Chinese Consumers Rebell Against Channel Stuffing, Punish Carmakers
Channel stuffing is taking its toll on China. Customers fight back against “increased sales pressure and an insufficient supply of experienced staff, driven by a disconnect between the dealership network expansion and the market slowdown, “ and punish car manufacturers where it hurts second most: On the J.D.Power Sales Satisfaction Survey. The survey, published today, notices “a notable deterioration in overall sales satisfaction among new-vehicle owners in China.”
Audi ranks highest in that study that measures customer satisfaction with the new-vehicle purchase process. Dongfeng Nissan ranks second, followed by Beijing Hyundai, Dongfeng Citroën and Dongfeng Honda. The preeminence of joint ventures of the state owned enterprise Dongfeng cannot be overlooked.
J.D.Power wants the car companies that rate below industry average to keep face, and does not list them. Easy: If you don’t see major makers listed above average, they are below average.
According to J.D.Power’s Liza Wang,
“manufacturers have not aligned production with current demand, but have instead continued to add production capacity and open new dealerships in anticipation of stronger growth in the future. In the current market, this has led to increased inventories at dealerships and acute pressure to sell vehicles.
Nearly 80 percent of dealers indicate that high inventories are their greatest challenge, which means dealers are under immense pressure to sell more vehicles at a faster pace, This clearly has had a negative impact on the quality of the purchase experience for new-vehicle buyers.”
An increasing number of customers complained about excessive pressure from salespersons. In addition, i customers are more demanding and have higher expectations during the sales process than before. Says J.D.Power:
“The increasing availability of vehicle information on the Internet—particularly regarding vehicle features and pricing and incentive information—has given new-vehicle buyers more leverage when negotiating their purchase. “
China – looks more and more like home. Except for the girls over the hood, sadly.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Wow oversensitive much? I remember when snapon used to have calendars that every garage wanted. Some woman I think who worked for Snapon (can't remember exactly) Decided to sue Snapon for producing the calendar because she found it offensive. Thing is, the Calendar was located in the men's bathroom not in public view in an automotive garage. (at least that's how I remember the story) Now the snapon calendar is pretty boring and people(men) are not nearly so interested in them as they used to be. See what gets me about all this is choice, you have to choice to either come here or not. If there are images here that you don't like then don't come here. If it's enough for you to complain about the images, don't come here because obviously you are not the target market. You have the choice to vote with your feet(or mouse in this case) and take your business elsewhere. If TTAC loses enough readers they will change. But to try and force change because of your disapproval of something I find to be against the ideas of allowing choice. Exercise your right to choice, DONT try to dictate to others how to behave. That to me is what being part of the USA is, respect for all to choose what they want and respect for others to choose to avoid things they don't like. That's my 2 cents on the issue, I know that many people feel they should protect the morals of all, but again I think that is not being true to the spirit of a country based on the ideal of freedom.
I'd like to stuff her channel...