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Xconomy flags Ann Arbor startup Buycentives

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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Ann Arbor

Buycentives continues to roll up to the headlines. This time the Xconomy team takes a close look at the Ann Arbor-based start-up and explains why its worth watching.

Excerpt:

When it comes to the incentive deals offered by auto companies to potential car buyers, little has changed, despite advances in technology. Customers may be starting their auto purchases online, but automakers are still trying to reel them in with deals that are marketed more like the coupons found in a newspaper or Sunday flyer, says entrepreneur Sean Murphy.

The incentives, say $1,000 off the purchase of a certain car type in the next month, go out en masse to consumers, and car makers have no way of determining whether a slightly larger incentive or a different deal entirely would have more power in attracting a certain customer, says Murphy. It's a problem his Ann Arbor-based startup, Buycentives, is trying to fix with its software.

"We'll be able to take that consumer information, using software we developed, and we'll be able to determine what the appropriate incentive is for the consumer to generate a sale or buy a car," says co-founder Murphy, a veteran of the product strategy and marketing side of the auto industry.

Read the rest of the story here.