As a traditional lifting equipment, engineering cranes have been direct sales for many years because of their small market capacity and high single product price. However, in recent years, with the rapid development of China’s economy and the rapid expansion of infrastructure investment, the construction crane industry has also experienced rapid development. In particular, in 2006, the industry’s indicators exceeded the record in 2004. With the expansion of market size and the gradual strengthening of corporate strength, some construction crane manufacturers have begun to try to implement an agency system. Among them, the number of truck cranes is relatively large because of the relatively large amount of market holdings, and the phenomenon that companies have started to sprout as agents is the most significant.
However, compared with the matured excavator industry, the development of the agency system for the automotive crane industry is still in its infancy. Many companies still have some disputes about whether or not they should vigorously develop the agency system in the automotive crane industry. Some people think that more than 90% of the domestic car crane industry's market is monopolized by domestic brands. Most of these companies have huge marketing teams in the country, and some even establish a relatively sound marketing network. Enterprises rely on direct sales can be very good Is it necessary to sell products and develop agency? Moreover, the automotive crane products themselves have the characteristics of small market sales, relatively complicated product technology, relatively narrow customer groups, and high single unit prices. At present, the market capacity in the country is only tens of thousands. Is such a product suitable for implementing agency sales? Some people think that with the gradual clear and detailed division of labor in the global industrial industry chain, the agency system is an inevitable marketing model for the development of the automobile crane industry. In order to solve everyone's doubts, we visited major domestic crane manufacturing companies and some of our agents. We hope that through the discussion on the current development of the agency system and the problems we face, we will make everyone's development of the agency system of the Chinese auto crane industry sprouting. There is a comprehensive understanding of the status quo and a clearer understanding of the future development path of China's engineering crane agency system.
At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, with the sales volume of China's auto crane market exceeding 10,000 units, and the introduction of credit policies such as bank mortgages, the agency system began to appear in the automotive crane industry. Some of the major domestic crane manufacturers have started to implement the agency system. Among them, Beiqi established a four-in-one vehicle crane agency in Nanhai, Guangxi, Taiyuan, Shanxi and Xinjiang in 1995. At that time, the cooperation partner was China National Mechanical and Electrical Import and Export Corporation. Actually, this was also the earliest one in China’s construction machinery industry. Agents. Puyuan established a crane agency in Zhejiang in 2001. However, due to various factors such as the sales environment at the time, most of the early crane dealers did not continue.
With the acceleration of the globalization process in China and the development of the domestic automobile crane market, the agency system has begun to gradually develop in the domestic automobile crane industry. At present, there are mainly three kinds of marketing models in the domestic automobile crane industry. One is the complete agency model, the other is the parallel model of direct sales and agency, and the other is traditional direct sales. Domestic large-scale manufacturers of truck cranes adopt the parallel marketing model of direct sales and agency systems. Some joint ventures adopt a complete agency system. Small and medium-sized crane manufacturers and foreign brands still use traditional direct sales.
Xugong Group Xuzhou Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter abbreviated as “Xu Zhongâ€), Changsha Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. Puxi Branch (hereinafter referred to as “Puxiâ€), Sichuan Changjiang Engineering Crane Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Chang†Starting from ") and Taidong Andong Yuegong Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (formerly Taiqi Factory, hereinafter referred to as "Taijing Yuezhong Heavy Industry") and other domestic major automobile crane manufacturing companies adopt the parallel marketing model of direct sales and agency system, and these enterprises basically follow for many years. The development of the establishment of a very large marketing team, distributed in each province or city marketing outlets or offices, able to bear most of the company's product sales. In order to meet the needs of the market and the scale of business development, some of these companies have also developed powerful dealers in most regional markets, and have begun to try to implement the agency system in certain regions where conditions are ripe. For example, Puyi now has more than 370 marketing staff (including after-sales service personnel), across the country, also has more than 20 contracted distributors, and in 2006 in Puxi, Guangxi established the first 4S agency in China— —Guangxi Baishicheng Electromechanical Equipment Co., Ltd. The company has about 70 sales staff across the country, more than 30 distributors, and has also developed regional distributors in mature regions. In general, the proportion of domestic car crane manufacturers selling products through agency is between 20% and 30%.
From the north, Tadano Beijing Crane Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Taicang Kitanoâ€) is the only crane company in the country that truly adopts an agency system for product sales. The company is a crane manufacturing company co-funded and established in 2003 by the Beijing Crane Factory, which was the earliest manufacturer of cranes in China, and Japan's Tadano Corporation, which has the largest sales volume of wheeled cranes in the world. In order to quickly increase the market share of products in a short period of time, from the beginning of its establishment, Tadano firmly implemented a complete agency system. Since 2005, the company has taken the lead in implementing a strict agency system in the crane industry. At present, there are 23 regional agents in the country, 8 of which have become sales and service agents.
At present, the agents of the automotive crane industry have not formed scale. According to incomplete statistics, there are about 30 to 40 real car crane dealers in the country. Some of them are channel agents. These agents have very strong channels to clear channels, but their scales are generally small, their agency concepts and management levels, etc. There are some gaps. The other part is a brand agent with a certain scale. These agents have the marketing experience of representing other products. The management mechanism and marketing concept of the company are relatively mature. The uneven level of agents and the lack of maturity in the development of the crane agency model have led to the agency system being accepted by many large companies in the crane industry, but the development is still in its infancy.
China's crane industry agency is still in its infancy
In the mid-to-late 1990s, with the rapid development of domestic construction machinery manufacturers and the large-scale entry of foreign brands, the origins of the agency system and matured in the West have rapidly emerged in the Chinese construction machinery industry, especially in the excavator industry. The agency system has developed into a major marketing model. However, due to differences in aircraft types and different phases of development, in other individual construction machinery sub-sectors, the agency system has not been widely recognized, and the use of direct sales or agency sales has also become a hot topic that plagues manufacturers and agents.