The news from the auto industry in Detroit is better lately. While there are a myriad of factors accounting for this reversal of fortune, I think that there is one resounding lesson that flooring dealers can learn from: duplicity and product sameness are both costly and confusing.
Look at the brand reduction that has taken place in the past few years. Does anyone really miss Plymouth? How about Mercury? Do you know anyone that is now without an automobile since they discontinued Oldsmobile? Of course you don’t. The Buick that they likely replaced it with is quite similar anyway.
What this reduction in offerings has done is allow dealers to have a more complete inventory of fewer models. It has allowed sales staff to focus on a more limited offering that they hopefully understand better. It has allowed both manufacturers and dealers to focus their promotional efforts on core brands. As an example; for each Mercury ad that wasn’t run recently, an additional one can now be ran for Ford – resulting in greater awareness of the dominant brand.
Take a good look at your showroom and offerings. Do you really need five brands of laminate flooring? Does every display have merit? Or, is it just adding to the clutter and confusion? It took near financial collapse for the auto industry to see the error in their ways. Take a lesson!
Tom Jennings
