Creating an Inventory Strategy for Profitable Results in Powersports

Jason Carlin, Inventory Manager at EDGE PERFORMANCE SPORTS, shares a few creative tips that he uses to design a winning powersports inventory strategy using PSXDigital's CXMAi +Inventory Management platform.

We all know that machine inventory turn cycle - stocking it and selling it - is the core purpose of a any Powersports dealership. Otherwise, why have a dealership? Inventory Management is vital to profitability. Vehicles are what people are at the store to purchases, it's why the brick and mortar store exists and what it's there to sell and provide.

PSXDigital is the only integrated Ai-assisted CXM platform in Powersports. But technology doesn't sell machines alone. It takes a human touch to use the information provided to maximize profitability. 

"Use the information that's provided and then make a plan with that information. "

Here are some ways that can be done!

Jason Carlin knows a thing or two about successfully managing inventory for his store. As the #1 Polaris Dealership in the Northeast, Edge Performance Sports in Ontario, Oregon is also one PSXDigitals' more progressive dealers. In his eight years with the dealership, Jason started on the salesfloor before moving into Internet sales and then advancing into sales management, giving him great insight into how to move more vehicles for greater return on investment. 

POWERSPORTS INVENTORY MANAGEMENT: STRATEGY

How do I use PSXDigital's technology to successfully manage inventory? it sounds simple, but it really does come down to using the information that's provided and then making a plan with that information.

You can do anything once you get that information. You can be passive and think, "Well gee! Not a lot of people are looking at that particular machine." Or, you can do something about it.

TIPS TO MOVING MORE MACHINES

For instance, if a unit has been sitting around the dealership for a while, you can change it up a little bit. Change up your approach to how it's in the system an in turn, how you are getting it out to consumers. For example, you can take different photographs of it, move the order of the photos around, move the location of the machine and take new photos, or maybe add different accessories to it to make it more appealing to buyers.

Also, make sure it's on display and priced in a place where the salespeople know where it can be located so they can focus on bringing customers to it right away.

USING DATA FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

So, you have control over the physical location of the inventory; utilizing different places inside your store to display machines. And you have control over pricing and accessory options once a customer comes into your store. Bottom line is to just make sure you have that ability to work off the information that you're given from the system - because it adds a lot of value and helps create a proactive turn strategy. 

PHILOSOPHY & ACCOUNTABILITY

If you're not changing things up and you aren't personally evolving with all the data that is provided, then it's not going to work. The simple fact that you even have that information at your fingertips, you've got a responsibility to go do something with it to become more profitable.

I'm going to hold myself personally accountable for that. There's no reason why you can't make something move, or display it or...the flexibility and options you are provided just go on and on. 

So I'm using the stats and the analytics that I have to create bundles and make it work for our store.

MAKING INVENTORY DATA WORK FOR YOU

The PSXDigital platform can tell us what's working and what's not working. For instance, we can see if people are viewing our machines online or not; if they're sending in any type of leads, and questions, and clicking on it. With that information, we know if something we are doing to market the inventory is not working. This is why we push for Powersports Inventory Strategy in all aspects.

Maybe we need to do some other advertising, or explore some other avenues, or take a look at different areas geographically. For example, sometimes it can be hard to sell a snowmobile when there's no snow on the ground! So maybe we want to look at selling it somewhere else, somewhere with snowfall and advertise somewhere else to move that particular until. 

TECHNOLOGY

Plus, when you have the ability for customers to come into your showroom and going to check out these machines in person, they are going to have a lot of questions once its in front of them. So, it's important to have inventory management technology at your fingertips can answer a lot of questions.

For example, some people want to know the exact width of the machine to see if it's going to fit in their toy hauler, or fit on their trailer, or fit in their garage. And when you have a ton of machines in stock it's really hard to know the ins and outs of every single machine we carry in stock. The ability to have those vehicle details within a click away at all times so that we can show customers right away is huge.

OPERATIONS

So the operations that we are doing on the outside translates in real-time in a kind of interface that our salespeople are able to actual show and share when communicating with the customer either in person on the phone.

The system allows our dealership to be less compartmentalized and communicate across departments to work together towards profitability.

It's very important. We have a lot of different departments and you have to have communication with all of the departments. As in the earlier example, when you have maybe a machine that's not working as far as moving very fast, it's important that you get involved with the other departments to see if there are things you can do. Get their ideas on what's the hot new part for this machine that makes it more exciting. To get them thinking and even excited about selling it! Focusing on a Powersports Inventory Strategy can benefit the dealership but most importantly the consumer.