I started covering dealership technology at Automotive News in the summer of 2019. A little more than six months later, a pandemic forced most major industry events to shut down for at least a year, if not longer.
For me, that meant the 2020 NADA Show in Las Vegas was the last in-person event I attended before COVID-19 began its rapid spread across the U.S. My return to live industry events didn’t really happen until this year’s NADA Show.
One of the events that has long been on my list to attend is Digital Dealer. The show shifted to include more virtual components during the pandemic. Barring any last-minute complications, I’ll be in Las Vegas next week to take it all in.
I’m looking forward to meeting more dealers and talking face-to-face to people I’ve interacted with over Zoom for the past two years. I’m interested to hear about how dealers are thinking about the digital path forward, particularly as the pandemic and inventory constraints appear likely to linger.
The industry is in the midst of significant transformation, in terms of powertrains, in terms of consumer preferences, in terms of new entrants that aspire to disrupt the traditional model. I’ve written about how dealers are working to disrupt their own model to differentiate themselves from competitors by providing the type of online, convenient, seamless experience that consumers desire today.
I hope to return to Michigan with a notebook full of ideas and experiences that I can use to tell important stories about how dealers are doing just that. What do I need to see and do while at Digital Dealer? Send me an email and share your thoughts.