It was always clear that someone had to rethink the way things are advertised. A list of services in a newspaper and a simple description of a product on a piece of paper was not good enough, so we decided to change it. That’s how Nikola Dešković, the founder of AutoScout 24—the first online company to deal in the promotion and advertisement of used cars—described his first entrepreneurial success story.
The revolutionary behind the largest European car advertiser, in a 1-on-1 conversation with Dimitri Trbović from Neostar, revealed the key business moves that marked a specific transition from the analogue era to a digital database that enables users to view cars in one place, quickly and easily.
“The quantum leap happened at the moment when the approach to the product changed. We no longer looked at things exclusively in the context of engineering and construction, but for the sake of easier presentation and customer relations, we brought it into the world of marketing and branding,” Dešković pointed out, noting that the end result was that businesses cannot and must not depend exclusively on one area, regardless of the strength and dominance of the segments that we today, with reason, associate with the marketing industry.
“Each area, whether that be sales, marketing, finance, or management – must produce optimal output for the company in order for it to function optimally,” emphasized the king of online car advertising, who launched a new company, InstaMotion, in 2019. It is clearly described as an innovative “Amazon for cars”. The company also operates within the automotive industry, but is focused on the entire sales process, not just advertising.
