[Industry] Complete the last link of the RV industry chain

According to incomplete statistics, domestic RV sales have increased by 100% in the first half of the year, and it is almost certain to say that the RV spring has come. But behind the spring, there has been a long-standing problem that is slowing down the development of RVs, which is the after-sales problem of RVs.

In the Beijing RV Exhibition in March 2018, there was a small event that attracted a lot of continuous attention in the RV industry, that is, China Copper Automotive Technology Development (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. After-sales service chain system released.

Whether the establishment of the RV after-sales system can solve the persistent problems of the RV industry is still unclear, but the after-sales model is what many RV practitioners are looking forward to. China Copper Technology first reached a cooperative relationship with RV companies, and then selected local camps, RV sales companies and other high-quality RV companies across the country for cooperation and layout, and finally reached a national chain system of RV after-sales.

chaotic times

The establishment of the entire after-sales chain system seems simple but is full of difficulties. Because the current RV after-sales situation is chaotic, each company adopts different methods to solve the after-sales problem. It is not easy to “unify weights and measures”. The current RV after-sales types are roughly divided into the following categories:

1. OEMs

This type of RV enterprise is developed from the automobile main engine factory, and has great advantages in technology, capital, and management. In terms of after-sales, it relies on the original car service station for after-sales maintenance of RVs, and has huge advantages in terms of outlets, personnel, and venues. Representative companies: SAIC MAXUS, Brilliance, Karen Benway (Yutong), etc.

2. RV refitting factory

The vast majority of such RV companies usually refit the RV after purchasing the chassis (Iveco, Chase, Ford, etc.) from the OEM. Due to the limited size of the industry, the sales volume is not enough to support the establishment of a complete after-sales service system. Usually, the two after-sales models of dealer after-sales point and “flying trapeze” are used in parallel. Dealer after-sales outlets are to establish local after-sales outlets with regional dealers as the core. Such outlets are generally retrained by the dealer’s own maintenance team, or cooperate with local repair shops. “Flying trapeze” is based on the manufacturer’s maintenance team. After-sales problems occur, the personnel will directly fly to the location of the RV to deal with them. Representative companies: Zhongtian, Yate, Shunlv.

I originally wanted to divide the RV refitting factories into two categories, large and small, but at the current stage when the annual sales of 300 units can already be regarded as a large RV company, there is not much difference between classified and non-discriminated.

3. Other categories

This category is better called “no one cares” than “others”. Although it is an exaggeration, there are not a few RVs that are “killed or buried” after the sale of RVs. There are two reasons for this phenomenon: 1. RV manufacturers have given up the RV business due to various reasons, so the RVs produced and sold before have become unattended children, and all matters must be handled by the car owners themselves. 2. A company engaged in import and export trade has imported a batch of imported RVs for fun, and naturally does not care about after-sales issues. These two situations are not uncommon in the initial stage of market development, and they have added a lot of difficulties to the after-sales of RVs. Representative enterprises: a certain RV production company and a certain RV sales company.

integration difficulties

After understanding the current situation of RV after-sales, I found that it is not generally difficult to integrate this muddy water. First of all, as an OEM, the after-sales problem is not prominent under the premise of having inherent advantages. It’s just that because the RV is too small, there is a lack of extensive training for maintenance personnel. Secondly, RV modification factories are also limited by the problem of inventory, and they can barely cope with it for the time being, and they are not very active in cooperation. Moreover, in China where intellectual property protection is weak, RV manufacturers are not willing to have their manufacturing process be peeped by others. For the last category, the product either has inherent defects or lacks technical support, and the difficulty of after-sales processing is not small.

And anyone who knows about RVs knows that the after-sales service of RVs seems simple but actually extremely complicated, requiring RV maintenance personnel to master the skills of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, decorators, auto mechanics, and home appliance repairers. And no matter how good the grasp of each type of work is, as long as all the maintenance tools are fully equipped, it will be found that the company can hardly afford the wages of those who have mastered the use of these tools.

overcome difficulties

It seems that there are many difficulties to integrate the after-sales service of RVs. China Copper chose to face up to the difficulties at this critical stage of RV development. Its courage is commendable. On the same day, China Copper signed an after-sales cooperation agreement with more than 10 RVs, including Tangshan Yate RV, Anhui Haichi RV, Jiangsu Farid RV, Jiangsu Weihang RV, Shandong Osden RV. They are each other’s preferred partners in the procurement and supply of accessories, power supply systems, and agency sales.

It can be foreseen that if the development continues according to the expected route, China Copper will deploy after-sales outlets across the country, and the realization of after-sales chain will be just around the corner. And through the daily after-sales work, organize and feedback the most direct use results to the RV manufacturers, so as to assist the upgrade of RVs. While handing over the after-sales work to China Copper, RV manufacturers can better focus on product research and development.

Under the premise that RV modularization has become an inevitable choice for RV manufacturers in the future, the difficulty of after-sales work will be greatly reduced. It is advisable to hand over these tedious tasks to a third party, and at the same time use the associated system to synchronize the front-line work situation and information processing, so as to grasp the information in a timely manner.

epilogue

When the entire industry is having headaches with after-sales problems, the solution proposed by China Copper has to be said to be very feasible. At the same time, it also plays an important role in the technical exchange of the RV industry and the sound development of enterprises. At the same time, it should also be seen that today, when the number of RVs is not satisfactory, a large amount of capital injection is needed to maintain this work, and the length of time is still uncertain. This is not a small test for China Copper. Let us wait and see whether China Copper can persist until the end.