A unique positioning in a rusty market
As a consumer, chances are you see the car market as liquid and simplistic: if you want to buy a car, all you have to do is (1) go to a car dealer or (2) use one of the many B2C or C2C digital platforms to browse and purchase a new or used vehicle online. The car purchasing process has become even simpler in recent years with the entrance of many digital players challenging the traditional ownership model with Car-as-a-service offers, providing individuals with flexible solutions to easily rent or lease cars.
While various platforms are facilitating B2C used car transactions, B2B car transactions are lagging behind in terms of digitization. Auction houses (BCA…) and B2B marketplaces (Auto1, which just successfully IPOed), which have always been the reliable middlemen for B2B players to sell/buy and move used cars, generally have a poor UX, are mutually exclusive and rely on cumbersome processes.
In this context, 2trde has emerged as the most effective digital solution to help B2B players sell their used cars through any channel they want, offering greater reach and better prices than any other marketplace. This is made possible thanks to 2trde’s SaaS/mobile platform, which allows customers to (1) collect all the data they need on the cars they want to sell, (2) aggregate marketplaces, auction houses and private sales under a single interface, and (3) set up sales “cascade”, i.e parameters about which cars can be sold to which groups of buyers in which order.
This “umbrella” approach makes 2trde a true ally for vendors, who not only benefit from better prices & better car turnover, but also find it beneficial to use its transparent platform outside of transactions. The opportunity to create a data standard for B2B car transactions through a trusted third-party is exciting and will likely be even-more necessary in an EV-driven world, where we expect every player across the value chain to be able to provide information on the batteries of cars they want to sell/buy.
Network effects everywhere
The B2B used cars market is a real can of worms, made up of several stakeholders (OEMs, rental companies, leasers, affiliate dealers, independent dealers) who all have different expectations in terms of price, timing, logistics and liquidity. As mentioned, B2B marketplaces and auction houses have emerged as solutions to fluidify B2B exchanges, but it is not certain that a “one size fits all” approach will ever emerge to cover all needs, and that multi-tenanting will remain the norm. Rather than trying to fight this, 2trde’s SaaS helps vendors connect to their own networks of buyers to complete a sale. By doing so, buyers will also benefit from the 2trde experience (enriched data on the cars they just bought + amazing UX). When these buyers would like to sell vehicles at some point or even when they will want to find pricing information about the B2B used car market, they are likely to use 2trde to connect to their own buyer networks. This network effect is all the more powerful as it can work for inter-company transactions (e.g., BMW Germany selling cars to its French subsidiary) and brings added value to both vendors and buyers simultaneously, but not only. In our view, it is one of the most interesting ways of creating a shared data standard across a disparate industry.
A team of experts with a proven track record
Carving out a place within the automotive industry is not easy: specific industry knowledge is essential, sales cycles can be long and many parts of the B2B sales process are still done with pen and paper. For these reasons, being credible is not an option. From day one, we have been amazed by 2trde’s maturity as a company and by its CEO Johannes’ vision and ability to surround himself with leaders in the automotive industry who will bring him to push the company to the highest level. We are also glad to invest alongside Israeli-based VC Maniv, whose in-depth knowledge of the automotive industry will contribute to 2trde’s success at an international level.
Herzliche Glückwünsche!