We have all just gone through, and continue to experience, the most difficult stretch in our industry’s history — and perhaps in history.
No one could have fully imagined the entire world grinding to a halt, with commerce all but shut down, and with citizens around the globe fearfully isolated away inside their homes, afraid
of human contact.
For us, as the media source that exists solely to provide business advice and insights to Canada’s car dealers, we faced some interesting choices.
Do we even continue to publish a print magazine when many dealerships are all but closed? Is there an audience for the work we are doing? With everything else dealers have going on, are they going to care and have time for reading and consuming media?
So Niel Hiscox, Publisher, and I had a frank discussion in the earliest days of the pandemic and decided one thing clearly: let’s double down and expand our efforts.
Instead of producing a weekly newsletter, within days we were producing a daily newsletter. Shortly thereafter, we launched a video interview series to help connect dealers, OEMs, suppliers, lenders and people across the industry.
We’ve seen unprecedented engagement with our digital outreach to dealers, with open rates for our
e-newsletters well above 90% and with video views, likes and shares in social channels like LinkedIn and Twitter continuing to climb all the time. So, it appears we still have an audience, and we appreciate all the support and feedback we’ve received from the industry, who have been enthusiastically encouraging us to continue our efforts.
With events and conditions changing so quickly, the decision of when to close off and print this issue was difficult. We know that much will change in the world after we go to press — and that you may find this April issue a little ragged, or incomplete in places.
You’ll also notice a decided lack of advertising. Suppliers who typically support Canadian auto dealer have pulled back to regroup, while they determine what message they need to send to dealers right now.
We decided to go ahead print this issue for one simple reason. This story needs to be told and recorded.
Consider this April issue a snapshot of history unfolding. It’s what we describe as ’the dark issue. It tries to capture the rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its immediate, confusing and far reaching impact on dealers.
Our next issue is coming out in May, and that edition will focus more on how dealers have been adapting, innovating, and operating within the new reality.
We will stand with dealers, and continue to provide any insights, ideas and information that can help them navigate the pandemic, and the recovery that awaits.
These are dark times, but we are confident brighter days are ahead. We will stand with dealers, and continue to provide any insights, ideas and information that can help them navigate the pandemic, and the recovery that awaits.
On a personal note, I truly appreciate the response and participation from the dealers (and suppliers and industry association leaders) that I have reached out to for interviews during this crisis. By candidly sharing your ideas, thoughts and experiences, you have helped us capture history as it has unfolded, and you have helped make a difference.
