Frontline Liquidators approached us with a problem they had observed after many years on all sides of the car business.
New auto dealers are constantly trying to swap out the aged inventory on their lots, (the inventory that isn't moving, that is), with inventory better suited to their clientele. The status quo in the industry is to liquidate old inventory and purchase new inventory at auctions with a broker and auction house each taking a cut of the transaction. The Frontline Liquidators team believes that dealers know their business well enough to exchange inventory without the middlemen, and that the modern web has created an opportunity to facilitate transactions without stepping foot in the auction house.
When Frontline Liquidators approached us they had only an idea and were looking for a partner to help guide the product development process. In early discovery, we quickly identified that ease of use and simple adoption would be the primary drivers of the application's design. Car dealers are busy and don't have sophisticated IT structures to roll out applications. We started with a foundational web application platform with a responsive design that any one could use anywhere--a desktop, a tablet, an iPhone or and Android device. The backend platform is integrated with a major player in the DMS (Dealer Management System) industry so that customer inventory can be automatically be fetched from the inventory databases of Frontline's subscribers with the click of a button. Communication is a key component of Frontline's platform, so after receiving initial customer feedback and tuning the product it was clear that native mobile applications would have a huge impact on usability to get push notifications into the pockets of customers. We built iOS and Android applications using React Native, which allowed us to maintain a single codebase that can be deployed to the majority of mobile devices.
Frontline Liquidator's Web Application showcases vehicle inventory that can be traded amongst car dealers without a broker or auction house involved in the transaction. Frontline's Web and Mobile applications are united on a single platform that simulcasts listings and dealer communications across mobile devices and the web based application for desktop users. The platform is supported by our Mission Control product which guarantees 24/7 availability and reliability of the services.
Frontline has on-boarded 19 new-car dealers in the Ark-La-Tex area in just a few short weeks since the product has launched with plans to scale regionally and then nationally.
