Have you been to a car dealership lately? If so, you’d know that most have a spectacularly empty new car lot. When you decide on the car of your dreams, you may be in for a surprise. One person I ordered a RAV4 and was told there is a 9 -12 month wait.
To add to this situation customers are reporting that they’re being offered cars with luxury trim instead of the strip downed versions they originally ordered.
Consumers aren’t the only ones experience this joy. Enterprises buying big-ticket durable goods are being treated like consumer car buyers. A core reason for both situations was the reliance on Just In Time inventory when supply chain shortages hit. (www.ekalore.com/the-ripple-effect)
Sales staff fret even though buyers have budgets. Uncertainties about delivery cause anxiety. Rapid inflation (as we’ve written about elsewhere) is complicating pricing and contracts. The result is sales of “someday” equipment and raw materials with contingencies (“maybe”) for prices. Logistics costs are uncertain. Some global suppliers are seeing shipping costs ding their bottom-line profits. Sales staff are told to get orders even as CFOs don’t know what costs will be.
In mid-2022, going to a car dealer and buying a car is disappointing. Tens of millions of dollars of car dealer showrooms are populated by small seating areas and potted plants. There are no cars to see, touch, or test drive. Car sales staff offer prospective customers computer video, website ordering, and waiting lists. Used cars are also in short supply and not to be easily seen, touched, or driven. The car sales experience of yesterday has become nothing more ‘ordering from a menu.”
2022 big ticket industrial and commercial goods have many common experiences with cars.
(To be continued)
You can find Get in Line Part 2 at www.ekalore.com/ars
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