SKF Bearings

Strategy for Auto Aftermarket

Chitrita Chatterjee
Anjani Kishor
Manoj Kawathia
Ramkumar GKB
Shreesha S Bhat

Existing Issues in Auto Aftermarket

Less attention paid, despite being 33% of the total

Distributors treated as final customers
No interaction with end users
Too many intermediaries between SKF and end
users
Sales formed only 3-4% of dealers sales
Limited range of bearings despite large diversity of
automobiles
No proper sales strategy
No product differentiation
Competition from companies who sold SKF
products under their own brand names

Focus for end users

Quick deliveries required as customers wanted
their cars back in a few hours
3 issues
Where to find the right bearings
How to get them
How to find the accessories

Advantages
High margins
Now a dedicated division for it, hence they would be
highly motivated

Strategies to be adopted
Tie-ups with garage owners and dealers selling to end
users
Eliminate intermediaries, thereby reducing costs
Part of the cost advantage thus gained can be passed on
to garage owners / end users, earning brand loyalty

Special tagging/embossing to identify genuine

products
Aggressive advertising to be launched with 2 purposes
Making users aware of other companies selling SKF
products.
Positioning SKF as a specialist in bearings, as opposed
to Mercedes/Ford/Honda etc