How do I achieve my sales objectives in a rapidly evolving market?
In an ideal world, a manufacturer or importer would know exactly how many cars they were going to sell in the coming years, which motors and models. Sadly reality is very different, as we live in an increasingly fast-changing world. New trends quickly come and go, consumer behaviour is hard to predict due to increasing communication, political decisions cause sudden changes in mentality, etc.
More challenging than ever
In this continuously changing market it is impossible to define accurate economic forecasts or production plans. That is quite normal. This does, however, present them with some tough challenges:
- Optimising production planning: even when the world is changing rapidly production must continue to be optimised, with maximum use of capacity. This is essential in maintaining the profitability of expensive factory and staff investments, respect supplier agreements etc.
- Achieving market share: in a fluctuating market it becomes more challenging to achieve the planned figures. In particular when new models are due, it's important to be able to act quickly.
- Generating cashflow: having many cars in stock involves tying up considerable capital. Yet the cash position versus debt is often important in the financial world. Especially at the end of the financial year it may be required to generate more cashflow, in order to reduce lines of credit and keep debt ratio as favourable as possible.
- Getting rid of any excess stock: a drop in sales of just a few percents in a particular country soon causes car stocks to grow. If the downward trend persists for a few months the regular network soon becomes saturated.
“We really think things through with our trading partners, in order to continue optimizing their activities: our supplier must benefit, and our customer must also earn an acceptable margin on the cars. We go a long way to achieve this.”
Solution: Choose flexibility
In order to tackle these challenges successfully, it is essential that importers & manufacturers can adapt more flexibly than ever to the reality. This is achieved by thinking out of the box and therefore not only using the dealer network, but also selling cars through alternative channels. Which specific benefits does this generate:
- Optimum use of capacity: we help to fill up any available production allocations, possibly even months ahead.
- Growing market share, due to the fact we buy and register cars in the desired country, also when things need to move fast, for example at the end of a quarter.
- Instantly more cash flow: thanks to our financial strength we conduct each payment as soon as the price is established and everything has been agreed in writing (on a one-pager, without complicated contracts).
- More room to breathe for the dealer network, as some of the sales are achieved using us
Geoffrey Heyninck
Chief Executive Officer
Conclusion
Quadriga always seeks solutions in which everybody wins: our supplier must benefit, and our customer must also earn an acceptable margin on the cars.
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