iVendi invests £3m in “event store” to track online motor retail customers

iVendi has invested more than £3m in completing an “event store” that provides full audit and logging capabilities enabling end-to-end tracking of each consumer’s actions throughout their car buying journey.

James Tew, CEO, explained that its purpose was twofold – to ensure very high levels of compliance and to learn more about online customer journeys.

He said: “The overriding purpose of the event store is really compliance. We can now backdate requests for new management information reports from dealers simply by replaying events from the past.

“Before, when we were asked for reports, they would only use data from the time of the request. However, we now have the capability to look back in history and backfill all the information needed.

“For example, we will be able to show that a customer looking at online motor finance has watched our information videos on PCP and PCH before making a choice to go with the product of their choice.

“This kind of ability is crucial from the point of view of just about every regulatory body that affects the motor industry. The FCA is the one that will first spring to mind but it also has relevance to everything from GDPR to the recent ASA ruling.”

Compliance was emerging as a much more important issue in online motor retail, James said, as it became a fundamental part of the trading model of not just dealers but motor finance providers, manufacturers and car portals.

“We spend a lot of time and resources in this area of which the event store is only one element. It is very much our strategy to be market leading when it comes to compliance and this is something that is already paying dividends.

“At the moment, we are in advanced negotiations with several customers with whom we would not be talking if we were not able to demonstrate that our products offer a level of compliance capable of satisfying even major financial institutions.”