2022-11-29 11:16
In the process of further integration of forklift industry chain, aftermarket business other than forklift production has quietly changed in the past 10 years. In the past three years of the epidemic, industry operators have more opportunities to review and look forward. The main business of forklift aftermarket used to be forklift agents/dealers, selling and repairing forklifts (mainly within the warranty period, The service guarantee policy of forklift manufacturing brand is reflected, not the service technology of dealers themselves) as the two basic directions of operation, mainly to sell forklifts, whether it is to obtain the profit of vehicle sales or the policy trend of rebate after achieving the sales target, forklift agents go forward. The relative saturation of the market and the excessive competition in the sales of forklift vehicles have changed the blue sea of "selling forklifts" for profit, and entered the stage of diversification actively or passively:
1) Forklift agent sales: selling forklifts, and selling multiple forklift brands at the same time instead of being the exclusive brand agent (one forklift brand also gave up the market policy of exclusive regional agent, corresponding to the system of multiple dealers in one region)
2) Forklift maintenance outsourcing: forklift repair is not only limited to the maintenance within the warranty period of the agent forklift brand, including the charged maintenance outside the warranty period, as well as other brands of forklift emergency maintenance and outsourced maintenance
3) Forklift rental: It belongs to a disguised sales mode of most forklift agents. The inventory generated by excessive pressure and fake sales of forklift manufacturers to agents enters the market through various forms of leasing, which is still "sales" in essence, because it does not have the ability and management system to provide leasing service elements, capital operation strength and equipment maintenance management, service technology and process and other business means
4) Sales of forklift parts: In the narrow sense of the retail of forklift parts, forklift agents buy the so-called original parts through the parts sales department of the main engine factory and sell them to their forklift customers for daily maintenance and use. The sales target customers are relatively clear. Foreign brand forklift trucks have standardized regional and market policies. The parts sales are in a relatively monopolistic situation, and the sales of forklift parts are divided into two reference standards, namely customer guide price and agent price, to ensure that forklift dealers can obtain certain profits, and basically do not direct sales to end customers. The agents of domestic forklift brands are mostly devoted to the vehicle sales business, so the capabilities of forklift parts business are weak or neglected. Professional trade of forklift parts business model main body: One is the small and medium-sized forklift service enterprises whose agents or service providers transform to forklift parts business as the main business; the other is the commercial enterprises specializing in forklift parts. Generally, these enterprises do not do vehicle agency or maintenance service business, but focus on the wholesale and sales of forklift parts. OEM commissions forklift parts manufacturers to produce. As an upstream enterprise in the forklift supply chain, it is also a middleman for forklift parts manufacturers and forklift service for small and medium-sized enterprises and large customers. Its disadvantage is that it lacks a dynamic grasp of the terminal market and tends to be forklift agents of various sizes and levels in the same industry. Maintenance outsourcing business cooperation, willing to do "forklift" business.
Forklift parts business operators are usually higher than forklift agents and maintenance outsourcers in terms of financial strength, storage and reserve capacity, area and scale, data information system introduction and operation of forklift parts, etc. It will take at least 5 to 10 years for forklift sales and maintenance outsourcing business to shift to forklift parts business. It is worth mentioning that, Vollsun Forklift (Yantai) Co., LTD., as a regional forklift aftermarket service enterprise, has started the action of "de-factorization of forklift" since 2010, to get rid of the sales control of forklift OEM, establish the independent business objective of being an independent market operating subject, and no longer publicize and promote the LOGO of the forklift brand as its own market brand positioning. After five years of learning forklift parts sales business, market research, channel exploration, and expansion of supply chain channels of forklift parts, we have officially incorporated the forklift parts sales business into the future-oriented basic business of the enterprise since 2015, and redefined the market consciousness, professionalism, industrial responsibility and consciousness of innovative operation that "forklift service providers" should have. We took the lead in introducing the ERP forklift service management system, independent of the parts information query system of the main forklift factory, and started to establish and improve a set of parts data intelligent management system applicable to multi-brand forklifts, multi-models and various parts specifications. From 2015 to the first half of 2022, we have completed the data collection of key and basic parts of more than 15,000 kinds of parts projects. Combined with the daily parts sales business consultation and the progress of sales orders, constantly enrich the ERP parts database, find a new way on the road of data transformation, no longer "become" the market tool of the main engine factory, sober positioning of the cooperation relationship with the forklift main engine factory, turn the subsidiary into an equal position of both the supply and the demand. It is not limited by the number of sales units agreed in the Agent Agreement of forklift Ofactory. It is completely independent and free to develop and adjust the business strategy according to the demand market, industry policies and regional economic environment of forklift. Although it lacks dependence, it improves its independence and flexibility. Forklift tire, etc., through strategic channel cooperation with forklift main engine factories and forklift parts manufacturers, we have obtained a diversified forklift supply chain improvement, and finally improved the competitiveness of the sales price of forklift parts. The business experience of forklift maintenance outsourcing and the accumulated professional technology of forklift service and equipment management experience are infiltrated into the three links of forklift parts sales before, during and after sales, the online drainage and the offline honest service, which gives the forklift parts sales business more connotation, which will be different from the trading-type forklift parts wholesalers. Especially in the process of supplying forklift parts with a large number of forklifts for large customers, it has the strategy of large customers and the explosive growth of demand for forklift parts from small and medium-sized customers.
The aftermarket services of forklift trucks coexist with "crisis" and "crisis". The entry threshold of forklift service industry is low, and the operating level varies greatly. Before entering the Red Sea of the industry, vicious excessive competition is everywhere. The comprehensive competitiveness constructed by management is difficult to be compared under the trend of survival of the fittest. The mismatch of supply and demand in which supply exceeds demand makes high-quality professional service providers often not the only option for customers, which is mainly due to the need for customers to have more money to improve their voice and the safety of forklift parts supply. Due to the lack of experience and foundation of internal control management, excessive investment and management of forklift parts increment are required. Data asymmetry and information confusion lead to low service efficiency and decreased customer satisfaction, which also make many operators of forklift parts bear the corresponding costs. Capital and inventory turnover, procurement cost control, and claim management are all new knowledge and topics for participants. What they need to bind big customers is the right to speak. Small and medium-sized customers of forklift parts business response speed delivery is the key to transaction. Major customers of forklift parts will require forklift parts suppliers to: 1) Share data information of forklift parts, gradually hollow out the supplier's internal professional data information, 2) regular bidding and negotiation, price reduction, or annual unconditional price reduction of 3~5%, 3) the account period is getting longer and longer. Therefore, the second hidden risk requires that forklift parts suppliers should not over-rely on big customers. Once big customers change or business is interrupted, it may be too heavy to bear. The incremental centralized data collection of big customer service should be used for more small and medium-sized customers. Strategic cooperation with major customers of forklift parts instead of deep binding, to control accounts receivable and bad debt rate, otherwise heavy financial pressure will affect the healthy development of the future.
For forklift agents, it is a cruel fact that holding the upper hand of forklift OEM/forklift brand manufacturer is not equal to holding the golden bricks. If we gain the right to speak in the aftermarket industry of forklift, we must focus on establishing an independent business system, have our own strength and ability to fly alone, and reduce or no longer rely on forklift brand manufacturers. For forklift agents who have not actively transformed, We need to think about how to continue to tell the story of forklift service in the era of COVID-19 and the post-pandemic era.