EATONTOWN, NJ—PCG Companies, a leading automotive analytics and marketing consultancy firm, and Cox Automotive today announced a strategic alliance by which Dealer.com websites (a Cox Automotive brand) will support the PCG Specification for consumer engagement events and goals in Google Analytics (GA).

Dealers using the Dealer.com website platform will have a standardized implementation of Google Analytics (GA) which aligns with an automotive analytics specification published by PCG in 2016. By supporting this open standard for GA events and goals, Dealer.com dealers and dealer groups can independently review their website and marketing performance data.

The PCG specification empowers dealer groups to have trusted set of measurement metrics across diverse website platforms. Cox Automotive joins a growing list of companies that have publicly endorsed and implemented the PCG specifications to create greater transparency and to help dealers increase their Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) from their marketing partners.

“I am excited to partner with Cox Automotive to provide a standardized GA implementation to allow their clients to inspect traffic quality and engagement independently.” stated Brian Pasch, Founder of PCG Companies. “By leveraging the PCG specifications, Cox Automotive enterprise clients will be able to more easily compare marketing outcomes in their multi-vendor eco-system.”

PCG created the open standard for Google Analytics to unify the vendor community that serves automotive retailers. Until now, dealers did not have the data to fully leverage the independent reporting that Google Analytics provides to inspect marketing and merchandising investments. This is the second specification that PCG has published that has gained widespread support from the automotive vendor community.

“By supporting a standardized implementation of Google Analytics, Dealer.com affirms that we encourage dealers to inspect the performance of our websites and advertising solutions.” stated James Grace, Sr. Director of Analytics Products at Cox Automotive. “We’re very proud of the automotive-specific Analytics product we offer our clients through Control Center. With that said, we absolutely want to enable our clients to use tools like Google Analytics and VistaDash to compare results across multiple vendors, or to see their data through a different lens if that’s what they want to do.”

Dealer.com will be working to finalize this new integration in the coming months and once complete they will make sure their clients understand how to upgrade their current Google Analytics implementation to comply with the PCG specifications.

About PCG Companies

Founded in 2005 by Brian Pasch, PCG Companies is a leading automotive consultancy and analytics firm serving the automotive industry. PCG Companies is a recognized leader in Tier 3 automotive marketing education through their hosted conferences, books, and online training courses. The fastest growing division of the company is VistaDash, a trusted cloud-based data reporting and analytics platform which fuels marketing insights for single point and multi-store dealer groups. (www.vistadash.com)

About Dealer.com

Dealer.com provides an integrated platform of Advertising, Website and Managed Services products which allow OEMs, dealer groups, retailers and agencies to leverage advanced digital technology and data to better engage and connect with their customers. The company practices a deep commitment to its culture of innovation, with a focus on health and wellness, making it one of the most desirable places to work, and a valuable partner for automotive retailers. Based in Burlington, Vermont, Dealer.com is a Cox Automotive brand. For more information, visit www.dealer.com. 

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, financial, retail and wholesale solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader®, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, vAuto®, Xtime® and a host of other brands. The global company has 32,000-plus team members in more than 200 locations and is partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion and approximately 60,000 employees. Cox Enterprises’ other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com.

About the Author

Brian Pasch is the founder of PCG companies. PCG provides customized marketing and training solutions for businesses that are committed to dominate their local market.