The fight over dealer data heated up. Regulators eyed sweeping data-protection measures that would affect dealerships. Cars.com was not sold despite a review triggered by an activist investor. CDK moved to unload its digital marketing business and lost its hold on providing websites to General Motors dealerships.

It’s been quite a year.

In the spirit of year-end retrospectives, we’ve put the Top 10 retail technology stories of 2019 in the “In the news” section of this installment of the newsletter.

Although our Retail Technology newsletter only reaches back as far as April, Automotive News‘ coverage of the space existed well before Jan. 1, 2019, and, barring an apocalypse, will continue well past Jan. 1, 2020.

With the Retail Technology newsletter, we set out to create a concise place for readers to get unbiased, unvarnished information on how technology is changing the world of auto retailing. It’s a niche coverage area but an important one to the thousands of car dealers out there dealing with multiple vendors on a daily basis.

Selling cars is not what it used to be. Dealership management system and customer relationship management software have been around for years, but car buyers are increasingly starting their journeys online. Dealers aim to meet those consumers wherever they want to do business, and a growing number of companies are looking to cater to all or parts of this process.

Amid the ongoing transformation in the industry, one thing is sure: We will continue to work hard toward delivering on our goal in 2020. We welcome coverage ideas and constructive criticism. Send thoughts on new technologies and trends in digital retail to lvanhulle@crain.com. Email dmuller@crain.com about all things used cars. Thank you for reading this year.

We are looking forward to the year ahead.

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