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DIVERSIFICATION


Stepping I Out:


4 Opportunities


for Smart Diversification


THE DAYS OF JUST SELLING ANYTHING ARE OVER. PLAN FOR SERVICE MULTITASKING, GOING NICHE, BIGGER BUSINESS AND SELLING THE NEW.


n the 90s, diversifying meant adapting to the lifestyle of your customers and selling things that they would normally gravitate toward. This included clothing, bikes, scooters, skateboards, but mostly it was look and perfor- mance enhancements for vehicles. In fact, it became such a big craze that the “E” in MERA became Enhancement. This movement within the mobile electronics community was


eventually overrun by the non-territorial nature and easy avail- ability of products, the overwhelming number of SKUs, a lack of expertise and the expense of equipment needed to perform many of the jobs.


Next came the idea of identifying with upscale clients and adapting to their lifestyles. If a guy had a killer car audio sys- tem, what are the chances he either has or wants a killer home audio system, home theater, surveillance system or home automation system? Pretty good. So stores started offering the service to their clients. However, many did not get off the ground because they didn’t have an affluent enough clientele. Others started and stuttered when they realized that the price points of a lot of home audio equipment curtailed their ability to stock enough choices for customers. And still others realized too late that drilling a hole and running wires through a wall is a lot different—and a lot more regulated—thanperforming the same service in a vehicle. Today, diversification has taken a different tack. While it still encompasses “latching on” to a customer’s lifestyle, the op- portunities prioritize the ability of the business to perform the necessary tasks. It needs to be something you have space for. Something that’s relatively inexpensive to implement. Some- thing that gives you a specific advantage, whether it be a strong customer list or a neighborhood in which you are the only ser- vice provider. When retailers went to SEMA in November, they were overrun,


■ By Slav Kandyba and Solomon Daniels 38 Mobile Electronics December | January 2012


More Than a Cart: Calif.-based Vortex Streamliners is marketing compact, versatile spray equipment that doesn’t take up space.


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