Wow I've really REALLY got to fix email notifications for this site
Thanks for all the thoughts though guys! Really interesting to hear a lot of the different perspectives on this.
Sorry for the long post also but I thought it might be easier to group some answers here.
I don’t mean any disrespect, but is “eliminating dealers” a good thing for the end user? Yes, we all want a keen price, whatever the item may be, but plant is a touch different, not unique, but different. The cost is usually high for plant machinery, so it’s a big investment, whatever end of the scale you are working on. However, the initial purchase is only part of the equation..... Machines break down and will need servicing, that is just a given, so who is going to provide this essential part of the equation once the dealers are no longer there? Dealers are certainly not keen to go out on warranty work on a machine they have not supplied and one that their own salesman may have quoted on and not supplied.
On edit, sorry I re-read your post and realise that you said that you don’t want eliminate dealers, I originally read it as you did!
but I think my opinion remains the same.... You might not want to eliminate dealers, but if you undercut them and they don’t supply new machines, then by default they will be eliminated.
100% agree! Prices are great indeed but the main focus for us is going to be the lifetime of the machine, clue is in the name 'Machinery Partner'. We've actually got a team dedicated to looking after servicing, repairs, digital service records etc for machines. Also building out a network of our own service providers rather than relying on dealer networks.
It's definitely a he investment for anyone and I'm definitely not going to diss any dealers in what aftercare they provide because I'm sure most are doing the best they can but we've heard a lot of similar comments to V8Druid and Brendan. I think the 'thin ground' comment below probably says a lot about it.
agreed ..... but so thin on the ground, they're virtually negligible
It's impossible to be everywhere when you have to be somewhere i.e. having a fixed location can be limiting
You're more or less there with the network of fitters.
I don't think we've had much problem so far getting decent rates and availability for people but my exposure is pretty limited.
Has this been an issue for you before Brendan? Seems everyone is pretty hard to pin down in machine
Good point
That's the problem without the plant dealer's selling the machines and getting their markup they won't be interested in fixing someone else's machine.
Only options would be having their own fitters and adding to their costs or striking warranty repair contracts with the dealer's, who lets face it will probably have their own backlog of servicing and warranty work and not interested unless high labour rates
Haha very fair point! And in a sense yeah we more or less are a 'digital dealership' in a way right now. But adding more manufacturers we'll likely morph into more of a marketplace with servicing and aftercare attached.
Not confrontational at all by the way, again loving hearing the different spins on all of this!
Yes (again not really any experience here) I believe there are a lot of 'territorial claims' that go on. Although a lot of our efforts at the moment are hitting the US and the majority of manufacturers don't have much or any representation there. Whether or not they'll be willing to risk their current dealer relationships? suppose only time will tell, but there's also likely better margins in it for them without more traditional dealers, plus the opportunity to sell in new territories without a local dealer.
As for the optionality, I believe most are limited to the manufacturers and models available through their local dealer, or at least as far as they want to travel/pay for shipping. We want to put all manufacturers in one spot and give access to anyone. Does that sound any clearer?
At risk of causing some controversy, I've got to question at least one aspect of this business model, at least as far as you have described it so far. If you are working as an interface between the manufacturer and the customer then it's difficult to see how you are not, well, a dealer....
It's generally true that dealers only react to demand, rather than generating it. This is one of the reasons it's so difficult to innovate new products into the industry - the mainstream dealerships won't divert sales resources into products that they don't get asked for regularly. For this reason, manufacturers with an existing demand will use dealerships to broaden their reach (geographical, wider customer base, etc.) but there is a
quid pro quo here: In order for a dealer to fully support a manufacturer's product offer, they're going to want some form of territorial (or other) exclusivity. In exchange, a dealer will have to commit to training, SLAs, stock and so on. Most of the mainstream plant brands have dealerships tied up for a reason and the ones that don't tend to either deal direct in order to generate a market that dealers will then wake up to, or resort to second echelon resellers to get geographical reach. I have to question whether the mainstream manufacturers will disrupt existing dealership networks lightly, so is what you are offering an alternative (as opposed to more) choice and can you actually provide the support 'anywhere regardless of location' on smaller margins?
I appreciate that you are new to this industry, Ben; and this is not meant to be confrontational. Please expand on the 'more choice, shipped anywhere' bit.
Robert
Haha love this little circle of thought. I suppose all of this is really only thought until it becomes action and either works or doesn't so only time will tell. I've bet on it though so here's hoping it does!
Exactly this!
Why would manufacturers want to let you guys sell their kit cheap and p**s off their dealer network (unless their dealers aren’t doing a decent job and the manufacturers want to change the way they sell altogether)?
Though saying that, I’m sure I read (almost certainly on here) that lead-times if buying direct from JCB are (or at least were) shorter than if ordering through their dealer network, which suggested to me that JCB weren’t too bothered about shaking up the dealers a bit...
However, the more I think about it the more I can see the merits of low-volume manufacturers possibly moving away from mainstream high-overhead-high-margin conventional dealers who wouldn’t necessarily offer their product as a stand-alone brand (but more likely represent it as one of many sub-brands as bolt-on products sold on the back of a high-volume-product franchise).
So I’ve talked myself full-circle from thinking you are attempting something that may struggle to gain any support from those you wish to represent to actually thinking you may be onto something. Build a decent database of service partners for installation/support/servicing of multi-product/brand gear (it’s all going to be plant-based, and there are plenty of excellent guys out there doing just this) and away you go!
‘This time next year Rodders...’
This is really interesting to me. I'm a lot more familiar with cars as that's my family trade and I had a few conversations about remote buying etc at the start of the lockdowns with my dad. Then watched Cazoo absolutely explode over the year; it's a really cool space!
you only have to look at what internet selling has done to mainstream shops/sellers ...... the buying public have become fed up with funding massive overheads that aren't really necessary and reaping the rewards of lower priced goods/products .... car buying is well and truly on the same route ... and all largely delivered to your door
it's a natural progression that this will roll out to all walks of life ...... bought a water pump for the house yesterday - noon-ish ..... no idea where to even look locally .... here this morning at 10.00 am and a good/very competitive price .... some things would/will struggle to go this way .... but a great deal is already there or heading there .... rapido ........and the last year's events have probably speeded the process inexorably
Yeah there needs to be a lot more clarity or better comparisons tools which we're thinking about also.
Topgear for crushers anyone?
Only issue is knowing what you are buying. 200 different sellers advertising 3 different types of a product all at different prices but you never know which you're gonna get. Do you buy cheap expecting the quality item or go dear and buy sh*te?
On an end note, this gave me a good tickle for the day
Yes but there offices are available to hurl things through if the backup is poor.... Things like tracking a microdigger into the reception area in disgust do tend to sort problems quickly
I'll try to keep better track of these replies in the future also if I can figure out a way to get notifications. Cheers for the opinions guys
