Since ancient times, a complete car dealer system has been a strong boost for major car companies to sell cars. As an example, a large part of the reason why the sales of Wenjie under Huawei's blessing continue to rise is due to Huawei's strong channel capabilities.
Obviously, the advent of the era of new energy vehicles has changed the original market logic and car selling logic. As a result, the sales channels closest to the end of the consumer have also begun to be "diverse":
The 4S store dealer model that traditional car companies have always adhered to, the direct store model boosted by Tesla and Wei Xiaoli, and the shopping mall model of "joint operation" between 4S stores and car companies ......
In fact, each sales channel model has its own advantages and shortcomings. But it will not change the fact that under the impact of the trend of the new era, channel reform is imperative.
A few days ago, according to late auto news, Great Wall Motors is laying a new energy direct store plan, and has begun to recruit relevant talents. Feng Fuzhi, who previously worked for Li Auto, will be responsible for the entire new energy direct sales project.
If this message is true, it will trigger at least 3 major discussions:
First, the Great Wall is now directly deployed, is it too late?
Second, the Great Wall New Energy Direct Sales, who should be the first bird?
Third, how to balance the dealer model of 4S store and the model of direct store?
The direct sales model is imperative
The wind direction of the new energy vehicle era is changing too fast, especially in the context of the "** war" industry, if you are not careful, you will fall off the table. Ziyoujia, Weimar, Aiways, Gaohe, etc., the reason why the once smash hit car-making new forces are drowned in the tide of the times is nothing more than that.
But if you want to prove your strength, the first thing you can't avoid is the sales problem.
In the era of the whole people, the explosion of information has made it not difficult to realize a car, but how to have a real experience at your fingertips.
Whether it is Tesla, Wei Xiaoli and other new car-making forces, they are more willing to reach more consumers through direct stores, and then expand the sales entrance, which is the reason.
The times are always moving forward, and if you don't make progress, you will be eliminated. So if you want to ask Great Wall New Energy, is it too late to do a direct store now? The personal answer is simple: it's not too late to make amends.
If you carefully compare the major brands of Great Wall Motor, Haval, Wei brand, tank, and Great Wall pickup truck all have their own new energy hybrid models, but only the ORA brand is mainly engaged in pure electric vehicles, and after the "merger" salon, ORA has become more imaginative.
For directly operated stores, of course, the pure electric model has more advantages and flexibility. Under this logic, the possibility of the ORA brand becoming the "pioneer" of Great Wall Motor's channel reform is not small.
It's just embarrassing that the major brands under Great Wall Motors rely on the original dealer model, and ORA is no exception. The salon's directly managed store was also changed to an authorized ORA dealer after it was integrated into ORA.
Taking a step back, if ORA opens the direct sales model, it will inevitably conflict with the existing dealer system, which will lead to an imbalance in the distribution of benefits and trigger more chain reactions.
The problems of major brands such as Haval, Tank, and Great Wall pickup trucks are the same, if the direct sales model is adopted, it will need to spend more manpower, material resources, and energy to balance the dealer system and the direct sales system.
In this context, the probability of WEY brand new energy to carry out direct sales is greater.
It is understood that WEY brand currently does not have an independent dealer network, but a set of dealer system at the same time to undertake the delivery and service functions of the two brands of tank and WEY brand new energy.
Moreover, WEY brand new energy is very special, which not only bears the burden of the rise of the entire Great Wall Motors brand, but also represents the future development direction of Great Wall Motors. In recent years, the sales volume of WEY brand new energy has continued to be the best, and there is an urgent need for a direct sales model and a shot of "chicken blood".
It's just that there is still a worrying point here, whether the existing models of WEY brand new energy can be "compatible with the water and soil" with the direct sales model?
To be a channel is to do service
We are to B thinking, after completing market research, tell the dealer what to do, and then the dealer will face the user. It is a mistake to practice to C with the thinking of To B. ”
Just like Li Ruifeng, chief growth officer of Great Wall Motors, said, with the thinking of to B, you can't do things to C.
Because whether it is a direct store, a first-class store or a traditional dealer 4S store, it is essentially a channel, and the essence of the channel is to provide services and provide the services that most consumers want.
In today's society where it is difficult to reconcile, it is really difficult to provide good services.
Tesla, Wei Xiaoli and other new car-making forces have changed people's choice of car purchases. Huawei, Xiaomi and other mobile phone manufacturers have crossed over into the automobile market, bringing consumers a different car buying experience.
The Great Wall of stability, it is impossible to break away from the original dealer system, even if there is an intention to direct the model, it is only possible that the two models coexist.
The coexistence of the two models has many benefits, such as the ability to roll out stores in shopping malls faster and reach more consumers and regions. It can also reduce the pressure on car companies and focus on technology research and development and manufacturing. You can even use dealers to make the sales data look better.
But from another perspective, the two models are not the same root after all, one represents the interests of dealers, and the other represents the interests of car companies. In such a situation, it is inevitable that there will be a conflict of interest.
Therefore, for Great Wall Motors, how to unify the store construction standards is the key to solving the problem.
It is no shy to say that the decoration environment and service of the directly operated store are better than the traditional 4S store. There is also a big gap in the professionalism of sales staff.
In other words, if these "hard decoration" levels are not unified, let alone unified prices, unified marketing and other "soft decoration" level things.
In addition, another important benefit of the direct sales model is that it allows car companies to get closer to consumers and truly understand consumers' willingness to spend. Instead of patting his head, blindly "answering" according to a questionnaire that he didn't know to get from **.
It is an exaggeration to say that doing a good job in the direct sales model can greatly improve the resilience of car companies. Especially in the face of changes in the market, it can also make corresponding actions in a timely manner, rather than being slow to move, and an order is conveyed to several departments.
I am very happy to see the various changes made by Great Wall Motors for the era of new energy vehicles. For example, the construction of the Great Wall marketing platform will bring the brand publicity together and deploy it in a unified manner; It also includes the "overhaul" of the sales channel, which brings more possibilities for the new energy transformation of Great Wall Motors.
If you don't forget, there will be an echo. In the first month of 2024, Great Wall New Energy Vehicles ushered in a good start.
According to sales data, the sales volume of Great Wall new energy passenger vehicles reached 24,988 in January, a year-on-year increase of 29582%, achieving a new leap forward.
The Great Wall, which has undergone a "major reform" of channels, will inevitably be able to help new energy sales rise again; Although there is still a lot of uncertainty in that future.