Vanarama Founder and CEO Andy Alderson charts the company ’ s growth from an online leasing broker into a fully fledged e-commerce retailer
VANARAMA
Vanarama Founder and CEO Andy Alderson charts the company ’ s growth from an online leasing broker into a fully fledged e-commerce retailer
Andy Alderson ’ s online journey started back in 2003 , when he spotted an opportunity to sell a stock of Citroen C5s at half price . By quickly setting up a domain , freephone number and taking out advertising , he managed to sell the entire stock in six weeks . Almost exclusively , he didn ’ t see a single customer – and that was when he realised his future lay in online sales .
Fast forward 18 years , and the Founder and CEO of Vanarama is firmly in the digital driving seat .
“ We started as an online leasing broker in 2007 , then became a fintech business – and in the last two years , we ’ ve become more of an automotive e-tailer ,” he said . He expects to sell 25,000-30,000 vehicles online this year , fully e-commerce , and is targeting 100,000 within three years .
That optimism looks at odds with the unending challenges facing the automotive industry , what with the transition to electric , digital transformation and decline in car ownership . He says dealers need to inherently re-examine their businesses and not simply repackage themselves for the digital age .
“ Click and collect isn ’ t digital retailing – we were doing that in 2003 ,” he said . “ If solutions were good enough across the board , online would make up 50 percent of sales , but there ’ s not enough instances where they are good enough . Up to 50 percent of dealerships could go as part of the transformation by 2025 , he predicts .
Andy Alderson , Vanarama
392 April 2021