In 1975 I was in college in a small town in Kansas. I was driving a car that I still pine for to this day — a 1959 Triumph TR-3. After noticing a slight oil leak under the valve cover, I stopped by my local jobber store to see if they could order a gasket (having no expectation that they might have one in stock).
Like this article? Sign up to receive our weekly news blasts here.After being told that he didn’t have one and couldn’t get one, I asked him if he had any idea where else I might check.
He said, “You might try the VW dealership.”
Perplexed, I pointed out I wasn’t looking for a part for a VW, or even a part that was made in the same country that VWs were made. He snapped back, “Well they’re both foreign aren’t they?”
In the 37 years since that incident, I have observed that the replacement parts aftermarket has not gotten a heck of a lot better at addressing what customers want when it comes to parts for foreign nameplate (FNp) vehicles.
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Granted, that was 1975 and I was looking for a part for a relatively exotic sports car on the plains of Kansas. But, the fact is, the suggestion by countermen to “try the dealership” is still being used today. It happened to me not long ago (that was four years ago) when I was looking for something as routine as an oil filter for my Mini Cooper.
This point was driven home to me recently when I saw a Lang Marketing study that revealed how poorly the traditional marketplace is doing in addressing the FNp category. As the percentage of FNp vehicles increases, our sales of parts for them remains flat or declines.
The essence of the issue is that customers (both DIYers and service and repair technicians) have a different set of product criteria and brand preferences when it comes to FNp vehicles. They tend to prefer a product that they believe is associated with a non-domestic vehicle. A product that might have the name of the OEM on the box, or it may be an established “global” supplier that is associated with FNp vehicles.
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Yet for some reason, the majority of manufacturers and resellers continue to address their FNp coverage with domestic lines. It is very perplexing, especially in light of the remarkable success of WORLDPAC over the last decade. WORLDPAC features a plethora of “global suppliers,” along with a smattering of OE products that have literally been gobbled up by repair technicians (and it should be noted that for the most part, WORLDPAC sells directly to shops). At the same time, other established marketers of global FNp products that sell through traditional distribution are having trouble gaining traction.
An interesting development that would seem to confirm this issue was the recent decision by IMC, a broad line supplier of FNp products, to end its affiliation with major program groups and retailers and began to sell downmarket. Perhaps their frustration with traditional distribution’s interminable failure to grasp what customers want and need resulted in a significant change in their strategic direction.
The research by Lang and others makes the problem painfully clear. The traditional marketplace is coming up short on providing our shared customers with an acceptable solution for FNp applications. It is painfully reminiscent of the way GM responded to the import invasion decades ago. Stick to the same old strategy in the hopes that the market will eventually come around to your way of thinking. And we have all too much evidence these days that hope is not a strategy.
In 1975 I was in college in a small town in Kansas. I was driving a car that I still pine for to this day — a 1959 Triumph TR-3. After noticing a slight oil leak under the valve cover, I stopped by my local jobber store to see if they could order a gasket (having no expectation that they might have one in stock).
Like this article? Sign up to receive our weekly news blasts here.After being told that he didn’t have one and couldn’t get one, I asked him if he had any idea where else I might check.
He said, “You might try the VW dealership.”
Perplexed, I pointed out I wasn’t looking for a part for a VW, or even a part that was made in the same country that VWs were made. He snapped back, “Well they’re both foreign aren’t they?”
In the 37 years since that incident, I have observed that the replacement parts aftermarket has not gotten a heck of a lot better at addressing what customers want when it comes to parts for foreign nameplate (FNp) vehicles.
PAGE 2
Granted, that was 1975 and I was looking for a part for a relatively exotic sports car on the plains of Kansas. But, the fact is, the suggestion by countermen to “try the dealership” is still being used today. It happened to me not long ago (that was four years ago) when I was looking for something as routine as an oil filter for my Mini Cooper.
This point was driven home to me recently when I saw a Lang Marketing study that revealed how poorly the traditional marketplace is doing in addressing the FNp category. As the percentage of FNp vehicles increases, our sales of parts for them remains flat or declines.
The essence of the issue is that customers (both DIYers and service and repair technicians) have a different set of product criteria and brand preferences when it comes to FNp vehicles. They tend to prefer a product that they believe is associated with a non-domestic vehicle. A product that might have the name of the OEM on the box, or it may be an established “global” supplier that is associated with FNp vehicles.
PAGE 3
Yet for some reason, the majority of manufacturers and resellers continue to address their FNp coverage with domestic lines. It is very perplexing, especially in light of the remarkable success of WORLDPAC over the last decade. WORLDPAC features a plethora of “global suppliers,” along with a smattering of OE products that have literally been gobbled up by repair technicians (and it should be noted that for the most part, WORLDPAC sells directly to shops). At the same time, other established marketers of global FNp products that sell through traditional distribution are having trouble gaining traction.
An interesting development that would seem to confirm this issue was the recent decision by IMC, a broad line supplier of FNp products, to end its affiliation with major program groups and retailers and began to sell downmarket. Perhaps their frustration with traditional distribution’s interminable failure to grasp what customers want and need resulted in a significant change in their strategic direction.
The research by Lang and others makes the problem painfully clear. The traditional marketplace is coming up short on providing our shared customers with an acceptable solution for FNp applications. It is painfully reminiscent of the way GM responded to the import invasion decades ago. Stick to the same old strategy in the hopes that the market will eventually come around to your way of thinking. And we have all too much evidence these days that hope is not a strategy.
