Motor Display Systems (MDS), which has successfully served the Irish motor trade for twenty one years has transformed the structure of its business. It has relaunched www.motordisplay.com with a ground-breaking online strategy that gives the company a marketing reach to the UK, Europe and beyond. Tom Murphy,
Managing Director, MDS, spoke to Irish Motor Management about the background to the new developments, what they will mean for the company’s customers and the potential offered by a greatly expanded customer base.
About two years ago Tom recognised that for Motor Display Systems to continue to expand it would have to come in the form of exports. MDS continues to increase market share, which is important to the business as Tom explains: “Our business model is built on providing quality products at the best price. From our point of view, the bigger the market we can supply, the more economies of scale we have and ultimately the better price we can deliver for the dealer/customer. A wider customer base is good news for everybody, particularly our existing clientele here in Ireland who are already seeing the benefi ts of our improved pricing.”
Although Tom says he certainly didn’t have a crystal ball when he and his colleagues sat down to initiate this plan two years ago, he admits that with the difficulties the trade is currently facing, it’s turned out to be highly appropriate timing. Re-launching the website with new improved technologies helps substantially reduce overheads while, most importantly, enabling the company to offer even better value and a far wider range of quality products.
“We recognise that dealers are facing many challenges out there at the moment. This presents MDS with an opportunity to offer them products that are, in many cases, dramatically reduced in cost. For instance, we were purchasing key tags by the box - we are now purchasing these by the ton with all the accompanying economies of scale. Our ever expanding market has justified this level of purchasing. With the launch of our new website, customers at home and abroad will now see a massive saving in their normal purchases and also across the board in our most popular products.”
Having resolved that they needed to expand the company’s reach, Tom and his colleagues decided that the most effective way to do this was online: “With the web, you can serve customers anywhere. However, we were conscious that there is huge competition for attention online and we knew that we had to come up with more than just another website. We needed to deliver a unique, eye-grabbing online service that used the very latest technologies to provide customers with absolute ease of use and the answers to any possible questions they might have
about our products.”
For the last 18 months, the process of developing a unique, userfriendly website to serve the motor trade, not just in Ireland and the UK, but in Europe and beyond, has been underway at the Dublin office of MDS in Ballymount. Tom and his colleagues researched with customers to clarify what they needed and the web site was adapted, re-worked and refined again and again to customise it specifically to user needs.
“With the innovative technology we are using, everything is available at a click. Full video demonstrations of products, detailed specifications, a streamlined shopping cart purchasing process and a fast, efficient trackable distribution system to ensure reliable delivery are now all in place. Our logistics provider has worldwide distribution capability.”
Tom says that an area of focus for the company recently is in workshop planning and it has introduced a comprehensive range of workshop management and planning products as well as consumable items.
To illustrate his point on cost reductions, he uses the example of a Stock Flag and Wheelbased Portable Flagpole combined,
which can now be purchased at just €100 . And another example: a keytag box of 200 can now be purchased for just €12. Tom adds: “These exceptional savings are reflected on most products on the site with further products being added on an ongoing basis.”
(Source SIMI) |