Question

Kelley Blue Book has many excellent tips on how to create a good classified car ad. In addition, the article notes several common pitfalls:

Don't list your car for two different prices in two different places. If buyers see the price difference, they may become distrustful of you.

Don't forget to post quality photos. Ads with photos appear at the top of searches and are viewed before ads without photos.

Don't overprice your car and expect it to sell right away.

Don't change your price every two days. Buyers will think you're not serious or your ad isn't legitimate. Many buyers watch ads for several days or weeks.

Don't neglect your car's unique options, like a GPS, side air bags or outstanding gas mileage.

Don't list your car in multiple places if you don't have time to manage the calls or update your ad.

Question: Which pitfall(s) do you think would most effect competitive positioning?

Answer 1

The pitfall that will most affect the competitive positioning will be the pitfall of ‘don’t neglect your car’s unique options’.

This is because in the used car market a prospective buyer has got several options before him/her in terms of make, year of original purchase, mileage, condition of the car etc. A buyer will properly analyze value proposition for a car and will purchase a car only when the value proposition is appealing and strong enough.

Unique options of a car like excellent gas mileage, fitment of accessories like GPS tools etc. will give the car its USP i.e. unique selling proposition. These unique options will add incremental value to the car and hence, in the eyes of the prospective buyers, will make the value proposition associated with the car string enough for the buyer to consider it.