Used Car Gaining Popularity in E-Commerce Era

In line with technological development, used car business platform expands not only through showrooms and auction houses but also through e-commerce. Many used car dealerships have enjoyed the benefits of e-commerce, includingmobil88.

mobil88 Kenjeran Surabaya Senior Sales Officer Guntoro Wiharjo admitted to receiving positive impacts of e-commerce. ''If previously mobili88 was only known in Surabaya and the surrounding areas, it is now known across East Java and even other islands,'' Guntoro said. (Republika, October 11, 2012).

Guntoro said that selling used cars through e-commerce has its own appeal, especially in terms of convenience. Usually, potential customers only ask about the prices of the cars on display, and some of them will complete the transactions right afterwards. However, some others will then visit a mobil88 showroom.

mobil88 entered e-commerce in mid-July 2012. For the next two months, August and September, the revenue of mobil88grew by 30%. On the other hand, that period is the peak period for car sales prior to Eid al-Fitr.

Therefore, Guntoro added that mobil88 will keep maximizing sales by staying as a member and put up advertisements of all the cars it is selling. This way, more people will know about it. The ease of accessing e-commerce is believed to accelerate the turnover and sales of cars, not only in East Java but also in other islands.

mobil88 President Director Halomoan Fischer Lumbantoruan said that the company has long targeted e-commerce. mobil88 has also partnered with a number of large platforms like Blibli.comin April 2018. “Through the partnership, we are  ready to give the best, including convenient service of selling and buying, to Blibli.comcustomers," he said, as cited from mobil88’s official website, Wednesday (April 4, 2018).

Through the partnership, mobil88 assesses and buys used cars from customers who want to buy new cars on Blibli.com.

Even though the company already has a special division for online sales called Belimob.com, Fischer said that it does not want to waste the opportunity of cooperating with partners that are more experienced in online sales.

"We can learn a lot from this partnership, as well as make it easier for our customers who sell used cars to buy new cars at one stop. So, this gives conveniences to customers in various aspects," Fischer said (Beritagar.com, April 6, 2018).

Blibli.com Senior Vice President of Trade Partnership Lay Ridwan Gautama said that this service is aimed at giving convenience and solution to customers who want to trade in their cars.

Ridwan added that the decision to choose mobil88 as business partner was made after they conducted exhaustive research. Blibli.com wanted to make sure that they have a partner with similar vision and sales level.

The opening of trade-in service, according to Ridwan, was also driven by the satisfying figure of car sales on e-commerce. This showed that people want more convenience in buying goods, including cars.

In the first month, Ridwan noted, car sales on Blibli.com reached dozens of units, whether for payment in cash or installments. “This is the proof that our service is accepted by the public," Ridwan said.

Other than utilizing e-commerce, mobil88,which is under SERA, also still focuses on showroom development. Until now, there are 20 branches of mobil88 showroom in Indonesia’s large cities.