SEMA Day 3 Recap
My third (and final!) day at SEMA was spent checking out the various providers of window film and related aftermarket products.
There was a strong showing by the Avery Dennison people with their latest revision to PPF and this was most interesting from my perspective. They seem to be offering a winning product for 2010 ; the key will be to generate interest and consumer awareness in general about paint protection films.
On the film side I noted that Global has made some distribution changes by replacing their South East distributor and shortly their South West distribution. It appears that announcements will be forthcoming.
More interesting for me are the spontaneous discussions in and around the various booths between dealers and industry people.
We bumped into some associates from the west coast and chatted for several minutes about the state of the "window film world."
The concerns we all face as an industry particularly at the end of 2009 are on everyone's mind.
How to be profitable? How to encourage consumers who hold onto their wallets more than ever to invest in window film solutions.
It seems to me there are several paths you can choose. One is to take risk and advertise and market your brand and your company. The other path to hunker down and hope to survive.
There are regional differences in business realities from the east coast to the west coast. Economic challenges in all regions and certainly weather and humidity issues that dealers need to create business plans to leverage their success.
SEMA was an opportunity to take the pulse of this business and my read is that there are some exciting things coming down the track.
That American manufacturers will be severely pushed by the Asian manufacturers in terms of margins, profitability and performance. They will need to rediscover their core competencies and develop strategies to drive their sales in 2010 particularly as the economy recovers. The film component is a given; but manufacturers will have to take ownership of their face to the wider public to survive.
Commercial and residential clients can be influenced by who captures the message of energy efficiency and green initiatives on a much wider scale than we have ever seen in this industry.
Dealers and installation companies will need to find our way in becoming relevant to clients in their marketing areas.
Perhaps this is the positive outcome of the hard times we have all faced in this crappy economy. Complacency is certainly dead and foolish loyalty to any specific brand has gone out like hula hoops.
Mike Feldman
There was a strong showing by the Avery Dennison people with their latest revision to PPF and this was most interesting from my perspective. They seem to be offering a winning product for 2010 ; the key will be to generate interest and consumer awareness in general about paint protection films.
On the film side I noted that Global has made some distribution changes by replacing their South East distributor and shortly their South West distribution. It appears that announcements will be forthcoming.
More interesting for me are the spontaneous discussions in and around the various booths between dealers and industry people.
We bumped into some associates from the west coast and chatted for several minutes about the state of the "window film world."
The concerns we all face as an industry particularly at the end of 2009 are on everyone's mind.
How to be profitable? How to encourage consumers who hold onto their wallets more than ever to invest in window film solutions.
It seems to me there are several paths you can choose. One is to take risk and advertise and market your brand and your company. The other path to hunker down and hope to survive.
There are regional differences in business realities from the east coast to the west coast. Economic challenges in all regions and certainly weather and humidity issues that dealers need to create business plans to leverage their success.
SEMA was an opportunity to take the pulse of this business and my read is that there are some exciting things coming down the track.
That American manufacturers will be severely pushed by the Asian manufacturers in terms of margins, profitability and performance. They will need to rediscover their core competencies and develop strategies to drive their sales in 2010 particularly as the economy recovers. The film component is a given; but manufacturers will have to take ownership of their face to the wider public to survive.
Commercial and residential clients can be influenced by who captures the message of energy efficiency and green initiatives on a much wider scale than we have ever seen in this industry.
Dealers and installation companies will need to find our way in becoming relevant to clients in their marketing areas.
Perhaps this is the positive outcome of the hard times we have all faced in this crappy economy. Complacency is certainly dead and foolish loyalty to any specific brand has gone out like hula hoops.
Mike Feldman
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