Work Wheels in the USA officially

So Work is setting up shop in LA as themselves. not through importers. We interviewed the WORK wheels president, where he revealed the info on our show.

[url]http://vipstylecars.com/forum/index.php?topic=4116.msg48908#msg48908[/url]

thoughts, questions, discuss...

 What happens to all the existing retail outlets that sell Work, is Work only going to manufacture and not sell direct to consumer?

Profit margins at retailers selling Work will be lowered surely, as they must compete with the Work US outlet.

How well do they truely know the market they are selling into? In the interview he fails to reveal whether they will produce US specific designed wheels, or try and continue selling the Jap designs in the US.

I have a funny feeling the US/West Coast will end up with some new designs solely for the US market manufactured out of a Californian Work Wheel factory.

great i have to sell my played out euroline fs's for some weds

As the saying goes...the Grass is always greener on the other side. This applies to many companies in Japan right now. I have a feeling they will not sell direct to consumers, they will most likely contact the better serviced work distributors now to have the distributors go direct. Pricing may drop just because they will be more available in the US, and the freight charges associated with importing won't be tacked on per each individuals order (broken into thier per wheel pricing instead). It's going to take 1-2 years before they really make an impact on the US market. So your Euroline's will still be rare. 
From what I picked up from the interview, he will offer new wheel styles for the US market. He doesnt say it directly, but you can read err listen between the lines. 

[quote=david_h ]
 What happens to all the existing retail outlets that sell Work, is Work only going to manufacture and not sell direct to consumer?
[/quote]

I hope they sell direct and put autornd out of business while their at it. ;D

In Europe/UK we are unaffected by this decision, thank God.

It's hard enough as a Work Retailer trying to sell these wheels without competing with Work directly.

I do it for the love, not for the money.

[quote=david_h ]
In Europe/UK we are unaffected by this decision, thank God.

It's hard enough as a Work Retailer trying to sell these wheels without competing with Work directly.

I do it for the love, not for the money.
[/quote]

If anything, it will make your life easier. I believe its cheaper to import from the US compared to Japan into the UK. I think pricing would be better, & service would be better if you went direct to the source. 

Well if they set shop and warehousing locally in the US, it's only good news for the customers. Their stuff will most likely always be in stock, wider range will be more available and downtime is probably less. Not to mention that Work can now keep in check their dealers and how the market works in the US.

I think when a manufacturer builds something closer to the market, it's usually good news.

[quote=david_h ]
 What happens to all the existing retail outlets that sell Work, is Work only going to manufacture and not sell direct to consumer?

Profit margins at retailers selling Work will be lowered surely, as they must compete with the Work US outlet.
[/quote]

I haven't heard the interview but in general..."Supplier to Distributor" relationships should not cause any conflict. The Supplier generally establishes it's distribution channels in a way that maximizes profits. It is a detriment to the supplier to price cut a distributor. If the supply chain is divided up properly, then everyone in the chain will prosper.

It's been backwards in this particualr industry, where the suppliers are directly competing with their supplier for business. The supplier should have a clear margin set out for itself and what ever margin the distributor wants, they set their pricing structure to accomodate.

Chris

Yes, in the UK supplier selling direct are undercutting other distributors, I mean what's the point.

e.g. Carlsson, quoted for a customer a very reasonable price, got undercut by over £120 per wheel, I don't even buy them in for trade at that price!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the US, distributors are king. If they paid attention to what happened to Bomex USA, then thats a proven point of how effective distribution channels are here, and why distributors need to have a worthy profit margin. When i was selling too retail, i made sure we only offered full retail, and never competed with our distributors. 

I love how 3 years ago Work didn't want to bother having anything to do with distributors in the US... and Fabulous didn't give a shit about the US back then either... my how times have changed. What will happen next? hmmmm

[quote=One Ton VIP ]
I love how 3 years ago Work didn't want to bother having anything to do with distributors in the US... and Fabulous didn't give a s*** about the US back then either... my how times have changed. What will happen next? hmmmm
[/quote]

thats always the case...it's the Japanese way of "quick action", oh and they feel the grass is greener over here.