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THE INSIDE LINE
By RFS
Honda’s
New Strategy
Have you walked
into your local multi-line bike dealership lately and noticed
something different? Oh,
they still have bikes and gear and parts, etc. The over-zealous sales
people are still there, tempting you with the latest go-fast hardware.
But something is missing.
No Hondas.
Where are the Honda bikes?
In our city of 300,000+ people, our 2 major multi-line dealerships no
longer sell Hondas. One has substituted them with exotic brands, like
Aprilia, Moto Guzzi and Ducati. The other, that has a very large
building, only has Yamahas left. They decided to fill the large void
in their showroom with boats and used bikes (and used Harleys, brought
in from the
U.S.). We have 2 smaller dealerships that still do sell Hondas, but
we’re not sure for how long.
This phenomenon is not just
happening in our city, but cities all across the country. Are dealers
dropping the brand? Not enough sales to justify keeping it? No, this
is Honda’s idea. Honda is pulling its bikes from their dealers.
Honda has a new strategy.
It’s their All Under One Roof (AUOR) strategy. (OK, I just made up
that acronym, but it sounded good). They want all their products to be
sold, and serviced, under one mega dealership. Not only cars and
bikes, but lawn mowers, snow blowers, ATVs, outboards, etc. They want
to apply the Big Box theory to sell their products. They figure if you
walk in to buy a Civic, and pass by the ATV’s, you might just tell
the multi-line salesperson to toss one in the trunk too. It works for
groceries, but will it work for their products? Let’s examine a few
points.
1. Sales People
Does Honda plan on training all their staff to be able to sell all
these products? Will the guy (or girl), selling you the new Accord, be
able to talk specs about a new rider mower? Will the dude that knows
the lingo to sell you a new Waverunner, be able to explain the
difference between a CBR1000R and Veradero?
Car purchasing and bike
purchasing are not the same. For the most part, a car is a necessity.
I need a car, I like this one, how much. For the motorcycle
enthusiast, a bike is a passion, a hobby. You can’t use the same
sales tactics to sell a car as you would to sell a bike. Not going to
happen. Bike enthusiasts like to browse, to talk about their passion,
to communicate with someone that knows bikes, specs, where the good
roads are and how a certain bike “feels”.
2. Service
Are car mechanics going to be retrained to service bikes? Are they
going to hire more bike mechanics? Not sure if I want the guy working
on a Civic to be doing valve work on my VFR.
From the staff I talked to at one ex-Honda dealership, bike
mechanics are hard to find these days.
3. Showroom
Describe it in one word – HUGE. How are they going to display all
their latest models, different colours, options, in one building?
4. Parts Department
Another massive department, or many small ones? I hope they plan on
giving any current Parts staff a huge raise, their work load and
expected knowledge is about to quadruple.
“Can I help you
sir?”
“Yes, I need an
oil filter for a 92 Gold Wing and a spark plug for my mower”.
Apparently Honda has the site picked out for our new
Mega-dealership. It’s on a main road just outside the city in an
industrial park. Interested? Rumour has it, the existing car dealers
aren’t. (Why should they, I just read that Honda autos has just
surpassed Ford for #2 in sales. Why ruin a good thing?) I’m
sure the 2 small bike shops don’t have the funds for it.
A dealer I know did meet
with Honda brass about opening the mega-shop. I asked him what was
required to get started. His reply:
"'You pay for the land, you pay for the building, cut Honda a big
cheque and the confusion is all yours."
Comments? We're
interested to hear your opinion and experiences with this new system.
Email them to us
and we will post them.
2wheel@iboxcabinets.com
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