AUTO TRADER LAUNCHES NEW WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD TO SUPPORT AUTOMOTIVE 30% CLUB’S ‘MOONSHOT’ INITIATIVE
Auto Trader has launched a brand-new award category as part of its annual Auto Trader Retailer Awards, designed to recognise the exceptional women in automotive retail. The Auto Trader Woman of the Year Award will support the Automotive 30% Club’s ‘Moonshot’ initiative and will celebrate inspiring women working within an operational management role in a retail organisation who is delivering results and destined to be a future leader.
There are many examples of brilliant senior women playing a leading role in delivering transformative change and shaping automotive retailing for the future, many of which have won Retailer Awards since their inception in 2007. However, more needs to be done to increase female representation in operational management roles, such as Sales Managers, Aftersales Managers, Workshop Controllers, and Dealer Principals, which serve as a vital springboard to future senior leadership.
Launched by the Automotive 30% Club at its annual Focus on 30 by 30 Conference, ‘Project Moonshot’ aims to find high performing and high potential women with leadership skills in any function of the business, and develop them to be operational managers within five years. To support this vital new initiative, the Auto Trader Woman of the Year award will showcase the many brilliant trailblazing women who are already in an operational management role within a retail business to give them the recognition they deserve and inspire more women to follow them.
Now in its 17th year, the introduction of the new self-nomination category marks another important milestone for Auto Trader’s Retailer Awards in its commitment to celebrate all aspects of retailing excellence. From an engaging digital experience to outstanding customer service, the Awards recognise the top performing automotive retailers in the UK across eight different categories, with the winners determined either by analysis of thousands of data points, or an independent panel of judges, which this year includes experts from John Lewis, MoneySuperMarket, LinkedIn, The Carbon Literacy Project, and the Automotive 30% Club’s founder, Julia Muir.
The Woman of the Year Award is one of five independently judged award categories in 2024:
Along with the other self-nomination categories, the Woman of the Year will be independently judged by this year’s panel of experts who will be looking to award an individual who is successfully running her team, has an inclusive leadership style, and delivers clear results for the business. The shortlisted nominees will be invited to attend the Awards ceremony on the 17th October at London’s iconic 8 Northumberland Avenue.
The winners of three further categories will be determined by data, including the Customer Experience Award, which will use one of the largest mystery shopping exercises of its type to whittle down the top 1,000 performing retailers on Auto Trader. It also includes the Awards’ top accolade, the Retailer of the Year, which in 2024 will be split across car, van, bike, and for the first time, new car.
There’s still a huge amount to do to encourage and inspire more women into leadership roles in the automotive industry. Our purpose is to Drive Change Together, Responsibly, and this new award category is part of our commitment to champion the fantastic women in our sector that are shaping the future of automotive retailing.
Faiers continued: “We’ve had some brilliant women win Auto Trader Retailer Award categories in recent years, but to really change the game, we need to do more to showcase the exceptional women in operational management roles today who will become the future leaders of tomorrow. Through this award, we hope to support the Automotive 30% Club’s Project Moonshot, and to inspire more women to pursue these vitally important roles.”
Julia Muir, founder of the Automotive 30% Club, added: “I'm delighted that Auto Trader are supporting our Automotive 30% Club Project Moonshot aim to ensure more women can fulfil their potential as operational managers and achieve at least 30% of operational leadership roles to be filled with diverse women by 2030. Celebrating and recognising these trailblazing women who are the next generation of leaders in automotive retailing is an important step on this journey, that will demonstrate that women have the operational leadership skills we need for industry transformation to 2030 and beyond and motivate others to follow. I'm confident that this year’s panel of judges, including myself, will be inundated with brilliant women to consider, and would encourage everyone to nominate the women managers driving their businesses.”
Self-nomination entries will open on the 4th June and close on 12th August, and can be submitted on the Auto Trader Retailer Awards site https://www.autotraderretailerawards.co.uk/. Individuals can nominate themselves or be made on someone else’s behalf.
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About Auto Trader
Auto Trader Group plc is the UK’s largest automotive platform. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2015 and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.
Auto Trader’s purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. Auto Trader is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, it aims to build stronger partnerships with its customers and use its voice and influence to drive more environmentally friendly vehicle choices.
With the largest number of car buyers and the largest choice of trusted stock, Auto Trader’s marketplace sits at the heart of the UK car buying process. That marketplace is built on an industry-leading technology and data platform, which is increasingly used across the automotive industry. Auto Trader is continuing to bring more of the car buying journey online, creating an improved buying experience, whilst enabling all its retailer partners to sell vehicles online.
Auto Trader publishes a monthly used car Retail Price Index which is based on pricing analysis of circa 800,000 unique vehicles. This data is used by the Bank of England to feed the broader UK economic indicators.
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