I saw this article online, “Do We Really Need Car Dealerships Anymore?” from Popular Mechanics and it got me wondering whether or not anyone could ask that same question of copier dealers.
The gist of the Popular Mechanics story is that Tesla Motors, makers of Model S cars, with MSRP’s from $69K-$95K, is battling the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), the trade group that represents car retailers, over Tesla’s right to sell its Model S cars via its Websites and manufacturer-owned stores. That’s something that car manufacturers can’t currently do.
While this is a battle that’s only just begun, here in the copier business, that sort of battle is old news. Based on my conversations with dealers across the country, manufacturer direct branches continue to win their share of battles by playing the “how low can you go” game. However, as we know, winning those battles isn’t the same as winning the war, especially when you see manufacturers like Ricoh turning over territories to independents that can do a much better job of servicing those accounts.
But back to the question, who needs copier dealers? If you work from the premise that anyone can sell the hardware, especially when you low ball it, but not everyone can service and support it, and then provide all the other emerging solutions and services that make for the value add these days, the question isn’t who needs copier dealers (no matter what they’re calling themselves in a more solutions and services oriented world), it’s more like, who doesn’t need copier dealers?
Thanks for reading.
