Introduction
Ace manufacturing is a company that is based in Canada. It engages in the manufacture and sale of television. Like any other organization, it depends heavily on effective distributers to ensure that its products reach the customers. If the distributers succeed in selling more of Ace products, then this brings more revenues hence profitability for the company. The salespeople of the company have to be evaluated to find out whether they are doing well. The paper is based on a survey that was conducted to find out the activities that Ace distributers engage in. this helps collect important information about the company activities which makes it possible to recommend what is to be done to achieve better sales by the company.
Situation
The situation at ACE Company has been that the level of sales have been reducing, necessitating a research to find out the reasons for this. It is necessary to find out whether the company distributers are doing their best to ensure that the company products are sold to the customers (Grover 89).
Methodology
The paper is based on interviews that were conducted. The respondents were the distributors in the various parts of Canada. The collected data was analyzed in percentages which are crucial in making comparison in the data results. Tables and graphs have been used to present a visual effect of the data hence makes it easy to make comparisons.
It is the expectation that distributes stock the leading brands that are highly demanded by the customers (Fath 34). The question that Ace should ask is whether the space of the distributers is occupied greatly by the company leading brands. From the analysis, it is seen that the leading brands that are stocked by the distributers from Ace Company make 14.1% of the total brands.
The statistics show that 30.1% of the dealers stock Ace leading brands and two other brands from other companies. 24.7% of the ace dealers stock Ace leading brands and those of other four leading brands from other companies. 17.3% of the dealers stock ace leading brands and three other brands. The dealers stocking Ace brands and one other brand make 12.6% of the total population. The statistics reveal that Ace dealers take precaution to ensure that they sell other leading brands so that they can make greater sales.
Ace should evaluate the reason why majority of their dealers have to stock other leading bands. There may be a problem relating to their marketing activities where the customers may not be aware of Ace products. Additionally, there are chances that Ace products do not best meet the needs of the customers hence have to buy other leading products. This would mean Ace designing better product that can compete with the other brands in the market.
Percentage of Ace dealers who also handle other brands
66.8% of the Ace dealers also stock Barr products. This means that this is the largest competitor in the industry. Other close competitors include APCO whose products are stocked by 62.8% of the Ace dealers. Todd and Davis products are stocked by 60.3% and 55.3% of the Ace retailers respectively. There is a need to evaluate the strategies of these companies so that Ace can do better than them in producing and marketing of its products.
The following graph summarizes the percentage of Ace dealers who handle other brands
Average number of each make per store
There is a need to evaluate the quantity of each company brands in each store. It would be okay if the largest quantity of brands in Ace stores belongs to Ace Company. This would mean that though there is competition, then Ace products are doing better as compared to the competitors. However, Ace can be ranked number 5 out of 6 in relation to the quantity of brands in the various stores it has. This is a poor performance because it means that Ace distributers do not stock Ace products in large quantities. This is probably because of the low demand that would mean that it would be costly to store ace products in large quantities considering that they are to stay in stores for a long period (McCleave and Thomas 113). Ace products make 7.5% of the total products in the stores while products from Todd and APCO make 14.2% and 11.1% of the total products in the dealer stores. Brands from other companies make 25.2% of the total products in the stores. This excludes Davis and Barr products that occupy 6.6% and 8.4% of the total space in the stores.
The distributors have no mistake in keeping less of Ace products, because they can only make profits if the products they stock are moving. Ace company has to find out why distributors are compelled to stock less of the company products. This can help solve the problem together such that the company products sales increase and the distributors do not lose revenues for failure to stock the fast moving products (Heisman 43).
Percentage of Ace dealers with each type of Ace set in stock
All Ace dealers are expected to have all sets of Ace products. This is the only way to ensure that all the Ace products reach the customers and the revenues generated by the company increase. However, this is not the case because some of the dealers lack some of the products that come from Ace Company. 90.2% of the distributers stock Portable (miniature) in their stores. 55.6% of the distributer’s stock portable (regular) in their stores. For the case of table model and console, only 58.2% and 28.1% of the distributers stock the products respectively. The following is the summery of the data in a graph:
The indication is that many of the company products lack in many of the stores Ace stores. This disadvantages Ace Company because their products are not available in some places to compete with those of the competitors ( Batra 57). Though some brands may be slow moving, there is a need to ensure that the products are always available such that the customers who need them get them without the need of asking for alternative products (Malaval, Philippe, and Christophe 112). This shows that there is a problem in the management of the distributors.
Percentage of dealers with Ace sets on windows
Having products displayed in windows is very important because customers are more likely to demand the specific products displayed on the windows. The absence of Ace products on the windows means that the customers are more likely to demand whatever is on the windows.
Looking at the statistics, it is evident that many of the Ace products are not displayed on the windows. First, 22.2% of the dealers display Portable (miniature) on the windows. Portable (regular) is displayed on the windows by 51% of the dealers. Table model is displayed by 20.1% of the dealers while Console is displayed by 10.8% of the dealers. This means that the greatest percentage of the Ace distributors do not display Ace products on the windows and instead prefer to display the products of other manufacturers. With such a situation, more of the competitor products are expected to move faster hence making Ace to achieve less sales as compared to the competitors (Malaval and Christophe 123). There is a need to intervene and ensure that more of the dealers display Ace products as a strategy of marketing the products.
The following chart shows a summary of the dealers displaying Ace sets on windows
Apart from the observations, the dealers gave their suggestions on how Ace can improve the sales that are made by the company. The following table gives a summary of the propositions.
End summary
In summary, there are problems in the Ace distribution systems. This is evidenced by several observations. First, many distributers stock other leading brands in their stores. Majority of the products in the stores belong to other companies. It is also observed that many of the Ace distributors do not stock many of the company brands (Marks 84). Many of the distributors do not display Ace brands on the window. Such a distribution system disadvantage Ace Company and requires some changes to ensure that the company can compete fairly. There are several things that should be done. The distributors have recommended some of these issues.
Training program for salespeople
The first important strategy that Ace should implement is to train the sales people. There are suggestions that these people are not doing their marketing jobs well (Dent 43). They need to convince the distributors to stock company products as well as display them in their stores. They are also expected to market the products such that they become fast moving goods which can encourage the distributors to stock such products.
Conclusion
Based on the analysis, Ace management has to make several important strategic decisions to change their situation and ensure that their company becomes profitable. They have to develop strategies that ensure that their products are readily available in various stores. They have to work with the distributors to have them display their products so that customers have a preference on these products. Doing this will encourage more sales hence the profitability of Ace company will also increase (Pegram92).
Recommendations
Ace company has to increase the marketing activities. This will make the various company brands popular, which will induce the distributors to stock more of such brands. Such marketing activities can be achieved through television and radio advertisements. Though this is a cost to the business, it has greater benefits.
The company should lower the price of its brands. This is possible if it can achieve lower production costs. With lower prices, customers will prefer the company brands hence the sales will go up. Regardless of the reduced prices, the overall effect will be increased revenues hence profitability of the company.
Negotiations with the distributors should be made to induce them stock the company products as well as display them at places where the customers can see them hence demand them instead of those of the competitors (Caslione 76). The strategy should be providing the distributors a reasonable margin such that by selling the company products, they can benefit more as compared to selling competitor products. The company can seek additional distributors willing to avail the company products to the customers. The company can also open retail stores that sell Ace products exclusively.
Ace should also review the quality of its products to get the assurance that the products are the best. Poor quality products could be the reason behind the poor performance of the company because customers will always prefer products of better quality. Ace should be keen to design better products that better meet the needs of the customers. Selling to customers poor quality products in a competitive market will always lead to frustrations.
Works Cited
Batra, Rajeev. Marketing Issues in Transitional Economies. Boston, MA: Springer US, 1999. Print.ernet resource.
Caslione, John A, and Andrew R. Thomas.Growing Your Business in Emerging Markets: Promise and Perils. Westport, CT: Quorum, 2000. Print.
Dent, Julian. Distribution Channels: Understanding and Managing Channels to Market. London: Kogan Page, 2011. Print.
Grover, Brent R. Official Guide to Wholesaler-Distributor Financial Success. Washington, D.C.: NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence, 2007. Print.
Heisman, Dan. Elements of Positional Evaluation: How the Pieces Get Their Power. Milford, CT: Russell Enterprises, 2010. Print.
Fath, William C. How to Develop and Manage Successful Distributor Channels in World Markets. New York: AMACOM, 1995. Print.
McCleave, William R, and Thomas P. Gale.Stand Out from the Competition!: Four Pathways to Differentiate Your Wholesale Distribution Company. Washington, DC: Distribution Research and Education Foundation, 2003. Print.
Marks, Mike, Tim Horan, and Mike Emerson.Working at Cross-Purposes: How Distributors and Manufacturers Can Manage Conflict Successfully. Washington, D.C.: National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, 2006. Print.
Malaval, Philippe, and Christophe Bénaroya. Strategy and Management of Industrial Brands: Business to Business Products and Services. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publ, 2001. Print.
Pegram, Roger M. Selecting and Evaluating Distributors. New York/N. Y, 2000. Print.
