Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/816045
EquipmentWorld.com | April 2017 13 reporter | staff report | ChrisHill@randallreilly.com Ritchie Bros.: "We want to be the world leader in asset management and disposal." S ometimes old dogs do learn new tricks and, in the case of the heavy equipment auctioneer Ritchie Bros., those new tricks are rapidly redefining the company. "In 2013 and 2014 we had a regime change," says Jim Barr, group president, emerging business, brand inno- vation and IT. The company had experienced double digit growth almost every year since its founding in 1958, says Barr, but had slowed into single digits over the past decade. The solution: acquisitions, a redefini- tion of the mission and new technology. Acquisitions Ritchie Bros. bought Equipment One in 2013. Un- like Ritchie's unreserved auctions, Equipment One let sellers set reserve prices and did not require them to move the equipment to a physical site. This brought a new set of customers into Ritchie's orbit, especially those who have different disposal needs such as min- ing trucks, material processing plants and underground equipment. Another channel extension Ritchie acquired is the European-based company Mascus. Mascus counts 4-million unique visitors a month and about 300,000 listings with its global reach. Then this past summer Ritchie announced the pur- chase of its biggest online competitor, IronPlanet, and along with that, Caterpillar Auction Services, which IronPlanet owned. Partnering with Caterpillar Auction Services will expand the scope of Ritchie's auction ser- vices, but Ritchie is also offering Cat dealers valuable customer data. Parts and service "We will give our data to the Cat dealers in exchange for committed volumes coming back to Ritchie," says Barr. That enables the dealers to identify the new owner of the machine so they can offer them parts and services – the most lucrative part of any dealer's business. Barr says Ritchie will extend the same offer to other OEM dealers as well. Ritchie is also diving deeper into other services, including financing for dealers and customers, trans- portation, enterprise sales solutions, pricing data and software. In terms of technology, the company devel- oped a new app that lets you bid on any of its auctions with your phone and an app that lets you geo-locate a piece of equipment in the yard for inspection before it rolls up to the auction window. Multi-channel moves "It was just a theory a year and a half ago, that we could become a multi-channel asset management and disposition company," Barr says. "There used to be only one way people could work with us and that was our core, unreserved auction. Sometimes the buyer or seller wasn't ready to make that leap, especially sellers. So if you look at all the ways customers have transac- tions and help them with all those channels, that's a very compelling thing. And we're not done yet." – Tom Jackson Ritchie Bros. now offers customers a multi-channel effort including live and online auctions, reserved and unreserved auctions and even classified ads.