that with the “dawn of the internet age came the golden age of the classic car industry,” and one look at their website and you will realize that Akbani and his team have embraced the internet and all the benefits that come with it. Growing an international reputation for sales has reaped many benefits for Gateway Classic Cars. “Our following on the worldwide market means we’re always attracting new sellers as well as new buyers,” Akbani says. “Buyers and sellers know we’re the best. The United States is still the leader even though we’re not producing the most exotic cars. It’s our atmosphere. We’re the heart of the industry and the culture.” Each month Gateway Classic Cars adds 400 – 500 new vehicles and on any given day they can showcase and spotlight over 3500 vehicles that are for sale in their physical and online showrooms, which
“We started this business on February 8, 1999. Products and services were just beginning to come to market on the internet. We took the idea of selling classic cars, which was traditionally done through local connections and small sales circles, and we made it into a worldwide phenomenon. If it wasn’t for the internet, I don’t know that we’d be this successful,” said Akbani. Akbani believes that it is no coincidence
extends their ability to connect with buyers and sellers far beyond the borders of the United States. In fact, over 11 percent of Gateway Classic Cars’ business is export. “There are cars that bring in the worldwide clientele every time,” Akbani explains. “From time to time, a 1967 Shelby GT500 Eleanor will roll in and people as far away as Japan are buying those from us.” The 1967 Shelby GT500 is an awesome car however, the Eleanor model which Akbani mentions was used in the 2000 re-make of Gone in 60 Seconds starring Nicholas Cage, make the car even more popular. “The internet and social media have been a huge contributor and extremely important in promoting brand awareness.” Akbani. He goes on to say that it does not generate as much in form of sales, but it does generate brand awareness, that
eventually leads to sales, making it an extremely important part of the business. “At any time of the day or night, we have at least 200 people on our site viewing products and interactingwith our inventory and 74-76% of those viewers are first time viewers to the site,” Dusman goes on to say, “We are very successful in reaching new customers and expanding the Gateway Classic Cars brand, reputation and inventory to new potential buyers.” Gateway Classic Cars’ website has more than 3.5 million page views per month which is amazing and 10% of those hits are coming from their social media channels which tell us that Dusman and his team know what they are doing when it comes to connecting and staying engaged with both buyers and sellers of classic and exotic vehicles. The folks at Gateway Classic Cars are no strangers to requests from those in the spotlight. Among the A-list who
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DECEMBER 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2019
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