On the road to collaboration: Are we there yet?
We, the editors of Aftermarket Business, stopped and asked ourselves a question several months back: "What resource is available that gives an in-depth overview and history of the aftermarket?" We couldn't come up with anything, and when we asked others in the industry, they just gave us a blank stare.
So with the thought that the industry needs to know where it's been to plan for where it is going, we created Volume I of The Aftermarket Manual. Since this will be an annual publication, we will build on the industry's history with in-depth analysis in subsequent volumes.
My part in this industry started in the late 1970s with another distribution magazine. One of my first assignments was to visit and interview a Queens jobber, who was crying foul because his WD was selling around him. "This is juicy investigative journalism," I thought.
But the cry of "unfair competition" and antitrust condemnations rang hollow when I visited the jobber's place of business. To this day, I have yet to visit a business that was so disorganized and poorly run. The jobber, in effect, put the WD in a position to protect himself. It wasn't a conspiracy against the jobber. It wasn't a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act. The jobber was trying to cloak himself in a "good-old-boy" distribution system instead of changing his behavior to meet new market challenges.
If you've been in this industry awhile, you have enjoyed the best of times. It didn't take much to make a decent profit. Just the fact that you were in the business pretty much guaranteed you success.
Then...other players crept in with some retail savvy. Most notable were the auto retailers and mass merchandisers. Frankly, it was easy "pickins" for businesspeople who understood customer behavior and product merchandising.
To combat the new competitors' retail prowess and immense buying power, many traditionalists loosened tradition and became jobber/retailers and joined program groups that offered marketing savvy and, yes, buying power.
Today, the players throughout the distribution chain are attempting to collaborate on a number of crucial fronts ranging from inventory management to electronic data solutions. Although collaboration would lead to a more efficient industry overall, many remain reluctant to join the fray because they think their competitive advantage may be compromised.
It is our hope that by publishing The Aftermarket Manual to explore our industry's history, we will help in some small way to build a more collaborative spirit throughout the distribution chain. I learned that lesson on my first assignment when a WD chose to better himself instead of assisting his customer, whom he subsequently lost.
Larry Silvey, Editor-in-Chief & Group Editorial Director
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