Automotive industry marketing channels : conflicts and solutions

Abstract

In the dynamic market, manufacturers constantly seek for optimal channel alignment for maximizing the channel benefits, which needs joint efforts by both manufacturer and channel partners. Driven by their own interests, dealers act very differently in the marketing channel cooperation. To motivate dealers to behave in a more cooperative way, the marketing channel incentive system is commonly used as the most effective tool. However, aiming at maintaining a high marketing channel efficiency in the dynamic market, OEMs need to develop good internal controls and a more scientific approach in adjusting dealer marketing target. In this paper, current channel marketing status in automotive industry will be introduced, conflicts in the marketing channel cooperation will be identified, channel stakeholders will be analyzed to identify the key influencing factors and build a more reasonable MERT adjusting methodology, and finally, recommendations will be provided for manufacturer's in-house executives.