Swansway receives national recognition for excellence

Swansway has been presented the Business Initiative of the Year award at the national Auto Trader Retailer Awards 2020.

Swansway Group, who own Audi centres in Blackburn and Preston as well as a Volkswagen Commercial Vehciles retailer in Preston, has beaten competition from over 13,000 UK automotive retailers to receive the Business Initiative of the Year award at the 13th annual Auto Trader Retailer Awards. The Business Initiative of the Year award is presented to retailers that have successfully introduced a strategic business initiative and demonstrated its impact on the company and was judged by an independent panel of senior executives from Google and Rightmove, as well as global media agency The Specialist Works, and automotive recruitment specialists Ennis & Co.

Now in its 13th year, the Auto Trader Retailer Awards celebrate the very best in automotive retailing; those brands that are pushing the standard of all aspects of the industry, including digital excellence, and a commitment to exceptional customer service. In total, 18 award winners were announced across seven categories during the awards ceremony which, as a result of COVID-19, was completely digital for the first time in the Award’s history. It was hosted by Auto Trader CEO, Nathan Coe and Sales Director Rebecca Clark.

The winners of this year’s Auto Trader Retailer Awards were determined by a combination of in depth analysis of millions of data points, independent judging by a panel of experts, customer feedback and from the UK’s largest mystery shopping programme among auto retailers.

John Smyth, Swansway Group Director commented: “As we enter further into a digital age, our focus must continue to lie with our online presence, just as much as our physical presence in our showrooms. Our digital forecourt became of even more importance during the pandemic when people remained home and online. The Digital Marketing Apprenticeship programme began January 2019 as a completely new role to Swansway Group, recruited based on a new skill set of attention to detail, verbal and written skills. The role involves seeing a vehicle into stock, through to evaluating live adverts on classified sites with consideration to images, videos and description writing. Our increased efforts in merchandising our new and used cars in a professional, consistent manner with the support of our Digital Merchandising team has allowed us to adapt to the changing climate and maximise on increased online search as well as a greater demand to transact online.”

Commenting on this year’s winner, Auto Trader’s Chief Executive Officer, Nathan Coe, said: “The automotive industry is by nature, incredibly resilient, but we’ve been amazed at just how successful some retailers have been at adapting to the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19. We’ve seen examples of businesses who have truly gone the extra mile to respond to changing consumer behaviour and expectations, not just making the car buying process easier and more efficient, but safer too. We’ve also been hugely inspired by leadership teams that have taken equally bold steps to protect their colleagues and to instil rewarding and collaborative working cultures.

“In this climate we think it’s more important than ever to step back and to recognise true retailing excellence. And based on the most comprehensive judging process, there is no doubt that this year’s winners are incredibly deserving and truly represent the very best of our industry.”

John Smyth continued: “We are extremely proud of this award as it represents that our peers in the industry believe our approach to digital is the right one and we are excited to see how this will develop into the future.”