://blog.gforces.co.uk/?p=782 As a local company backing local people, we are proud to sponsor Steve Mercer, a professional motorcycle racer and a British Superbike Cup winner from Maidstone, at The Isle of Man TT race.

Steve Mercer is competing at the Isle of Man TT  in the Superbike race this year with the help of GForces and is hoping to improve on his 121mph average lap from last year (one of the fastest newcomers ever at the TT). He was the fastest newcomer in every race he completed there last year. He is also racing on other road circuits this year such as Oliver’s Mount and the Ulster GP and he got fastest newcomer at the Ulster last year too. He had a great start to the season at Oliver’s Mount when he qualified on pole (1st) by more than a second faster than 2nd place (that’s a lot in racing terms) but unfortunately due to a rather large crash in another race he was taken off to hospital and didn’t race.

As well as road racing he also races on short circuits (e.g. Brands Hatch, etc). In 2008 he competed in the British Superbikes for the first half of the season, even winning a Superbike Cup race, but due to financial limitations we had to pull out. He then got a ride on the MSS Kawasaki bike standing in for another rider when he broke his wrist. This year he rode in the opening round at Brands Hatch finishing 14th (not bad for a very low budget team). He will also be entering into some of the local rounds for BMW Park Lane in the National Superstock which runs alongside the British Superbikes.

The GForces sponsored bike will run full GForces livery and has been specially designed in house by our head of design.

As most know, running a marathon isn’t easy let alone if you’re wearing a giant foam Tiger head on your shoulders. With 3 hrs 42 min 27 sec and a competing lobster to beat, Kevin has set an amazing  new world record and more importantly helped raise an impressive contribution for the NeuroMuscular Centre charity.

We congratulate Kevin on his victory and look forward to seeing him break this record again in the next marathon.

Article by Tim Smith

Technology breeds contempt. At least it does with the vast majority of the mass market late adopters of all things new and innovative. It is human nature to resist change, to seek a state of security and safety and fend off disruptive influences of the status quo. This attitude was presented in The Diffusion of Innovations by a sociologist named Everett Rogers who coined the phrase “early adopters” and described a very neat and now famous curve to illustrate his theory.

Paradoxically, this attitude is at odds with the way of the world and Mother Nature herself. See Mother Nature embrace evolution and change. Civilizations either adapt to survive or commit themselves to the ashes of history. And so it is with technology of all types. I work for an internet company and am pretty much up to date with new technologies but that doesn’t mean I don’t have doubts. The perception I had of an incessant interruption to my daily routine and the thought of being available anywhere at any time was disturbing. Now I can barely operate without my iPhone (read life support system). Most of us accept technology once it’s settled in to the social conscious and we feel more comfortable seeing others using it. Furthermore, it often takes us time to become accustomed enough to technology to use it to its full potential. For instance, our pc’s used to get used for word processing, then we all started to get to grips with spreadsheets, email, photo editing and browsing.

The adoption of digital within the motor trade is no different to any other industry and Roger’s diffusion theory holds true. It is the speed this change is taking place that is different. The Finance and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) markets have set the trend with a proliferation of comparison sites, portals, ecommerce stores and digital marketing techniques. This is backed up with integrated technologies fulfilling operational functions such as logistics, accounts and re-marketing. If you’ve used say Confused.com, Ocado or Amazon, you’ll realise how easy it is to purchase through them, and how persistent and targeted their remarketing can be. But its not just the big boys, thousands of one-man band online retailers provide this service as standard. Very very few dealers do this properly.

So why is there such a discrepancy? It is simply due to the attitude. This is not a negative or positive statement either, simply a fact. So collectively, if the motortrade continues to sell cars without having to invest heavily in new technologies and not risk capital committing resource to an area that is not properly understood, why should it? Part of this is down to dealers relying on manufacturers to take the lead provide the support they need to operate effectively online.

However, the dealership owners, entrepreneurs and directors themselves are often the type of people who either embrace change or see it is a necessary evil in order to survive and thrive. Whatever their angle, the common factor is they factor it in to their business days. These people have often identified the need to utilize the internet for the good of their own business and unlock its potential. They may recognise this simply because their competitors are doing it, don’t feel they get enough from manufacturers or they recognise that the web is now so integrated with society, they should be doing it properly for themselves.

The delays to a widespread adoption within a dealership often rests with the personnel who find either their role changing and feel threatened or those that fail to see the value in the new forms of lead generation and communication. This is natural. If you’ve been successfully selling cars face-to-face for twenty five years and someone tells you that emails or live chats or enquiry forms are as important as pressing the flesh you are going to question their rationality. In fact, you may do a bit more than that and simply not respond to emails at all, or delay sending that brochure out from the online enquiry by a week. The excuse is that there is always something more important to do in the showroom.

This behaviour is to be expected. It is not the salesperson’s fault. It is natural. The internet is perceived as a threat to many within the motor trade. A series of expletives is the standard accompaniment to internet commentary. The culture within the dealership needs to encourage the adoption of new techniques to deal with the internet as a lead generating and sales tool.

The internet has developed the means of communication and transaction on a global scale like no other technology but it has been driven by the consumer. If there is a market, technology will be invented to fulfil it.

The internet has flourished in the automotive trade because it delivers information on the consumer’s terms, not the retailer’s. This seemingly minor point is the driver of change. The rules of engagement have developed to suit the buyer with a baseline of convenience. The power now rests with the consumer and if you do not make it easy for them to engage with you, they will go elsewhere.

Tim Smith is the Commercial Director of GForces: the leading web management and marketing specialists

As growing numbers of iPhone users take a majority share of the online mobile audience, we’re thrilled to have launched a new mobile site for The Car Shop, one of the UK’s leading used car supermarkets to enable iPhone users to experience their eward winning website on the move.

The Carshop’s iPhone mini website offers an easy-to-use vehicle search, allowing customers to search for cars by brand, model, price and location within a few touches and helps users get in touch with sales representatives with the greatest of ease. Check out www.carshop.co.uk from your iPhone today for the full experience and contact us to see how we can take your online presence to the next level!
Meanwhile, as the growing number of smart phones sales (more than double for Apple’s iPhone) coincides with the growth of online retail (an average of £1,102 spent per shopper in 2009, according to the Centre for Retail Research), we’re proud to announce our own exciting iPhone application for our Tiger Commerce clients.

The new Tiger Commerce application allows clients with online shops to keep track of orders and customers from their iPhones. We know how important customers are to our Tiger Commerce clients and the new Tiger iPhone application helps them to ensure they’re able to access their Tiger site wherever they are, allowing for tracking changing of orders and making contact with customers easy and convenient even when on the move with just a few touches of the screen.

Download your new Tiger Commerce application from the Apple store from your iPhone to ensure you’re never out of touch with your store and check out Tiger Commerce today to see how our ecommerce software can help you tear the competition to shreds straight out of the cage.

Charters Group is a family-owned Citroen and Peugeot dealership with a number of dealerships throughout the UK. With a wealth of expertise and a reputation for quality and customer service, Charters needed a website that reflected their offline standing and delivered an exciting look at their range of stock and services. With an exciting new look and colour schemes that tie in with Peugeot and Citroen’s own colours, the new Charters Group website delivers just that.

It features a great range of features to improve the customer experience including video integration, Contact at Once (live chat) and a virtual showroom where visitors are able to view models, compare them and request brochures. There’s also a finance calculator (with Codeweavers integration) to allow up-to-the-minute financing quotes with stock updates ensuring an accurate display of used cars for visitors to choose from.

Check out the Charters Group website today and contact us to see how our NetDirector Auto software can bring your automotive dealership online with a new Digital Dealership.

With a simple, natural and highly purified design, the new website reflects the group’s values and tradition and brings a full online representation of their dealership. The website features an easy-to-use search function coupled with up-to-date stock information to ensure easy and effective browsing for customers.

Visit the new Harwoods website today to experience their exciting new site design and contact us today to see how GForces can make your online presence a success.

From post-match interviews with crestfallen coaches to team-building seminars the length of the country, it’s hard to escape the wisdom that a team is only as good as its worst player, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and behind every great man there’s a great… chair.

How many television and print ads have you seen that advise you to “see in store for further details”? When you do head to the store you undoubtedly find an impressive front-of-store display or a member of staff wearing a shirt practically begging to tell you all about said offer. If you had to scour the entire store to find even a hint of information you’d leave and the campaign fails. Without the strength offered by in-store support, it’s too weak.

This principle applies to companies using the internet to generate interest in an offer too. If a company is using web advertising to draw attention to a special offer then that offer needs to be represented on-site or visitors won’t hang around long enough to become users, let alone make an enquiry.

For automotive dealers this means making sure that pages carry information that’s relevant for the traffic. If clicking on a Pay-Per-Click advert for the Scrappage Scheme instead leads to information about deals on a 5-Year Warranty then an internet user won’t hang around. While PPC advertising will drive traffic as part of a marketing strategy, its success in generating conversions is reliant on the website itself.

Increasingly, internet audiences judge companies based purely on their online presence. If a website isn’t functioning and appealing or if it doesn’t carry information a visitor is likely to need, opinion of the company’s offline standing is considered in the same light and chances of conversions are drastically reduced.

Dealers give careful consideration to the placement of vehicles and offers within their dealership and the same should apply to their online presence. Your dealership isn’t an impenetrable maze of cars and giant offer posters so your website shouldn’t be either. As able as web marketing is at delivering traffic to your site, your site needs to welcome that traffic and give it a reason to stay.

Our clients see success from their web strategies because they view their website as an extension to their dealerships. The internet is continually evolving and websites require constant attention in order to survive in what is an extremely competitive market place. Using GForces’ NetDirector Auto means that stock levels and information, offers and images can be easily and continually updated.

Having a really strong web marketing campaign driving traffic to your site is essential. However, without an equally strong, and flexible, website in place to support it, wondering why it’s not converting would be like selling all your best players and wondering why a fragmented club loses 6-1 to Leyton Orient.

Our recent launches have included online stores for home and office furniture provider BMH Living, TV & Film merchandise and toy company Toy Point and Analogue Seducation – and online shop for the turntable and two channel enthusiast.

Check out over happy customers’ stores and see how easily Tiger Commerce and the range of GForces’ Net Director web software can make the internet profitable for you today.

]]> http://blog.gforces.co.uk/new-tigers-pounce-on-the-market/174/feed 0 http://blog.gforces.co.uk/motorsales-harlows-new-site-goes-live/170 http://blog.gforces.co.uk/motorsales-harlows-new-site-goes-live/170#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:13:01 +0000 GForces http://blog.gforces.co.uk/?p=170 Essex-based, family-run car dealer Motorsales (Harlow) Ltd bought their company into the digital age in style with a new site powered by G-Forces’ NetDirector Auto.

Highly functional, the new site allows visitors to search the full range of new and used vehicles with ease across a great looking site. Visually bold and striking, the new Motorsales website serves as a portal to the company’s Vauxhall, Chevrolet and Citroen franchises and their Van Centre.

Check out the new Motorsales site today and view our clients pages to see the wide range of companies for whom G-Force have made the internet profitable. With a successful stable of web software available to power your web platform, take a look to see how we can help your online presence a succes.

Salford City Academy have become the latest school to make use of NetDirector Learning, with their new site now live. Providing education for 11-18 year olds in Eccles and Salford , Salford City Academy is a member of the United Learning Trust. Their new site has been designed in line with the Trust’s own site and other members’ in keeping with their online profile.

May saw the launch of John Clark’s new multi-franchise Digital Dealership with G-Forces. We’re now pleased to announce the launch of their BMW Parts Shop site with Tiger Commerce. Serving as an online portal to their BMW parts and accessories, their new parts store demonstrates how an automotive dealer can utilise the entire range of NetDirector software to make the most of their online presence.

Check out our clients page for further details on the other sites launched with G-Forces and take a look at how NetDirector Learning and Tiger Commerce can help businesses maximise their online presence today.

Hidsons are a long-established automotive dealer, representing Kia, Citroen, Nissan and SEAT. Their new SEAT store brings their range of SEAT parts and accessories online along with a wide range of SEAT merchandise.

At G-Forces, the option for a Tiger Commerce eshop is available for all clients that use our Content Management Service and NetDirector Auto platforms to provide an online portal for their parts and accessories store, offering full brand representation for all  services.  

Using the NetDirector web software suite means that automotive companies are able to make the most of their web presence and adapt quickly to the ever changing world of the internet. The complete ecommerce software solution, Tiger Commerce is a feature rich software package that’s easy to use and update with a proven success record, tried and trusted by many companies and automotive dealers for their online shop needs. 

Check out our website for further details on all our web software and see how we can help deliver your company message online.

At G-Forces we specialise in making the internet profitable for a wide range of businesses. With a successful stable of NetDirector™ Software providing website solutions that cater for all, we’ve seen many new companies launch their new websites with us recently.

Using our leading ecommerce software Tiger Commerce, four sites have gone live over the last week. Providing traditional building materials and ecological materials, The Eco House Store launched their appropriately green site this week. Meanwhile, low-cost tile sales commenced from the new Tiger Commerce website for Discount Tile Supplies as their site also launched. 

Selling new and pre-loved designer fashion is the name of the game for Ms. Millen whose site is now live while clothes, toys and accessories manufactured from naturally grown materials can now be sourced from the newly-live Kidz Organic website. 

With many new sites in development and close to launching, check out our clients page for further information on all our clients. Details on our range of web software can also be found on our website to help make the internet profitable for you.