Member Feature

William Miller - DealersOnline

When there’s a gap in the market, you can do one of two things: leave it and continue to struggle; or find an innovative way to fill the gap. The latter is exactly what William Miller of DealersOnline did.

William wasn’t looking to start his own company when he tried to find a solution to his problem: sitting with too many cars that he didn’t want to retail but wanted to get rid of fast. And the innovative part of it – he did it all online. Something that wasn’t very common in 2007.

DealersOnline built software that allows buyers and sellers to load and sell assets. In this way, William and his team are not really involved in the selling process. However, they do also offer turnkey solutions to bigger corporations and banks, where they run the process from start to end.

“I decided to start an online auction where traders could come and actually look at our assets without having to speak to me specifically and then bid against each other,” William said. This gave the company a big opportunity to maximise on the vehicles they didn’t want to retail but still make a profit.

William says that the most exciting thing for him is seeing how the network has grown amongst the users without them having to sell anything – the system does it all. “I love the dynamics of the auction marketplace, specifically because assets and their value are subjective. It’s what someone is willing to pay. Being able to find out who is willing to pay the most is an effective way to know that you are selling the item at the best price”.

While William has some mentors and inspirations, they are found within the motor industry. He has had a lot of experience by working with various groups that have grown over the years, within the motor trade. Because he started very young, he has followed quite a few of his peers over the years.

By realising that he wasn’t the only one facing an issue in the industry, William decided to start Bidders Online after leaving the corporate environment. He approached a lot of his competition, offering them the online system so that they could see how it could be beneficial. “When they saw the types of profitability, it was a game changer for them. They had to do it,” William said. He says it’s been very exciting seeing how auctions can facilitate transactions more efficiently than the typical buy and sell process.

William says it was difficult starting a new company, especially because you are not only selling your company to the public, but essentially yourself and your ideas. Capital was also a challenge, especially when having to bring on new staff and offer a good wage. Another challenge the company faced was the fast-paced development of the internet and online sphere – having young, dynamic people on team who can navigate the changes was a difficult feat. There is also a “trust deficit” in the industry, according to William. “Buyers and sellers line up on opposite sides of the table and a lot of the time, there is misalignment on motives and that can often create a negative outcome,” he said.

Where there is fairness, trust and transparency, transactions can happen much faster and at a lower cost, potentially bringing in more profit, which makes the whole market more efficient. “We think of ourselves as the plumbing of the industry that facilitates all these processes – the lower the costs, the more transparent and fair things are, the better it is for the end-user.”

William says that the company specialises in software and offering a platform for buyers to purchase good quality assets. “You don’t go on our site to get something free or cheap. You go to maximise. You’re going to pay top dollar for it because you’ve got nationwide bidders bidding six days a week.”

Based in South Africa, DealersOnline has also reached countries such as Kenya, Kuwait, Dubai, Qatar, Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, and Zambia but they have plans to expand their reach and grow their business to wherever the clients are – having an opportunity to develop new ideas and solutions to online issues and problems in order to reach more clients. “We’ve got quite a long roadmap and quite a big pipeline of work in terms of where we want to be able to take the product and the platform in the future, William said.

The company’s biggest accomplishment was going international four years ago. William and his team realised the gap they needed to fill was not only a South African problem, but a global one.

While William didn’t intend to start a company, we at SAIA are happy that he did, and are grateful for the years of support and partnership we have built with DealersOnline.

Watch the promotional video: watch here
 

DealersOnline
www.dealersonline.co.za
www.auctioneering.co.za