No trades.
Dealers aren’t always great about building profiles of their customers, but anecdotal evidence leads us to believe that the number of first-time buyers during the pandemic has seen a marked increase. While we should all be excited about seeing new customers entering our industry, that lack of trades is problematic. With OEMs struggling to keep up with demand, used vehicles will become more important to dealers. Once we run out of new and used inventory, what do we sell to pay the bills?
Some of the more progressive dealers I work with have gotten very creative in looking at new methods to acquire additional used inventory. Although we are often having to pay more for that stock than during normal (non-pandemic) times, as long as the dealership can maintain a high turn rate on those purchases, I am happy to debate that having something to sell is better than nothing.
There’s a lot that goes on during a typical day at each dealership. The pandemic has added another level of challenges for managers and leaders, and managing inventory isn’t always at the top of that list. It should be!
What does your IMP (Inventory Management Plan) look like?
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