Social media giant Facebook is marching its way into the automotive sales space.
Dealers and private consumers can buy and sell used cars in Australia via Facebook after the company launched a similar service in the US and UK in 2016.
Facebook has also launched a local and community news collator in addition to the automotive “Marketplace Autos” feature.
Marketplace Autos, which will come online before Christmas, allows buyers and sellers to browse inventory from dealers and private sellers by searching make, model, body style, transmission and odometer ranges, as well as use value guides from Kelley Blue Book which launched in Australia late last month.
The venture uses listing partners Carsales, Autotrader and The Drive Network, and is looking for additional partners, which could potentially include Gumtree and the Ebay Group.
Carsales product and experience director Ryan Svaghi says Marketplace will give dealers another way to reach buyers.
“Facebook Marketplace is a new destination for dealers to market their inventory and the Carsales “Distribution Service” is designed to simplify the process of getting inventory where our dealer customers want it to appear,” he says.
In the US, the service is partnered with Edmunds, Cars.com, Auction123, CDK Global and Socialdealer.
Marketplace Autos will allow users to conduct real-time messaging with sellers using Facebook’s messenger facility.
Sellers can take their own photos, write descriptions and set their researched and compared pricing.
Facebook head of automotive Ted Bergeron says the Australian market is ripe for potential.
“There are twice as many used cars sold [here] than new cars,” he says.
The company’s Australia-Pacific marketplace partnerships director Christine Chia says the move from general buy/sell items to cars was elementary.
“Vehicles is one of the most popular categories on Marketplace,” she says.
“People are already using Facebook to find their next car.
“Today we’re making this experience even better for car shoppers in Australia — by working with leaders in the auto industry, we’re expanding our used car inventory to give people more options,” Chia explains.
“[We’re also] helping local dealerships reach even more customers,” she adds.
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