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“It is an important process to gather sales and service information, as well as to understand and predict customers’ buying decisions and evolving mobility needs.
“Given the growing prevalence of data analytics, companies need to better understand data and digital workflows and processes powered by artificial intelligence and ML capabilities,” he said.
Previously, there was no centralised or systemised platform within the used car market; instead, the market was fragmented and marred by distrust towards used car dealers due to the lack of transparency.
This made the process of purchasing a used car stressful and cumbersome, with buyers often ill-informed and feeling pressured.
In the current age of technology, especially in the current pandemic, consumers are increasingly adopting an “online first, online only” approach for purchases, even for a traditional industry like the used car industry.
“The expectations and constantly changing news of modern consumers require the fragmented used car industry to revolutionise through digitalisation.
“The change in sentiments is accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic; before last year, it took more than 10 years for the retail digital penetration rate in Southeast Asia to get to 3%, and it took less than one year for that to rise to 6%,” said Palkar.
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As of April 2021, Carsome reported 8,000 used car sales per month with transaction volumes over US$700 million and disclosed revenue over US$204 million in 2019, and the company is well on track to hit US$1 billion in annualized revenue by end of the second quarter of 2021.
Its data shows the top three best-selling models on the site are the Perodua Myvi, Toyota Vios and Proton Saga.
Palkar added that digitalisation offers new opportunities to boost agility, reliability and efficiency, providing more control and greater end-to-end visibility across the used car industry.
The company’s data intelligence enables Palkar and his team to learn about demand and pricing in a detailed and dynamic manner, gain better understanding of products to increase work efficiency and enhance timely, evidence-based decision-making abilities.
Carsome has recently set up a data centre of excellence (COE) with goals of revolutionising the used car industry through digitalisation and empowering decision-making in business.
It combines auction and market data with a machine learning (ML) model, and allows for analytics-backed inventory acquisition and liquidation strategy.
“The automotive industry is currently being transformed by the adoption of technologies ranging from big data analytics to machine learning (ML) automation.
“The industry is witnessing a steady influx of new players, and we are excited to see how this will shape the future of Malaysia’s used car industry, though there remains room for companies to truly harness data to drive business decision making,” said Palkar.
He foresees a surging demand for data and analytics-based services which will both accelerate digital transformation and enable businesses to implement data science solutions.
Carsome has also recently entered a partnership with Aspirasi, a micro-financing and micro-insurance provider under Axiata Digital, to offer data-backed digital financing solutions to used car dealers in Malaysia, aimed to elevate the used car industry by providing financing solutions to used car dealers.
The underwriting process by Aspirasi is based on Carsome’s data in credit scoring, pricing and structured financing, which directly shortens approval and disbursement turnaround time.
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