Last Thursday, CarGurus made its stock market debut with an IPO that immediately raised over $150M and then saw its share price increase by 72% in the first 24 hours of trading. The site, cargurus.com, is the most popular among its competitive set, receiving 84% more traffic than second-place autotrader.com.
What are the automotive marketing strategies that helped CarGurus to a successful IPO? There are several indicators that the brand targets a younger audience than its competitors, with a strong mobile presence both web-based and through its mobile app. The marketing mix of traffic sources to cargurus.com also indicates an emphasis on millennial users with improved branded search and an increasing proportion of social traffic.