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How are you increasing your sales and bottom line going into the new year? If you haven’t considered personalization and accessories as a source, you may be missing out on many customers. Insignia Group offers a vehicle personalization system that may provide you with the growth you are looking for.
Many moons and almost two decades ago, a twenty-something David Stringer opened Insignia Group with a grand vision, a flip phone, a pager and dial-up Internet—ready to soup up Pontiac Grand Prix’s. Fast forward to the age of Alexa, augmented reality and Teslas, you’ll find Insignia operating on cutting edge digital platforms, boasting a nationwide presence and opening up a second location. Introducing, “Insignia West.”
Topics: staff, sales team, sales, Accessories sales, increase sales, salesman
Insignia Group LC, the leading provider of accessory sales process consulting and accessory sales software, announced today the launch of Volkswagen’s vehicle-to-accessory visual configurator on VWAccessorybuilder.com. The launch of the system coincides with the release of the all-new 2017 Volkswagen Golf Alltrack, and it will feature all Volkswagen vehicles by the end of 2016.
Topics: Volkswagen
Insignia Group LC, the leading provider of accessory sales process consulting and accessory sales software, and Eastman (NYSE: EMN) have announced the second generation release of the LLumar® window film viewer, the industry's first completely mobile-friendly window tint visual configurator.
Topics: LLumar
The latest breakthrough for Rock Hill’s Insignia Group sounds as if it comes from the “Back to the Future” movies.
Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown relied on the flux capacitor and 1.21 gigawatts to power their DeLorean time travel machine.
Insignia Group, a marketing consultant and software firm, is relying on its “meta-configurator” and gigabit Internet service to expand its future.
Insignia Group’s first major leap forward was the recent deal with Eastman Chemical Co. and its LLumar window film for a custom meta-configurator. Eastman has deployed an Insignia Group’s meta-configurator globally on its website.
The Rock Hill firm is negotiating with other major manufacturers, and other deals could be announced soon.
And, says Insignia Group president David Stringer, that’s just the beginning. The principles of their configurator could be used by any industry.
What exactly is a meta-configurator?
The U.S. patent Stringer and others hold describes the meta-configurator as a way to organize meta or data – digital representations of a product with different options, from different angles – and make them easily viewed from a computer.
It’s not a new process. Go to any automaker’s website and you have the option of “building” or “configuring” your own new car, choosing combinations of color and exterior options.
But with many different cars and models, lots of accessories, and eight different angles – well, Insignia Group estimated for General Motors that’s 2,300 unique views for just one vehicle.
“Managing the visualization of parts on thousands of vehicles, make, model, color and view angle-combinations is a monumental task,” Insignia said in its patent application.
The traditional method has been to shoot thousands of photos of each car and then assemble those images in an accessible database, which then becomes the foundation for a build-your-own-car-online experience.
Insignia Group almost went that route in 2008. Stringer was looking not only for office space in Rock Hill but also a large industrial space that was big enough for a turntable to spin a full-sized vehicle for a photo shoot. In Insignia Group’s case the photos would have been the basis for showing how thousands of after-market accessories would look on vehicles. The company has been a leader in accessory sales process consulting.
They found an office, but not space for an industrial photo studio. They decided to see what was possible with an existing wheel configurator that showed potential buyers how different wheels looked on their vehicles.
Stringer said their wheel configurator was cumbersome. It sometime took hours to download and was difficult to update. Nonetheless, “it was a smashing success.”
In 2008 Insignia “stopped, hired people and took our time,” Stringer said. “We had to find a clever way to manage vehicles, parts, submodels, all the different accessories,” he said.
By 2010 they realized they might be on to something, and they filed for a patent.
“It was a watershed moment for us,” Stringer said.
Insignia Group’s meta-configurator process often starts with computer graphic images of cars. It also uses popular, tried-and-true software programs to create a “scaleable and manageable architecture,” Stringer said, admitting even that’s a “somewhat technical answer.” For those wanting more details, go to the U.S. Patent Office website and search for patent No. 8,566,714.
What sets Insignia Group apart, Stringer says, is the ability to adapt to changing computer technologies, keeping their product current and not tied to a specific program.
Insignia Group’s success is not only good news for the company but also for Rock Hill’s efforts to become a new “tech” center, attracting more companies with cutting-edge technologies.
Insignia Group has not only been a supporter of that effort but a benefactor as well.
The company has supported the Knowledge Park Technology Incubator, a partnership among the city, Clemson University, Winthrop University and York Technical College. When it came to understand the potential of their meta-configurator and possible new markets, the company got help from the incubator.
Insignia Group’s meta-configurator is on display this week at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the premier automotive specialty products trade event that draws the industry’s brightest minds and hottest products to one place – the kind of place where the flux capacitor meets the meta-configurator.
For the moment, that won’t happen. The Eastman LLumar window film meta-configurator lists 23 cars from 2013 through 2016 year models, but not the DeLorean. The last of about 9,000 DeLoreans rolled off the assembly line in December of 1982.
Vehicle personalization sales within the dealership driven by visual engagement and process
View window film on your vehicle, change the appearance and make it cool
ROCK HILL SC: November 5, 2013 – Insignia Group, leading providers of accessories sales systems and in-dealership process training, was selected by Snap-on Business Solutions (SBS), a division of Snap-on Incorporated, to enhance their marketplace offerings. SBS and Insignia will jointly promote the Insignia System going forward. SBS is also migrating several hundred Mopar EASy (Electronic Accessories System) customers to the Insignia system across the United States.
“We are excited to partner with Insignia,”
says Corey Roberts, Vice President of Global Parts and Service at Snap-on Business Solutions. “Our collaboration is bringing to market a best-in-class solution by combining Insignia’s focus on and expertise in all-makes accessory selling with Snap-on’s experience and leadership in dealership productivity and parts selling solutions.”
To complement Snap-on’s market-leading line of electronic parts catalog (EPC) solutions, including the new cross-brand EPC 5 platform, SBS and Insignia will integrate their systems to deliver the market’s first automated parts and accessories sales solution. Operating across vehicle brands, this new solution will strengthen both companies’ dealership accessories-focused product and service offerings.
“SBS expanded the vehicle personalization market with their EASy system,” says David Stringer, Insignia Group President. “SBS’s quality product and dedicated efforts moved dealerships to recognize a new revenue opportunity. Assisting our partner in satisfying the growing needs of their customer base is a privilege. Partnering with SBS, the industry-leading EPC service provider, is a strategic step in helping dealerships streamline the procurement-to-delivery process for both parts and accessories.”
ROCK HILL SC: October 23, 2013 – Insignia Group announced today the issuance of US Patent No. 8,566,714, which relates to Insignia’s development software and process for building visual assets on vehicles. Insignia’s invention supports the increasing demand within new car dealerships for presenting vehicle personalization [accessories] to customers at the point of car sale.
The patent is specific to Insignia’s process and development software for creating configurable assets to appear on a base product. The software invention establishes a repeatable process of associating the asset to the base model and sub-models. This dynamic method is delivered across many unique parts and vehicles concurrently. The rapid application saves time, money and removes human error in managing catalog based data.
“Insignia is a leader and innovator in the vehicle personalization market space,” says David Stringer, president of Insignia. “Protecting our technology allows us to capitalize on our efforts and bring even greater innovation to our industry.”
Insignia Group services thousands of dealership personnel across its nationwide network of dealership affiliates. As released in January 2012, Toyota of Braintree exceeded $2.1 million dollars in accessory sales leveraging Insignia’s technology and services. This represents the largest one-year sales volume of accessories on new cars in the 11 years of providing vehicle personalization software solutions and process training to dealerships.
“This achievement is a testament to our commitment in providing best-in-class technologies and services to our customers,” said Mr. Stringer. “Every process we establish has a customer included and it’s our customers which contribute to the continual growth in our product and services,” he said.
BETHESDA, MD – September 26, 2013 – The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) has announced the 2013 recipients of its Impact Award: Four for the Future, which annually honors four aftermarket professionals, age 40 or younger, who have made remarkable contributions within the aftermarket industry. The award was created in 2010, and is administered by the AAIA Marketing and Communications Committee on behalf of the association.
