It’s understood in most circles that responsive website design is the way to go. Everyone from Apple to Google is promoting them as the way that websites should be built, but there’s one industry that is missing them: ours. It’s not that car dealers and manufacturers are not aware of the need for responsive website design. It’s just that their options have been limited.
Much of this is the fault of the website vendors. Unlike most industries, the automotive is one where specialists dominate the marketing space. Few outside companies make it into the automotive industry and few automotive marketing firms venture outside. It’s a closed garden due to the nuances of the market and the unique needs of the clients. There are few options available in many cases because most of the companies that offer dealers websites have not moved forward into the responsive website design arena.
One notable exception is DealerOn, an automotive website design firm. They were not the first to offer RWD, but they are the first to have mastered the capabilities in a meaningful way. Unlike most automotive vendors proclaiming that their websites are adaptive, DealerOn has enhanced their offering to make them truly responsive. Subtle features such as click-to-call buttons that only appear on small screens and buttons that enlarge to fit touchscreens are just some of the things that differentiate them from competitors.
The industry has been in need of something like this for a while. Ever since Google started promoting the concept in 2012, there have only been a handful of companies that have gone in this direction. Some of the early adopters jumped in too quickly and produced websites that did not render properly or that were too slow for 3G internet connections. DealerOn has solved these issues and have presented the first recommendable product in 2014.
As responsive websites push their way into every industry, it’s inevitable that all of the vendors will fall into line. In the meantime, there’s really only one valid option.
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