How One Ford Dealer Increased F-150 STX Turn Rate by 11X

A Ford dealership in North Carolina was overstocked on higher-trim F-150s that weren't selling. Real-time market data from MarketAI®, our real-time automotive intelligence engine, showed what the store's market was actually buying: the lower trims, the STX and XLT.

Working with a Catalyst IQ Dealer Success Manager (DSM), the dealership put its advertising behind those trims and priced them to compete, pushing the STX turn rate from 9% to 104% in four months.

The Challenge: A Full Lot That Wasn't Turning

This Ford dealership knew they had a problem with aging inventory and needed a partner to help them increase movement for specific segments.

The store's inventory was weighted toward higher-trim F-150s loaded with features, and those trucks aged on the lot while the STX and XLT sold quickly. The F-150 was the dealership's best-selling model, so the sales volume was there, but the mix didn't line up with what its market was buying.

The dealership’s advertising strategies inherited that problem. Without campaigns built around specific models, the store's ad spend wasn't concentrated on the trims its market truly wanted.

On top of the inventory mix and advertising challenges, the trucks weren't priced competitively. The store listed its XLTs around $46,000 while competitors in the same market sat closer to $42,000, which meant shoppers comparing the same truck were finding a better number elsewhere.

The Strategy: Price and Advertise the Trims the Market Wants

The dealership partnered with Catalyst IQ to develop a plan of action. They worked with a dedicated DSM to get direct visibility into their own market and their competitors using MarketAI's real-time data.

The DSM and the Ford store's GM worked through five moves: Find out which trims the market was buying, put the advertising behind those vehicles, price them under the competition, stock more of the vehicles that will move, and capture the shoppers their campaigns are bringing in.

1. Find the demand in the turn rate data.

The DSM built a custom dashboard for the GM in MarketAI's Market Insights tool that put four metrics side by side:

• Average inventory for the dealer and the market
• Average pricing for the dealer and the market
• Turn rate by make, model, and trim for the dealer
• Turn rate by make, model, and trim for the market

Reading turn rate line by line against the market showed which trims this market was buying and which ones were sitting.

The STX stood out as the strongest opportunity, because it kept turning even while the store had it priced above the market. The XLT ranked second. 

2. Put the advertising behind the models that sell.

The DSM gave the F-150 its own social campaign, allowing the same spend to go further by supporting one model instead of a full lineup.

The campaign targeting followed the same logic. The campaign ran within 15 miles of the store, plus three additional radii to the west where the GM knew he could pull truck buyers.

As the store began adjusting its pricing, the team added an F-150-only VLA Shopping campaign, putting the newly competitive trucks in front of shoppers actively comparing prices.

3. Price those trims to beat the competition.

Once there was visibility into the inventory issues and some initial campaign adjustments, the DSM looked at pricing.

MarketAI showed them exactly how the dealership's STX and XLT pricing compared to competing Ford stores. Some XLTs were priced roughly $4,000 above the market, making them difficult to compete against.

Rather than cutting prices across the board, the DSM recommended focusing on the trucks the dealership wanted to move most.

The store started with reducing price on six STX and XLT trucks that were priced furthest above the market. All six trucks sold within about two and a half weeks.

The dealership continued to monitor pricing as the market changed. Because MarketAI updates competitor pricing daily, they could see when nearby stores adjusted their prices and respond before inventory started aging.

Keeping STX and XLT trucks competitively priced also made advertising more effective, helping click-through rates increase 56% for STX models and 44% for XLTs.

4. Stock what the market wants.

The same market data that identified the fast-moving STX and XLT trims also showed which higher trims were sitting. With that insight, the store adjusted its ordering strategy, bringing in more of the trucks local buyers wanted and fewer of the trims that struggled to sell.

That change became even more important as STX and XLT inventory started turning faster. The store sold out of both trims and needed replacement VINs, but without a new ordering strategy, it would have simply restocked the same higher trims that had created the problem in the first place.

Instead, the store aligned future inventory with real-time demand, keeping the fast-moving trucks available.

5. Capture the shoppers the campaigns were already bringing in.

Better campaign targeting and competitive pricing were bringing more shoppers to the site, but many of them browsed anonymously and left without a trace.  

To reach them, the dealership added Engage, Catalyst IQ's website engagement solution that re-engages site visitors with personalized offers and email, then captures verified leads through 1-tap technology.

Engage gave the store a way to identify those shoppers and hand the sales team someone to call right away. 

The Results: An 11X Increase in STX Turn Rate

After four months of strategic campaign management, inventory and pricing adjustments, and a new lead capture solution, the dealership saw the following results: 

Ready to Drive Results Like This? 

Catalyst IQ pairs real-time automotive marketing data with a dedicated DSM to deliver measurable growth, faster. Whether you're trying to move overstocked inventory, price with confidence against your market, or turn website traffic into verified leads, we can show you exactly where your biggest opportunities are right now.

Schedule a free 15-minute demo to see real-time inventory, turn rate, and competitive market data for your store.