It’s been a busy few weeks for headlines covering the demise of Carzam and a £200m cost reduction programme at Cazoo.
Has the online used car retail bubble burst or have the UK’s established car retailers’ disrupted disruptors like Cazoo and Carzam with their ability to evolve and adapt to cater for the digital car buyer?
The online car retailer Cazoo has revealed it wants to cut costs by £200 million by the end of 2023, which will include around 750 job cuts.
Carzam founder Peter Waddell has blamed the faltering performance of online-only car retail businesses including Cazoo for the venture’s failure.
Used car supermarket Big Motoring World aims to expand rapidly across the UK after growth investor Freshstream acquired an undisclosed stake in the business from owners Peter Waddell and John Bailey.
Used car supermarket group Big Motoring World has underlined its “big” UK-wide expansion plan with the launch of a new brand identity and website.
The UK’s established used car retail operators will continue to dominate the sector after ramping up their breadth of services to see off new market disruptors such as Cazoo and cinch, iVendi has said.
Driverama has said that it has no immediate plans to bring its growing online car retail operation to the UK after kicking off its growth in new European markets.
Carzam has expanded its senior leadership team with the addition of Laura Chapman as the company’s first chief people officer.
Former Paddy Power and Lastminute.com tech expert Edgardo Savoy has joined the “fiercely ambitious” team at online car retailer Carzam as chief technology officer.
Carzam has marked its first anniversary with the appointment of former Paddy Power chief executive Andy McCue as its new executive chairman.
Carzam has raised £112 million to in a development that the online car retail business believes will propel it into its “next chapter”.
Big Motoring World has kick-started an growth plans with the acquisition of Peterborough-based used car supermarket group SW Car Supermarket.
Carzam has appointed CarShop’s Dave Palmer as its new chief vehicle preparation officer as it aims to deliver the “highest quality of vehicles” to online used car buyers.
Carzam is poised to launch an online used car buying platform as retailers seek solutions to the stock shortage issues that are causing vehicle values to soar.
Cinch has attracted £1 billion in new investment to continue its push to online car retail growth alongside the likes of start-up rivals Cazoo and Carzam.
The COVID-19 pandemic and series of lockdown restrictions on car showrooms have “changed customer behaviour for good”, according to online retailer Carzam.
A shift from traditional showroom-based car sales to a wholly-online retail solution would cut dealers cost-per-sale by over 40% - saving the sector £9.5bn a year.
Online car buying platform Carzam has launched a new Chat and Buy service that allows buyers to reserve a vehicle while they discuss it with the company’s sales team.
Digital used car retailer Carzam has appointed Honcho to manage its paid media strategy in a bid to boost its digital presence.
