Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/536070
www.PowersportsBusiness.com NEWS Powersports Business • July 13, 2015 • 13 DM: There's been a long relationship through a number of different avenues; the most obvi- ous is Factory MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo and his relationship with HJC. But I think the combination of technologies, design, price points and the brands themselves are really a perfect integration of what customers are looking for. Right now it started off primar- ily focused on the R series — R1, R6, R3 — and some marriage of that racing relationship with Jorge's partnership with HJC. But the initial reaction has been very good, and I think you'll see this already taking root in some other branding integrations, such as the Yoshimura exhaust systems for R1, R3 and some additional co-branding in the future. PSB: How important is it for OEMs to work with other partners on projects like this? DM: In today's global market, it's a necessity. It's not only, as I mentioned, the strength of the brands, but the technological development and the design integration. It's much more coordi- nated if it starts at inception, before the fact as opposed to after the fact. And a lot of custom- ers are looking for those premium brands to support their lifestyle. It benefits the dealers because they can integrate multiple business points under one brand positioning. PSB: How has the new P&A e-commerce site been doing since its December launch? DM: So far, so good. Again, another new initia- tive, we're just finishing up our fifth month. I'm happy to say a majority of dealers have signed up to support the program, and year-over-year apparel sales are up 20 percent as a direct result of this new capability. PSB: How does the P&A e-commerce pro- gram work once a dealer signs up? DM: The dealer has a short list of require- ments, basically enrolling to support the system. Basically through our online serv- ers and technologies, the customers can purchase product and assign a dealer to be the delivering dealer; from a financial standpoint, the dealer gets the benefit of the profit margin, albeit as a reduced level, with none of the risk of stocking the inven- tory and creating the sales. And I'm already starting to see dealers integrate that into their business by adding tablets to the accessory showroom and letting customers literally order accessories off our website from their showroom to ensure that they get the integrated profit from that sale. It's pretty sharp thinking. If you look at the whole technology, Inter- net business model, it's not something that we're inventing; we're just catching up to where the culture is today and customers' expectations. But it does make sense with the wide variety of products when you look at Yamaha's breadth and depth from scoot- ers to off-road to sport bike to cruisers to RV to water vehicle to marine to snowmobile to power products, to be able to present and market those products is a big enough chal- lenge. The accessories that support those, the working capital that a dealer would need to invest in to utilize the technology and still be able to fill that customer's need, it's usually a quicker turnaround shipping it directly to their home. PSB: Why is Yamaha returning to AIMExpo again this year? DM: It's proven to be a great platform, not just from one aspect, especially the media, the dealer integra- tion and then the consumer integration. And the tim- ing, as a global company, we really work hand-in- hand with other markets — Europe, Canada, Aus- tralia, Japan, what we call developed markets — and the timing has coinciden- tally really supported our efforts on a global basis, so we've been able to introduce a number of models at AIM- Expo literally for the world. PSB: How do you think this year's motorcycle s e a s o n i s g o i n g t o b e for Yamaha? DM: At this point we've finished out June, but we've got forecasts through the first half of the year through June, and we're right on target from where we'd expect to be from a sales standpoint, which was fairly aggressive, and the plan was to exceed the growth of the industry, obviously from all of the new models that we've introduced that are now available for dealers and customers. I think people will be surprised how much more we're going to bring to market this year and in the future. Because we've introduced so much product, by the time this reaches publi- cation, the dealers and the public will have seen our June introductions and a number of new models from both the RV and the motorcycle group in the off-road area, and then we'll finish up the end of this year with street bike intro- ductions. And the future's exciting. PSB YAMAHA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 AMA Hall of Famer Mike Bell was on hand at Yamaha's media introduction of its 2016 off-road, motocross and street bikes in late May.