Used car retailer Vroom buys and sells vehicles online without consumers entering a physical dealership.
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Vroom, the online used car seller, buys on the first Sunday of the Super Bowl to introduce the company to the roughly 100 million fans who watch the game each year and to mock its competition.
Vroom buys and sells vehicles online without customers going to a dealership. His 30-second Super Bowl ad called “Dealership Pain” focuses on the pressure of buying a vehicle through a traditional dealership.
“We felt that the Super Bowl would be that kind of opportunity to get that message across about our brand promise, which is that you should never go to a dealership again,” said Peter Scherr, director of marketing at Vroom, on CNBC. “We thought it was a way to achieve a new normal in terms of Vroom’s consideration for buying and selling cars. And we will continue that momentum throughout the 21st.”
Vroom’s business is similar to Carvana, a larger e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars. But instead of targeting such a competitor, Vroom decided to focus on physical dealers in general, a much larger market than Caravan customers who are already aware of buying cars online.
“Our way of looking at it is our key competition in traditional dealerships,” Scherr said. “There’s a lot of room for us to succeed in the Super Bowl and Caravan to continue on its path to success.”
Vroom CEO Paul Hennessy added, “It just didn’t make sense to pick one of the smallest players in the space and then compete with them. We’re competing for where our customers go, which are basically traditional dealers.”
Vroom’s ad includes a used car salesman pressuring a car buyer almost to torture with bridge cables. While the customer asks him to leave, the salesman leans over to secure the bridge cables to it. When this happens, the chair and the scene turn to the man sitting in the front garden with a woman receiving a Vroom vehicle. “Well, that was painless,” the actor says as he hands over the vehicle.
The Super Bowl announcement is part of an ad campaign for Vroom that features similar sites, including a so-called “Dealership Deceit” that aired during Sunday’s NFL AFC Championship game.
Both Hennessy and Scherr hope the announcement of the Super Bowl will continue to raise awareness and business of Vroom, which was made public in June.
“We’re thinking long-term and setting up a long-term business,” Hennessy said. “We hope Vroom is a familiar name.”
Vroom sales increased 86% in the first three quarters of last year to 10,860 vehicles, bringing the company’s revenue up 62% to $ 630.5 million during that time period. compared to 2019. This compares to Caravan with sales of about 172,000 vehicles and revenue of $ 3.8 billion. during the first nine months of last year. Both companies are not profitable.
Vroom’s shares are up approximately XX% from its initial public offering price of $ 22 per share. Shares closed Tuesday at $ X.XX per share, up XX percent and XX so far this year.
– CNBC Megan Graham has contributed to this report.
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