Step 1:
Discovery & Planning

Understanding Your Business Needs and Defining Key Features

The first step in our process is to understand your business vision in detail. We take the time to explore your dealership model, vehicle inventory strategy, and commercial goals. This stage is all about getting to know your automotive business objectives — whether you’re a single-site dealer, multi-branch reseller, or launching a national marketplace.

Our Discovery & Planning phase ensures that our development process is aligned with your business from the outset. By gathering in-depth information about your brand, customers, and digital ambitions, we can design a custom solution that is both strategic and scalable.

Business Analysis: We Discuss Your Business Objectives, Pain Points, and Success Metrics

In this phase, we hold structured conversations to fully understand your dealership’s goals and growth plans. This is a chance to map out your website's intended role in your wider operation — from lead generation to customer service and beyond.

We’ll explore:

  • Your core business goals and sales process
  • Any existing challenges with online vehicle sales
  • Success indicators — e.g. increase in enquiries, online lead-to-sale ratios, or stock turnover efficiency

Our aim is to fully understand what drives your dealership’s success, so we can build a solution that actively supports those goals.

Audience Research: Identifying Your Target Buyers, Sellers, and Stakeholders

Knowing your audience is key to creating a site that performs. In this step, we define your user types and tailor the experience to suit their needs — whether it’s a buyer searching for a used SUV, a dealer listing 50 cars, or a multi-brand showroom looking for a centralised platform.

This includes:

  • Vehicle buyers: What kinds of vehicles are they browsing? What filters or information do they prioritise?
  • Dealers or sellers: What tools do they need to list, manage, and promote stock?
  • Other stakeholders: Do you need admin-level controls, sales team logins, or CRM integration?

By building out user personas and aligning their needs with platform capabilities, we ensure your site is intuitive and high-performing for everyone involved.

Feature Planning: We Collaborate with You to Define the Key Features Your Platform Needs

This is the stage where your vision becomes tangible. Together, we determine which features are essential for your car sales platform — balancing innovation with usability, and ensuring each function adds measurable value.

Common areas we explore include:

  • Listing types (basic, featured, spotlight)
  • Vehicle comparison, filters, and advanced search
  • Dealer and admin dashboards
  • Enquiry forms, booking requests, part-exchange options
  • CRM/API integrations (e.g. AutoTrader, eBay, Zapier)
  • Finance calculators or insurance widgets
  • Responsive design for mobile buyers

We’ll help you prioritise which features will deliver the best results within your budget, and plan for future scalability.

Project Timeline: Setting Milestones and Expectations for Delivery

With your business goals, audience needs, and feature requirements clearly defined, we’ll create a structured project roadmap. This helps ensure a smooth and efficient development journey — with clear checkpoints and no surprises.

Your plan will include:

  • Key phases: design, development, content, testing, launch
  • Agreed milestones and realistic deadlines
  • Regular communication and review sessions to keep you informed

We believe in transparency and accountability — you’ll always know where we are in the process, and what’s coming next.