Global automotive technology and services company Cox Automotive has unveiled its latest automotive omnichannel digital retailing product, which enables complete vehicle purchases across multiple digital channels.
The rollout, which seems to be an evolution of its Retail360 — announced a year ago — “allows automotive sellers to offer full e-commerce capabilities on their own websites and integrates seamlessly in-store, while also enabling direct purchase of their inventory through AutoTrader and Kelley Blue Book,” according to the company. It adds that it’s intended to provide “a frictionless buying journey, from browsing to purchase, with integrated financing, trade-in valuations and digital contracting.”
According to Cox Automotive’s 2025 Digitization of Car Buying Study, almost two-thirds (65%) of car buyers “perform some or all the process online.” “Having this omnichannel selling approach will be critical to maintaining sales volumes and market share as record-high new vehicle prices, limited affordability and tightening used-car supply threaten to throttle consumer demand,” it said.
“We’ve built the omnichannel platform the automotive industry has been waiting for,” said Jessica Stafford, SVP, consumer solutions, Cox Automotive. “This isn’t website software or a marketplace listing service, it’s a true e-commerce platform that handles the complexity of the entire car buying transaction across every digital touchpoint and in-store. As the only company that owns both the technology platform and the marketplaces, Cox Automotive can deliver seamless automotive retailing everywhere consumers want to shop.”
Hertz, one of several enterprise implementations, now offers complete online purchasing at HertzCarSales.com and through AutoTrader.com using Cox Automotive’s unified infrastructure. “Cox Automotive enables us to deliver on our promise of making car buying easier, whether customers shop on our website, at our Hertz Car Sales locations or through partner channels,” said Jeff Adams, EVP of Hertz Car Sales, in the announcement. “Their technology creates a consistent, transparent experience while their operational infrastructure ensures we can scale efficiently.”
Cox Automotive, one of the world’s largest automotive services and technology providers, reports 2.3 billion online interactions a year. Its brands include AutoTrader, Kelley Blue Book, Manheim, vAuto, DealerTrack, NextGear Capital, CentralDispatch and FleetNet America. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately owned company based in Atlanta. The latter generated $23 billion in revenue last year.
Cox Automotive’s e-commerce focus began in 2018, with the introduction of the Auto Trader Accelerate digital retail program. In 2021, it launched Complete Retail, linking up services and products — including classifieds sites Autotrader and KBB.com — as well as its VinSolutions’ customer relationship management tool and the finance and insurance and dealership management software offered by DealerTrack.
