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Independent dealers save consumer durable goods manufacturers from appearing as remote, verging-on-unwelcome visitors while selling their products in person. Furthermore, they facilitate superior product support by supplying end users with more readily available repair services, spare parts, and product information. Their role in the consumer durable goods industry is to be the friendly face customers go to when they need help picking out, getting the most out of, or fixing products.

 

Imagine being in charge of establishing a brick-and-mortar location for a manufacturer in some place far from where they are located. It might take years to secure the right real estate and find the right personnel, and even after you do all that, there is no guarantee that the project will work. A safer route is for manufacturers to sell their products to distributors who will then sell them to independent dealers, or to sell them directly to independent dealers, because they already have a presence and the right staff for the job.

 

 

Another advantage that independent dealers provide manufacturers with is that they generally draw customers with a wider range of interest than the customers a single-brand retailer would draw. You could be a lawnmower manufacturer, say, placing your products in an independent dealer’s store that also sells handheld tools and gardening supplies. This would possibly lead to you selling more, since some customers who go there interested in buying said products might see your lawnmowers and end up buying one of them instead.

 

Independent dealers who also offer repair services in addition to being points of sale add value to the product being sold, since it is generally faster and easier for end users to have their products repaired by an independent dealer rather than by the manufacturer themselves. In other words, it is an added perk for a customer to be able to drive just a few miles down the road to where they bought a product, and ask questions or have it fixed there, rather than for them to need to ship the product back to the manufacturer. Independent dealers can further add value to the product by providing manufacturers with customer and usage data, which is otherwise difficult for them to attain and is useful for them to implement during new product development.

 

Adding independent dealers to their distribution networks allows manufacturers to acquire knowledge of local areas and provide speedy repair services to their end users, at a fraction of the cost of building their own stores. Furthermore, it grants them better visibility into who their end users are and how they use their products.