Carsales highest ranked Australian company on annual Forbes “most innovative” list

Forbes has rated carsales.com 12th on its list of most innovative growth companies with market values between $2 billion and $10 billion.

It is the highest ranked Australian company, ahead of REA Group at 35 and Seek at 37.

Michael Holmes, executive director dealer, carsales.com says the ranking reflects ways the company has challenged itself to be an innovator in the automotive industry through world class systems and service.

“Carsales has provided dealers with key systems and tools for inventory management, vehicle pricing/stocking, listings/advertising products, as well as a highly utilised Trade Portal.

“The provision of contextual data to dealers, and training to disseminate the information which can potentially unlock more sales, has been a recent innovation. Whilst early in the evolution curve, data is proving to be a key strategic lever for dealers in understanding how best to market their stock”.

Rightmove, a UK-based real estate portal, topped the rankings with other well known brands like TripAdvisor and Domino’s Pizza also on the list.

Forbes ranks companies on this list by their innovation premium – a complex methodology that calculates the difference between their market capitalisation and the net present value of cash flows from existing businesses.

The innovation premium for carsales sits at 74%.