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AAA AUTO has established an innovation laboratory, to expand customer services
The goal is to ease the buying and selling of vehicles as well as facilitate in-house processes
Prague, 31st January 2018 – The AAA AUTO Group traded 75,400 vehicles in Central Europe last year and will now provide customers with even easier ways to buy and sell vehicles with a new innovation. The programme will be unified under the patronage of the AuresLab Innovation Laboratory.
“We want customers to perceive us as the most innovative company in its field in Central Europe. For some time now, we have not simply been a vehicle trading company, we are also a software and technological company, which is always a step ahead of the rest of the market. This is why we decided to create a laboratory for implementing innovation, a process that was previously rather disjointed. This laboratory, called AuresLab, will supervise innovations and put them into practice. The goal is to acquire additional customers from the peer-to-peer market and the new-vehicle market, thanks to a significant increase in the ease with which the buying and selling of vehicles can now be done and also the broader scope of our business activities”, said Managing Director of the international AAA AUTO car dealer network, Karolína Topolová. The name of the laboratory is based on the English words AUtomotive REtail Systems. AuresLab will function as a brand of the Aures Laboratories s.r.o. Company, which is part of the AAA AUTO Group.
“These innovations will be implemented within the entire group, from purchase and sales to financial services, marketing, post-sales service and the in-house management systems that affect customers”, says Operating Director of AAA AUTO Petr Vaněček. He will be responsible for all the innovations within the entire group. “This year we will spend up to 10 million Euro on projects managed by the AuresLab Innovation Laboratory, and this could be as much as 40 million by 2020”, Petr reminded us that AAA AUTO had differed from the competition from when it was first established. “The actual business model of vehicle purchase for cash, which was introduced when we started twenty-five years ago, was also innovative. This was followed by other firsts, such as the creation of a customer call centre and the utilisation of the Internet as a major tool for promoting sales and purchases. Recent expansion of the means of presentation of vehicles on offer on Facebook or Instagram, the implementation of the identification of cars for customers using QR codes and a 3D tour of the Prague showroom, as well as linking navigation to our branches with maps from Google”, Petr Vaněček continued.
Stanislav Gálik, who worked for the Group as a strategic consultant for development of the Mototechna brand, was appointed executive Director of AuresLab. Stanislav, who was also a consultant for innovation within the terms of Česká spořitelna, as well as providing consultancy for the Mototechna brand, is an experienced manager in the field of start-up projects and innovation. He established and subsequently sold the Galard fashion brand and was the co-founder of the Unifer innovation centre.
“Our goal is to introduce innovations, which will enable us to serve our customers better and faster. The Try&Buy service is an example of this and enables customers from Mototechna to try a selected car for up to three months without commitment, before purchase. The Try&Buy service is being tested and will be launched into full operation in April. We currently offer companies innovative software products such as for the appraisal of cars according to market trends. These use algorithms or a robot that automatically compiles business opportunities from the internet”, Gálik explained. AuresLab will create its own innovations or cooperate with individual company divisions or departments. “We will collect ideas, assess their feasibility and the benefit for the customer, develop them and put them into practice. We will pass them on to the relevant division or department following a pilot phase, so that they can be fully integrated into the services and products offered to clients”, Topolová concluded.
