The Death of the Internet Dept.?

Internet departments are so yesterday. In fact, you could say Internet departments are as traditional as the showroom.

Years ago, Chip Perry, in one of his more memorable quotes predicted Internet departments would “go the way of the DoDo bird.”

Perry, the president of AutoTrader.com is just one of many industry observers who believed Internet departments and traditional showrooms would merge.

The Web is becoming more of an accepted part of dealership operations.

What is happening is many dealerships are folding their Internet operations along with the showroom operations into business-development centers. BDCs typically handle all of the incoming leads, whether they be phone calls, Internet purchase requests or walk-n traffic. In most cases, BDCs will do all of the follow up and set up appointments with people who contact the dealership.

But some dealerships are avoiding the BDC. The Koons Automotive Companies, whose dealerships are mainstays on the Ward's e-Dealer 100, late last year eliminated its Internet departments. For years, the group had a central department that acted as a BDC, farming the leads to the various in-store Internet sales people.

Now, general sales managers in the dealerships oversee Internet leads and distribute them among the sales staffs. Many of the Internet sales people now are working the floor, along with the Web-based leads.

Acton Toyota still uses a traditional Internet department (See story on p. 14). But Internet Director Matt Lamoureux wonders if that will change once the dealership moves into a new facility in 18 months.

“We'll likely be on the floor near the showroom,” he says. “We may see the departments merge then.” Also, as sales people become more adept at using Web-based tools, Lamoureux thinks having a blended staff makes sense.

Currently, Acton's Internet department is in a storefront adjacent to the dealership. That is due to the small size of Acton's building.

General Manager Mike Hills isn't so sure. “We'll see,” he says. He's not a fan of the BDC, calling it a “disjointed process.”

However it plays out, we likely are seeing the end of the separate Internet department.

Top 25 Dealer Groups By Internet Sales Volume

Rank	Dealer Group	City	State	New	Used	Total
1	AutoNation Inc.	Ft. Lauderdale	FL	96,561	34,949	131,510
2	United Auto Group	Bloomfield Hills	MI	34382	9,931	44,313
3	Group 1 Automotive (estimate)	Houston	TX	20,000	15,000	30,000
4	Sonic Automotive Group	Charlotte	NC	19,657	6,547	26,204
5	Hendrick Automotive Group	Charlotte	CA	18,168	5,979	24,147
6	Koons Automotive Companies	Tysons Corner	VA	14,893	3,494	18,387
7	The Herb Chambers Companies	Somerville	MA	6,771	2,902	9,673
8	Dave Smith Motors	Kellogg	ID	6,771	2,197	8,968
9	The Suburban Collection	Troy	MI	3,840	1,054	4,894
10	Gillman Auto Group	Houston	TX	3,835	872	4,707
11	The John Eagle Dealerships	Dallas	TX	3,649	976	4,625
12	The Bob Rohrman Auto Group	Lafayette	IN	2,421	1,802	4,223
13	Fred Haas Interests	Spring	TX	3,186	732	3,918
14	Victory Automotive Group	Morristown	TN	2,372	1,449	3,821
15	Holler Automotive Group	Winter Park	FL	2,695	603	3,298
16	Huffenes Auto Dealerships	Plano	TX	1,800	1,377	3,177
17	Galpin Motors	North Hills	CA	2,724	388	3,112
18	Rick Case Automotive Group	Fort Lauderdale	FL	2,400	600	3,000
19	Bob Baker Auto Group	San Diego	CA	1,663	921	2,584
20	Allen Samuels Auto Group	Waco	TX	1,506	910	2,416
21	Bergstrom Automotive	Neenah	WI	1,305	1,025	2,330
22	Hitchcock Automotive Resources	City of Industry	CA	2,090	145	2,235
23	Tuttle-Click Automotive Group	Irvine	CA	1,677	470	2,147
24	Phil Long Dealerships, Inc.	Colorado Springs	CO	1,080	848	1,928
25	Day Automotive Group	Monroeville	PA	1,072	670	1,742