CarShop: scaling to sale
An Odoo-based dealer management system behind £100m to £300m growth in three years, ending in acquisition with no licensing barriers.
CarShop, one of the UK's leading used car supermarkets, set an ambition of substantial growth leading to a trade sale. Their existing dealer management systems could not flex or integrate well enough to support it. Having noticed that the systems in their estate which ran reliably with least maintenance were open source, they decided future business-critical investment would follow the same path.
Open Digital provided the project direction, business analysis and solution architecture for the programme, directing the delivery team and the client relationship throughout.
The work
The engagement began the way our engagements still begin: with the business, not the software. An end-to-end operational analysis of CarShop's processes identified extensive opportunities to streamline and automate - across buying, selling, preparing and servicing vehicles, with accounting posted in real time.
CarShop retailed a significant proportion of stock as ex-fleet consignment, which off-the-shelf DMS and accounting products could not accommodate. The designed system automated supplier self-billing, transaction reconciliation, late cost management, post-issue invoice amendment, buy-back and workshop consumables - alongside integration with the website, mobile devices and third-party data feeds.
Delivery ran as an 18-month programme of 4-6 week milestones, each released into the live business after rigorous testing, with weekly reviews keeping scope, budget and governance under control. The project completed on time and within budget.
The outcome
Selling a car had taken staff twelve steps. It became one, with automation doing the rest in the background - fewer errors, faster throughput, and a consistent experience across every site.
With finance, operations and workflow joined up, CarShop grew from four sites to seven. At delivery, revenue was around £100m per year; within three years it had grown to around £300m, leading to acquisition by an NYSE-listed group. Because the platform was open source, the acquisition faced no licensing restrictions or vendor lock-in - the systems simply transferred with the business.