"Like a big loss in the sale of cars, we will buy one and get one." Nearly the end of the year, heavy truck dealer Shi Hong (a pseudonym) after careful calculation of a ledger this year, depressed to throw the above remarks. Selling cars does not make money. It is easy to understand when vehicles are unsalable. However, if this comes from a heavy-duty truck dealer whose sales volume has increased by about 40% for two consecutive years, and it sells thousands of vehicles a year, it is difficult to understand. . Since it does not make money, what to sell?
The fierce competition with the brand
The price war between dealers this year has been particularly fierce. “Everybody's expectation for the market this year is relatively low, and it is relatively more demanding, which also leads to disorderly market competition. At the same time, the prices of raw materials at the beginning of this year have been high, so the profit margin will be smaller.†Vice President of Shandong Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd. Tan Xiuqing said.
According to commercial car news reporters, there are not many dealers who currently rely on selling cars to make money. The root cause of complaints from distributors is that there are too many dealers and cross-regional sales. For example, in Tianjin, five dealers of a certain brand have been scampered. However, another strong regional dealer has entered strongly and the company is weak. Stopped, the pattern eventually became six homes.
When it comes to competition with the brand, Shi Hong has a headache. “Now the distribution of distributors is too intensive. It is common for 4 to 5 brand dealers in a city. For us, there are two dealers in Linyi, tens of kilometers away, and two dealers in Xuzhou, 180 kilometers away. Everyone's competition has reached a level of enthusiasm. Dealers do not plan to take measures to figure out the profits of bicycles. In the current market environment, it is too unrealistic for the profitability of motor vehicles. Even if companies increase pricing, the prices of other brands are too low. , forcing us to follow the price cuts, or who will buy your car?"
Some corporate figures disagree with this view. In their view, it is common to lower prices in the off-season and there are price increases for dealers during the peak season. "This year's light season is not as usual, and dealers are more cautious about braking. Therefore, when the market is heavy, the contradiction between supply and demand is prominent, giving dealers certain price increases. At the same time, regional markets also have bright spots. Such as post-disaster reconstruction has led to heavy truck sales in Southwest China this year. The demand in some areas during the period of March to March and the third quarter soared, and the profit level of dealers should be slightly better than last year."
This argument is considered outdated by many dealers. Shi Hong said: "Now, now different from the past, this year there are indeed queued up to buy a car, but dealers have long been afraid to increase prices, even if the old users to buy a car, before buying a car will also shop around. More dealers, the market The transparency is high. Once the user finds that your car price is high, you will think that the dealer is not honest and it will not be worth the loss.â€
A heavy-duty truck dealer Luo Jun (a pseudonym) also admitted that in the first half of the post-disaster reconstruction there is a shortage of supply, "but only the current car can raise the price, the vehicle can not be booked simply, to the present car, easier said than done? Again, most of the time the market Still lighter."
Both sides of the coin
At the same time that most dealers clamored, some brands of dealers were full of profits. It was rumored that a brand dealer selling a car could have a profit of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, making it attractive to other distributors. Endlessly. Li Yan (a pseudonym), a heavy truck dealer in Tianjin, said that this has a close relationship with the company's sales channel layout: "This area is a dealer for this company, which is the fundamental guarantee for its profits."
Li Yan's direct revenue from selling a car is less than RMB 2,000, which means that he will not spend much of his expenses. However, if Li Yan is allowed to switch to this brand, he is not willing to. “In the past few years, the number of dealers with the same brand has been limited, and we have experienced the stage of selling cars to make money. Now that the total sales volume of the company has gone up, the number of dealers has gone up, so that everyone’s profit becomes thinner and thinner. Cycling profits are high, but due to capacity and market restrictions, the total sales volume in the region is limited. The capacity of the brand in our region is approximately 200 vehicles per year, and the number of brands that I operate exceeds 2,000 vehicles, and steadily rises every year, although there are many distributions. Businesses are contending for profit, but there is also a lot of room for distributors."
For dealers, it is difficult to see both sides of a coin with a large quantity and thinness and a small amount of profit. Enterprises also face similar problems. On the one hand, there are more dealers and there are competitions between them. This not only helps sell more cars, but also improves service quality. At the same time, the situation in which a number of distributors are estranged can prevent a single dealer from causing a passive company. On the other hand, if there are too many dealers, it is easy to cause a price war. Vicious competition will occur frequently and the price will not go up. The service quality of dealers may also decline.
For this reason, all companies have expressly stipulated the product sales price and sales area, prohibiting individual dealers from disrupting the market. However, in all aspects of actual operation, cross-regional sales and low-cost car ownership are still not uncommon. According to an industry source: "Distribution among dealers, internal enterprises also fighting. Now some companies have more than one factory outside, and several plants also compete with each other and fight each other's price war, which also caused dealers to have loopholes. Drilling."
The non-compliance between the distributors and the company, and the non-strict implementation of one party, resulted in a sales situation and a meager profit.
How to break through in the era of low profit
The era of meager profits has already formed, and it is unresolved whether anyone is right or wrong. The more important thing that is currently placed in front of companies and dealers is how to break through.
The reporter learned that dealers now have different ways of earning money, some of them are looking for acquaintances and approval policies, some of them are reporting to enterprises when they are doing service, some are aiming at financial services, and some are exporters. Selling cars has become a “sideline businessâ€.
Luo Jun chose to walk on multiple legs. This year, he registered a new company and applied for another brand of 4S shop. "The brand previously had a small share in our region, a relatively small number of dealers, a certain amount of space, and dealers' profits are relatively guaranteed, so I decided to make this decision."
However, it is more than just Luo Jun who has spotted this business opportunity. Several dealers in the region have recently joined and the number of dealers has reached six. The smoke ahead is still strong.
Shi Hong and Li Yan decided to stay. Shi Hong said: "There are only a large number of opportunities, and each year's sales base will give each dealer a space to display his talent. Selling more and selling less depends on his personal ability." At the same time, he will focus his work on services. "After several years of rapid development, the heavy-duty truck market may have slowed down. The market has no increments. It is unlikely that we will be able to rely on incremental food to provide enough food, but the service is still running. Selling 10 cars is always There are one or two cars coming back for repairs, and then there are always vehicles coming back for maintenance. The amount is up, and there is only guaranteed after-market income, so I will still work hard for the next year."