Business
Online Automotive Retailer Vroom Increases Houston Presence With Launch of Last Mile Concierge Experience
National Retailer Continues to Add Jobs + Invest in Its People with New Personalized Delivery Service & Training HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vroom, Inc.
About this update from Vroom, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nNational Retailer Continues to Add Jobs + Invest in Its People with New Personalized Delivery Service & Training\n\n HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nVroom, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRM), a leading ecommerce platform for buying and selling used vehicles, today announced the opening of a new Houston hub, which will create a more customized driveway experience for nearly 7.1 million people in more than 455 zip codes within a 75-mile radius. The hub will also allow Vroom to inspect, detail and place temporary tags on all cars being delivered or picked up in Texas.\n\nThe Last Mile Hub represents Vroom’s ongoing commitment to Houston, where the company has delivered vehicles since 2012 and employs more than 900 people in the area across the company’s Reconditioning Center, Last Mile hub, executive offices, and Texas Direct Auto dealership and Sell Us Your Car locations.\n\nVroom’s mission is to offer the best driveway experience possible for both delivery and pickup, especially as the pandemic has increased consumer appetite for remote car buying and selling. With an emphasis on customer service, Vroom is taking a unique approach by recruiting employees with hospitality and client service experience for its Last Mile hubs, who along with delivering thousands of vehicles this year, have also helped local customers celebrate big moments, including surprise birthday and graduation deliveries.\n\nVehicle transactions by Houston-area Vroom customers included an increase in purchases by 144.6% from the first half of 2020 to the first half of 2021 and increase in cars sold to Vroom by 624.4% during that same time. The company is now offering a more personalized concierge experience, where customer advocates transport cars directly to local car buyers’ driveways on Vroom-branded trucks and show them how to use their new vehicles. The Last Mile hub expansion efforts are led by Vroom’s Chief Logistics Officer Mary Kay Wegner and her team, including VP of Transportation John Piatak. The new Last Mile hub will be located in Stafford, Texas, as part of the 293K-square-foot reconditioning center.\n\nVroom’s Houston reconditioning center has nearly 400 employees who recondition and inspect the vehicles to make sure they are clean and ready for delivery before going out to customers. Through a partnership with Advance Auto Parts and its Carquest Technical Institu...