The auto industry changes every day. Innovations are being introduced nearly every minute, but many dealers and auto groups feel they’re having difficulty keeping up. Why is that? Often, it’s because many auto groups and dealers haven’t changed their business model with the same speed.
Innovative vehicles require innovative sales techniques and options. How can you find ways to improve your sales and stay competitive? The key to any successful dealership or group is market diversification.
What Do We Mean By Market Diversification?
Market diversification is a strategy that involves making changes to a company that allows it to reach new market segments. Many dealers are looking to boost their sales, not just car sales; they’re also looking to improve their parts sales. Unfortunately, most dealers are relying on local markets to sell their parts and accessories. These buyers are often made up of local DIYers, local mechanics and shops, and the service lane at their own dealership. If your dealership is only reliant on local customers, your market is very limited and can easily go under when the local economy hits hard times.
One of the best ways to combat this and expand your reach is through market diversification. In the modern world of online retail, this means that your dealers need to be selling on multiple channels to reach a wider range of customers.
What Are The Benefits?
Market diversification can help dealers in a variety of ways. It helps them stay on the same level as their competitors, but its major benefits are the key to maintaining a steady profit.
The five major benefits to market diversification are:
- Increasing Revenue – Selling through multiple channels online can help you offer better prices and draw in both new and returning customers. This means you have a higher chance of increasing your revenue and improving absorption rates.
- Expanding Customer Base – Selling through marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and even your own web store increases your customer base from the local market to the national level. Many dealers who are selling with RevolutionParts, have even found success selling internationally.
- Protects You Even in Economic Decline – The more revenue streams you have, the less likely you are to lose a large percentage of your profits when the economy takes a hit. Many dealers who were not selling online found this out the hard way in 2020 when the pandemic hit.
- Encourage Growth – Every auto group and individual dealer wants to grow. By selling through different channels and reaching a wider audience, dealers can expand their operations, and auto groups can add more dealerships to any area of their choosing.
Where Should You Start?
Now, you’re probably saying, “These benefits sound great, but what do I need to do to achieve them?” Market diversification needs a strategy. Your online strategy needs to reflect your dealers’ needs and your overall goals.
Here are the top three tips to help you create the best market diversification strategy.
- Take Advantage of Online Marketing
- Sell on Multiple Platforms
- Larger Volume = Greater Benefits
Selling on multiple platforms gives you more revenue streams. More revenue streams mean more customers and more spaces to dominate compared to your competitors. It allows you to be more competitive in your pricing, which appeals to your customers’ budgets. It also gives you some leverage on shipping and delivery times.
Online marketing is a great tool to promote dealership growth. Through online marketing, you can get your products directly in front of your customers across the web. You can build your brand image and improve customer loyalty. You can also use online marketing tools to help you see the places you’re getting new customers from, like video ads, social media campaigns, and email subscriptions. This can help you determine the best strategy to find new customers and nurture them.
If nothing else, remember this: dealership sales is a volume game, especially for parts. The more you can sell online, the more benefits you can get from OEMs. The more you can sell online, the better your chances of moving more product and reaching more customers. It also puts you at a high probability of becoming a marketplace best-seller, which instills trust in your customer.
Are You Ready to Branch Out?
Market diversification is the key to helping you maintain your dealership’s growth, especially in an economic downturn. If you want to expand into the online market to increase your customer growth, be sure to check out our free ebook, “Creating a Digital Dealership” to get more insight into how you can sell online successfully.
You can also schedule a personalized demo to get a closer look at parts eCommerce and how RevolutionParts can help your business grow.
