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Retail Network Planning

Take the lead in retail network effectiveness

Automotive retail hasn’t changed significantly in the last 80 years – Until now! Evolving customer expectations, electrification, and digitization of the customer journey force the industry to rethink its (physical) retail approach. In this rapidly changing and highly competitive environment, your success depends on matching your representation to consumer behavior and demand.

S&P Global Mobility supports clients with a comprehensive suite of retail network services, including: a self-service network planning tool, detailed market studies and network blueprints, micro-level sales and service opportunity forecasting, and a global team of experts providing consultancy on retail transformation trends and implementation strategies.

  • Understand your regional market opportunity
  • Quantify the impact of EVs and online retailing at the micro-location level
  • Optimize your physical retail network for sustainable success
  • Model the impact of network changes
  • Increase sales, market share, and profitability
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Our Retail Network Planning Solutions include:

Our Retail Network Planning Solutions enable national sales companies and automotive service providers to determine the best location and configuration of their retail networks. From adjusting the size and shape of dealers’ territories, to determining the best location for a new dealership, we are here to help.

Network Optimization Studies

Market Studies or Network Blueprints determine the mid- to long-term optimal network configuration, whether a newer brand is entering the market or expanding, or an established brand is looking to optimize and consolidate physical footprint.

The analysis includes:

  • Current network performance analysis and competitor benchmark
  • Market potential assessment and forecast for sales and service opportunity
  • Ideal network location simulation (Greenfield or Brownfield)
  • Network action recommendations and pragmatic implementation plan
  • Impact analysis, i.e. the impact of “bridging the gap” moving from status quo to the ideal
Network Planning Tool

Our web-based, do-it-yourself network planning tool makes impact scenario simulation and future network optimization interactive and user-friendly.

The tool offers users the ability to:

  • Interact with network planning data via an intuitive map interface
  • Regularly update volume plans and calculate dealer level sales and service potentials and future capacity requirements
  • Perform “what if” analysis and measure the impact of network location actions (add, consolidate, relocate, downgrade dealer sites)
Retail Transformation Consulting

As disruptive megatrends – online retail, electrification and shared mobility – become reality, S&P Global helps automakers understand how those will impact dealer networks in the future.

Our Retail Transformation Advisory Services include:

  • Optimal location planning for diversified innovative retail formats
  • Transition planning to an Agency or Direct-to-Consumer sales model
  • EV adoption prediction model at micro-level geography to measure dealer level sales and service potential impact
  • Surveys to understand the evolving omni-channel customer journey

How S&P Global helps you optimize dealer networks

Challenge Solution
Manage network performance and increase sales penetration Identify your network’s strength and weaknesses and target opportunities effectively through comprehensive vehicle sales and ownership data, consumer behavior data and loyalty metrics.
Forecast sales/aftersales opportunity & set dealer targets Leverage best-in-class forecasting data at micro geography levels to identify localized opportunities and set defendable dealer targets.
Plan aftersales capacity requirements Understand local EV adoption trends and impact on future service capacity and charging requirements.
Maintain and optimize dealer geography Understand consumer travel pattern and market cross-sell to optimize market areas.
Optimize physical dealer footprint for best market coverage and profitability Determine the optimal number and location for dealers in the market, considering omni-channel retailing trends and diversified retail formats.
Build a long-term retail transformation strategy Stay on top of industry trends through competitor benchmark studies, evaluation of alternative retail formats and digital retailing, and legal feasibility assessment.

Customer Testimonial

“We included the Dealer Investment Package in two of our recent Offering Memorandums with very favorable results. It analyzes demographic, registration and facility/location data to deliver a new level of site evaluation detail to both the buyer and seller. The value of this product is the unbiased and totally independent market analysis it provides, including both trending and forecasting data.”

– Mark D. Johnson, President of MD Johnson Inc.



Dealer Investment Packages help MD Johnson evaluate prospect dealer sites for acquisition

As the consolidation of dealerships and buyouts by large dealer groups continues, our client was looking for reliable and defendable market insights, both current and forecast, and an evaluation of prospect dealer sites for acquisition. S&P Global Dealer Investment Packages provide a quick and easy way to assess the long-term opportunity of a prospect dealer location.

Case Studies

Expanding a global network

Challenge
A global premium brand that experienced significant growth in recent years expects continuous sales increase. The historically grown retail network was not capable of delivering the expected new car sales volume or coping with the resulting aftersales capacity demand.

Solution
S&P Global reviewed the potential and competitive landscape of global markets, prioritized network actions on a larger national scale as well as micro locations in the key markets. Leveraging sophisticated spatial models, S&P Global designed an effective and efficient future dealer network.

Result
The client gained a global retail strategy and actionable network migration plans for individual markets.

Diversifying dealer formats

Challenge
A global OEM was looking to diversify its dealer formats to improve the customer shopping experience and respond to increasing land prices in dense metropolitan areas.

Solution
S&P Global identified and analyzed the impact and benefits of different retail formats, such as digital showrooms, boutiques and flagship stores. Our simulation models were adapted to create network scenarios to predict the sales and service potential impact of various dealer format combinations, as well as expected network profitability improvement.

Result
The client gained better understanding of market needs from the consumers' perspective and could determine a multi-format future network strategy, to deliver superior customer experience and viable dealer business cases.

Defining a market entry network strategy

Challenge
A new EV brand (so-called disruptor) is looking to launch vehicles in several international markets and worked with S&P Global Mobility consultants to define the optimal market entry retail network strategy.

Solution
S&P Global Mobility consultants worked closely with the client to develop a custom segmentation and market forecast for the new product as well as a retail network strategy that considers online and offline channels. The recommended network plan includes the quantity and quality (format) of required dealer representation in each local market, as well as throughput requirements to make the future network sustainable.

Result
The client gained better understanding of consumer profiles, measurable local market demand and competitive benchmark. S&P Global Mobility delivered an actionable blueprint network plan, including year-by-year expansion priorities.

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