Enhancing Products and Services
Automotive Goods
Bringing Customers Safer, More Convenient Goods
Customers Can Purchase with Confidence
Making the most of the automotive goods retail industry’s largest network, each AUTOBACS store is stocked each of its stores with 10,000-30,000 items, an overwhelmingly greater selection than offered by competitors. Our “Car Life Advisors” - experts on the products we offer - recommend the best products for particular purposes, so that even those without detailed knowledge of cars can easily get what they need at an AUTOBACS store. This is only one of the ways we are striving to enhance customer service, while also updating our private-brand (PB) product offerings.
Market Environment and Business Trends
In recent years, it has become increasingly common for cars to be equipped with car navigation and other such products as standard equipment. This has led to declines in both unit prices and units sold, and sales of car electronics products are trending downward. Car lifecycles, however, are lengthening, and sales of oil, tires, and other maintenance-related goods have remained relatively solid. AUTOBACS is moving ahead with efforts to strengthen its sales approach, with a focus on maintenance, endeavoring to improve the profitability of the automotive goods business.
Strengthening Tire Sales
Line of High-Performance Tires Popular with Customers
In fiscal 2015, we added products such as the Esporte AB01 and the Maxrun EVERROAD to our line of tire offerings. The Esporte AB01, which is designed for long life, is the result of cooperation with a leading Japanese tire manufacturer and is sold only through AUTOBACS. The Maxrun EVERROAD is the first of our private-brand (PB) tires designed to improve fuel economy. With our broad product selection and reasonable prices supporting annual sales of 6.8 million tires, AUTOBACS has won strong customer support as a source of tires. Indeed, for the second year running, we were rated No. 1 among stores favored for purchasing tires for fuel economy, based on the 2014 Survey on Fuel-Economy Tires*.
*Survey by JMA Research Institute Inc.
Updating the Private-Brand Product Line
Creating a PB Line of Go-To Products
In July 2014, we began to update our line of PB products, consolidating them under the AQ. (AUTOBACS QUALITY) brand name. From interior goods to oil and batteries, we are enhancing our PB product offerings. By positioning our PB products as the standard for product selection, we are working to make it easier for customers to choose products amid the increasing diversity of automobile goods on the market.
Nonfinancial Capital Driving Value Creation
Strengthening Product Development
The Company Group has been developing PB products for 37 years and we have an extensive wealth of product development know-how covering tires and wheels, as well as products such as oil, batteries, and automotive accessories. Going forward, we will accelerate brand consolidation and, over the long term, increase PB products to 20% of our product offerings, from about 13% currently.
Relationships with Manufacturers
The Company Group’s supplier network includes approximately 500 leading manufacturers in Japan and abroad. Our top position in the industry allows us to gather the marketing information and make the large-lot purchases that underlie our broad product selection and price competitiveness.
Quality Assurance
The Company undertakes quality control guided by its Product Quality Control Regulations. Our quality control system covers not only private brand items, but also national brand items. Working closely with manufacturers and suppliers, we adopt a multifaceted approach to quality control, considering such aspects as the legality and safety of the products themselves and how they are used, as well as protection of consumers based on product liability laws.
Development of Car Life Advisors
We strive to increase the quality of our customer service by conducting training to enhance product knowledge and customer interaction skills, and by administering internal qualification tests, for AUTOBACS chain store employees. Currently, approximately 20,000 AUTOBACS store employees have earned the professional qualification of Car Life Advisor.
Working to Contribute to Earnings by Creating Products Embodying the Uniqueness of AUTOBACS
AUTOBACS has a long history of collaborating with suppliers to offer customers highly convenient PB products at reasonable prices. In fiscal 2015, we established the AQ. (AUTOBACS QUALITY) brand as the first stage of our efforts to update our PB product line. While integrating existing products, we have also devoted a great deal of attention to improving designs and functionality from the customer’s perspective. Going forward, we intend to develop products that are even more expressive of the uniqueness of the AUTOBACS private brand and are goods we can take pride in recommending to customers. In so doing, we also aim to contribute to the bottom line.
Ryo Shigeyama General Manager, Merchandise Development Department
