>I don't get why the article is treating this as an exciting new business....What's the innovation here? He has an online platform? He may be really good at running his junkyards but the article does a terrible job accounting for his success.
I already responded to you in this thread with my anecdotal thoughts, but curiosity got the better of me so I took a look at their wikipedia page. Granted I don't have another point of reference, but it seems that the founder of Copoart was ahead of the curve in his field and saw the benefits of investing in technology/internet presence early in the game. Ebay was only around for 3 years by the time he introduced online auctions. So, maybe not innovative in the grand scheme of things, but certainly for his industry.
From wikipedia:
Willis Johnson began developing Copart's information technology in the 1990s. The first main step in this process was the creation of the Copart Auction System (CAS) in 1997, which was designed to unify and support the growing business as well as allow Copart facilities and sellers to access information, generate reports, and increase operating efficiencies. The next step came in 1998 with Copart's introduction of internet bidding—a departure from the industry standard of local physical auctions. As Internet bidding grew in popularity, Copart developed its online auction platform, VB2, which it implemented in 2003. VB2 technology opened the sales process to registered buyers (members) and sellers worldwide. In fiscal year 2004 in North America and fiscal year 2008 in the U.K., Copart discontinued all live auctions and began remarketing vehicles through VB2. Copart now sells more than one million vehicles each year through VB2 technology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copart