Comments from Officers Implementing the AUTOBACS 2010 Medium-Term Business Plan
Creating Stores That Help Customers to Understand and Select Merchandise
Teruyuki Matsumura
Senior Executive Officer,
Head of Marketing &
Sales Strategy Planning and IFRS
Over the past two years, we have remodeled the sales floors at all AUTOBACS
format stores, and focused on developing merchandise that meets customers'
needs and offering high quality merchandise at affordable prices. These reform
efforts have seen positive feedback from customers who have found the reforms
made it easier to understand and select merchandise. We have also seen an
increase in sales of maintenance-related goods. Over the next two years, we intend
to widen the scope of these reforms to Super AUTOBACS stores.
Becoming Closer and More Convenient for Our Customers
In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, we will begin a radical overhaul of our
customer relationship management strategy, aiming to win the support and trust of
our customers as a closer and more convenient part of their motoring lifestyle. This
will involve analyzing the purchase data of the approximately 6 million AUTOBACS
members to gain insights into their purchasing behavior at stores. We will use these
insights to provide merchandise and services that are better suited to our customers'
vehicles, lifestyles, and life stages.
A Store Opening Strategy Focused on Customer Needs in Small Commercial Areas
Kiomi Kobayashi
Senior Executive Officer,
Head of Sales Operation and
Area Strategy & Planning
Up until now, AUTOBACS has opened stores mainly in commercial areas of 100,000
to 150,000 people. As such, we have been unable to provide adequate service to
small commercial zones of around 50,000 people. We have now begun addressing
the demand for close, reliable stores to help with the motoring needs of people in
such areas. We have completely reassessed our construction methods, store fixtures,
pit equipment, and store operations, and proceeded to open 27 new low-cost
stores in a format for small commercial areas over the past 2 years. Looking ahead,
we plan to open a total of 120 of these stores by the end of March 2014 by using the
know-how we have gained to accelerate our store development.
Developing Human Resources Who Local Customers Support and Trust
We believe that the quality of store employees is important because they are the
interface between stores and customers. Advanced customer service training for
employees at all stores over the past two years has begun to bear fruit, with noticeable
improvements in employees' manner and attitude as they serve customers. In
fiscal 2013, we will implement management training for managers at all stores in a
drive to enhance the power of individual stores. The training will focus on developing
managers' abilities to think about area-specific ways to effectively increase footfall
and to work efficiently, their ability to establish PDCA cycles and work decisively and
effectively, and their ability to think and act on their own initiative, deliver results, and
create an organization. Through these efforts, AUTOBACS is developing people
customers will support and trust, reinforcing the notion that "Anything about cars,
you find at AUTOBACS."
