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Auto Trader Group

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This article is about the British website and previous publication. For other uses, see Auto Trader.

Auto Trader Group
Company typePublic
LSE: AUTO
FTSE 100 Component
IndustryAutomotive trading via Internet and mobile
Founded1975
FoundersJohn Madejski, Paul Gibbons, Peter Taylor
Headquarters
Manchester
,
England, UK
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
  • Ed Williams (chair­person) Edit this on Wikidata
  • Nathan Coe (CEO)
  • Catherine Faiers (COO)
  • Jamie Warner (CFO)
ProductsVehicle advertisements
RevenueIncrease £500.2 million (2023)[1]
Decrease £277.6 million (2023)[1]
Decrease £233.9 million (2023)[1]
SubsidiariesAutorama (acquired in 2022)

Carzone (former)

AutoTrader.co.za (former)
Websitewww.autotrader.co.uk

Auto Trader Group plc, commonly known as Auto Trader, is a British automotive online marketplace and classified advertising business. Auto Trader is listed on the London Stock Exchange trading under the ticker symbol AUTO, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

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Early history: twentieth century

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Auto Trader founder, John Madejski, pictured in 2009

Auto Trader was founded in 1975 by an English businessman, John Madejski.[2][3] Together with his business partners Paul Gibbons and Peter Taylor, he founded Thames Valley Trader in 1977.[4]

It was rebranded Auto Trader in 1988. The first title was followed by the publication of a second one, Southern Auto Trader.[5]

The company launched a website, Autotrader.co.uk, in 1996, giving people the ability to buy or sell a car online.[6]

British international investment firm BC Partners bought a stake in the business from John Madejski in July 1998 for £260m; then Guardian Media Group, who had acquired Automart in 1982, merged that business with Hurst Publishing in May 2000 so creating Trader Media.[7]

21st century and evolution to digital only

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Auto Trader launched a mobile website in 2002, initially using the WAP protocol.[8]

In July 2008, Auto Trader launched a .mobi site,[9] and in July 2009, separate versions for differing handset capability levels were released.[9]

Auto Trader developed its mobile offering further from March 2010, releasing applications enabling users to search for vehicles on iOS, Android and Windows Mobile devices using augmented reality features.[10]

In April 2011 a group called the Motor Traders Advertising Union launched an online petition and proposed a mass pull out by auto dealers who objected to an increase in the fee for a dealership to advertise a car, from £7 to £8.50, before any discounts for bulk advertisers.[11][12][13]

Sales of the print magazine dwindled in line with the decline of the print industry. By July 2012, circulation had dropped to an average of 87,000 copies a week[14] and down to 27,000 in March 2013.[15]

In June 2013, after thirty six years, the final editions of the printed magazine were published, with the company concentrating on its online business.[16]

In October 2013, AutoTrader.co.za (Auto Trader South Africa) a subsidiary of the Auto Trader Group, was sold off to become an independent South African company.[17][18][19][20][21]

In January 2014, Apax Partners bought the business from Guardian Media Group for £600m.[22]

In March 2014, the company rebranded, and became known as Auto Trader,[23] and in March 2015, Auto Trader Group launched an initial public offering, with a market capitalisation of about £2bn and floated on the London Stock Exchange on the FTSE250.[24]

In 2020 it was reported that Auto Trader had created a data lake and intelligence platform using services including Amazon Web Services and Google's Looker, and was working to foster a ‘culture of data’ internally by setting up a data academy for employees.[25]

Auto Trader granted four months of free advertising to its retailer customers to support them during the COVID-19 pandemic.[26][27]

In 2022, Auto Trader began a partnership with the Office for National Statistics sharing its used car pricing data to power its official measures of inflation, including the Consumer Prices Index.[28]

Also in 2022, Auto Trader acquired Autorama, owner of Vanarama, one of the UK’s largest transactional marketplaces for leasing new vehicles.[29][30]

Acquisitions

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Auto Trader’s acquisitions
Company Year of acquisition Acquired company’s activities
TNT Group 2000[31] Publisher of titles for Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans in the UK
Carzone.ie 2005[32] Website for motor dealers and consumers in Ireland
2nd Byte 2006[33] Provides used car digital marketing services to car manufacturers and franchised dealers
Deltapoint Associates 2012[34] Automotive intelligence solutions
Motor Trade Delivery 2017[35] Vehicle moving service
Dealer Auction 2018[36] Formed a joint venture with Cox Automotive providing an online B23B auction platform for cars
KeeResources 2019[37] Provider of software, vehicle data, and digital solutions to the automotive industry
AutoConvert 2020[38] Finance, insurance and compliance software platform
Autorama 2022[39] Online vehicle leasing platform

Marketplace and products

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Online marketplace

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At the core of Auto Trader is its online marketplace, where consumers buy and sell cars and other vehicles, and where car dealerships advertise and sell their stock, both new and used, to consumers. Retailers pay to advertise vehicles, and consumers also pay a fee unless the transaction is less than £1,000.[40]

AutoTrader.co.uk website

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The Auto Trader website was ranked first in the UK in the vehicles category by Similarweb and Eighth globally in January 2024.[41]

Mobile app

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As of February 2024, Auto Trader's mobile app had ratings of 4.8/5[42] on the Apple App Store and 4.2/5 on Google Play.[43]

YouTube channel

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Auto Trader operates a YouTube channel where it publishes videos such as car reviews, car comparisons, drag races, and buying guides. Television presenter and automotive journalist Rory Reid joined Auto Trader as YouTube Director in December 2019, and fronts the videos on the channel.[44]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Full year results for the year ended 31 March 2023" (PDF). Autotrader. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Auto Trader valued at £2.35bn". Manchester Evening News. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Paul Gibbons Reveals How He Launched Auto Trader, And Why He's Now Moved Onto Golf Resorts". Huffington Post. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  4. ^ "Private equity driver gears up for Auto Trader flotation". The Independent. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Sixthings we will miss about Auto Trader Magazine". 22 May 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  6. ^ "AutoTrader web site switches to Linux". computing.co.uk. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  7. ^ "GMG finds £600m deal in Auto Trader". 7 August 2003. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Digital: Auto Trader eyes WAP site revamp". brandrepublic.com. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Autotrader to revamp its mobile site". Mobile Industry Review. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Auto-Trader app brings augmented reality features to second-hand car hunting". Tech Digest. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  11. ^ James Ashton and Ed Kemp (24 April 2011). "Auto Trader faces fee row". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  12. ^ Hutchinson, Curtis (26 April 2011). "Auto Trader faces dealer boycott". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  13. ^ Baggott, James (2 November 2011). "MTAU & Auto Trader clash". Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  14. ^ Rushton, Katherine (1 July 2012). "Auto Trader to be axed". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  15. ^ Clancy, Rebecca (7 May 2013). "Auto Trader print edition to stop as focus shifts to digital". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  16. ^ "Auto Trader to be axed". The Telegraph. 1 July 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  17. ^ "Good management leads to proudly South African product". Sowetan Live. 15 October 2013.
  18. ^ "Auto Trader confirms plans for £2bn initial public offering". The Financial Times. 9 March 2015.
  19. ^ "Trader Media Group buoyed by digital growth". The Guardian. 28 November 2011.
  20. ^ "Fundamentals for Auto Trader Group Ord 150p Wi". The Telegraph. 1 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021.
  21. ^ "How to sell your car". Auto Advice. 17 February 2014.
  22. ^ Christopher Williams, and Ashley Armstong (21 January 2014). "Guardian Media Group gets £600m for AutoTrader stake". Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  23. ^ Haggerty, Angela (12 March 2014). "Trader Media Group to change name to Auto Trader as company streamlines brands under unified digital banner". TheDrum. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  24. ^ Mance, Henry (15 March 2015). "Auto Trader confirms plans for £2bn initial public offering". The Financial Times. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  25. ^ Derek, du Preez (30 July 2020). "Auto Trader is creating a 'culture of data' to democratise data use internally". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  26. ^ "Auto Trader continues fee freeze as coronavirus lockdown extends into May". 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  27. ^ Davies, Ellis (6 January 2021). "Auto Trader to provide free advertising in response to latest lockdown". Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  28. ^ Sands, Helen (28 June 2022). "Using Auto Trader car listings data to transform consumer price statistics, UK". Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  29. ^ Gareth, Robert (22 March 2022). "Auto Trader buys Vanarama owner Autorama". Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  30. ^ "Auto Trader Group Plc Announces Acquisition Of Autorama (UK) Limited". Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  31. ^ "Free weekly title TNT Magazine celebrates 25 years". Campaign Live. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  32. ^ Micheau, Ed (17 September 2005). "Guardian Media Group drives €5m takeover of Carzone motor website". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  33. ^ "Auto Trader Improves Searches and Provides Boost for New Car Advertisers". Retrieved 15 December 2022. "B2B brands included in the Trader Media Group stable include: Auto Trader, RAZSOR, 2nd Byte and Autotrade-mail"
  34. ^ "Deltapoint Drives Forward Auto Trader Deal". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  35. ^ "Auto Trader snaps up Macclesfield-based Motor Trade Delivery". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  36. ^ Davis, Ellis (15 January 2020). "Cox and Auto Trader collaborate on Dealer Auction wholesale platform". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  37. ^ Roberts, Gareth (2 October 2019). "KeeResources bought by Auto Trader Group". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  38. ^ Sharpe, Tom (31 July 2020). "Auto Trader looks to automate car sales journey with AutoConvert acquisition". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  39. ^ Roberts, Gareth (22 March 2022). "Auto Trader buys Vanarama owner Autorama". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  40. ^ Steiner, Rupert (7 May 2021). "Auto Trader's Growth Is Accelerating Online. That Will Drive the Stock Up". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  41. ^ "Similar Web".
  42. ^ "Auto Trader on Apple".
  43. ^ "Auto Trader on Google Play".
  44. ^ Woodhouse, Andrew (12 December 2019). "Ex Top Gear host Rory Reid joins AutoTrader". Retrieved 14 December 2022.
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