Upper Fork bush (and others too) material

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Production and shipping records are irrelivant there has been a constant stream of re patriated commandos coming back from the USA this has been going on for 20 years plus
and the commando poulation in the UK has boomed as a result , i have spoken with several UK dealers and all repeat the same message Andover Norton refused them trade terms THEY DO NOT REQUIRE ANY ADDITINAL DEALER ACCOUNTS in short Andover Norton want to traffic all Uk sales through our own website to maximise margin

if your current dealer network are neglecting the parts business as you suggest look to the future forward thinking dealers whith online shops just watch the news the high street is all but finished bricks and mortar dealers are a dying breed and if the ones you have left cannot be arsed to stock and re sell parts as you suggest the simple solution replace them
oh sorry you cannot you dont leave anything on the table for other retailers to work with

RGM and Norvill now offer trade terms and both have a comprehensive range of parts so is it a case of opertunity missed or ignored to retain higher margins ? ( ignored me thinks )

i guess you will come back whith the old chestnut of Andover Norton have a USP factory drawings and only supply Genuine Norton factory parts , has some one forgot to tell you the factory closed
some years back , in 2019 Andover Norton are just one of the many retail suppliers of parts for Norton but with a very elitist attitude
 
What I care about is quality, quality control, backup on issues, fast service and, of course, all the parts available. Whether it comes from AN or not isnt the biggest factor.
If you dont like dealing with an outfit, dont. If your experience has been good then fine.
 
Frankie17 has obviously not read our latest news letter, if AN were doing something wrong then why we we be looking to move into far bigger premises.
Some the of the 'dealers' don't even have a business unit, just a residential address, why would we supply them at trade, anyone can get a unique tax reference these days, it is worth nothing. I also know that RGM and Norvil sell at trade, but I doubt if it is at margin that would allow someone to undercut them - in fact if you look closely you can see who they supply and will notice that the dealers that RGM supply charge more than RGM do themselves. I also know what parts cost to get made in the UK, China and the Far East, and the UK manufacturers are an incestuous lot as well - some kindly send me their parts by mistake or their despatch staff load them into our van for us!! You would not believe what goes on.

As for anything on the table, somewhat short sighted comment this one as the more astute members on here have seen that RGM sell our parts they buy from us at a price less than us - how do they do that then if there is nothing on the table for for them. Why should start ups and traders of unknown background working from their garage get the same discount as long standing ones that buy far larger volumes, if they want it and believe they can deliver then they can move up the discount ladder - this does get explained to them. We also need to vet the new traders, or established traders coming to use us for the first time to be fair to established traders, so location, website, VAT registered, business registration etc are considered, how would you feel if you had discount and the following week we gave your neighbor the same terms, what a bummer that would be.

As for the bikes flooding back in repatriation, I think not. Yes, they come back but nowhere near the numbers they were shipped out there. Some customers get 3 or 4 shipped back every so often. in the past few years this has slowed down as the US now consider them more sought after, so the UK business importers have less Commandos these days. There are also quite a few private individuals bringing the bikes back now, most probably as the price to buy in US has gone up and thus not the margins for the likes of DK and other bike importers.

A race to the bottom in pricing is dangerous, just look at what has happened to Classic Triumph spares, the law of averages says that there should 10 of them for every Norton that turns up at a classic meet, there is not as the parts supply is nowhere near that of Classic Norton. If you think parts are expensive then just look at parts for 6 or 7 year old Ducati, one, I doubt if they are available and two, they will be far more expensive, much like many modern spares out there. People buy a Norton because they can get nearly all spare parts easily. I even had one customer at the counter complain that a part was expensive, but would quite happily pay that price for the corresponding part for his air cooled BMW from a UK classic BMW parts supplier because it was BMW - I pointed out that their part is made by the same company we use, along with a major Japanese brand classic parts supplier.

There once was man called Bushell, he tried making spares for various classic makes, I knew his prices and he thought he was cheap, he failed. Getting classic parts made is not easy for anyone, tooling cost are huge, MOQ is growing, material supply is restricted, knowledge is lost and some trades are just vanishing like metal spinners. Even going to China is nigh on impossible these days, the MOQ they now ask are out of the window for most and mainly for the likes of Ford and Toyota, once a few thousand or five, but now MOQ can start around 15,000. Visit some UK machine shops and ask them if they do work for the Chinese - you'll be surprised just how much stuff gets machined in the UK at the request of Chinese companies these days.

Feel free to come to the openday, we will not be selling as this is a social day, you can see the set up and ask questions directly to myself and Joe, find out about the new projects that are underway and what we would like to do in the future - some are already planned and costed for when we have more room whenever that will be.
 
Madnorton thanks for your reply

the point you make about the race to the bottom

With Andover Nortons reluctance to supply new dealers you have in effect started this cycle in motion for Norton parts
other suppliers are noting the lack of main stream availability /rising cost of replacement Norton parts and complete machines and as a result starting to produce thier own parts range
for the small fish( independent traders ) who have healthy demand , most Norton parts with volume potential can now be purchased from the established UK wholesalers who do not have a retail counter , bear in mind these UK wholesalers already have a foot in the door of most types of manufacturers and can certainly get thing produced to good standards , i would estimate Andover Norton also have to source certain parts from these UK wholesalers to support your retail parts business

Fact is Motorcycle Dealers / parts re sellers preffer to spend thier money with suppliers who are not in direct competition or allow sensible discount off retail , you may be critical of who the other wholesalers supply but fact is retail market share is moving to online sellers like RGM / Burton Bikes and many others are working from farms / home / garages to cut overheads predominatly online or mail order ( no shop ) as a result most have very good pricing marketing and internet search rankings which in the modern world generates sales

Just for the record the Global Business of supplying classic Triumph parts will dwarf the supply of Norton parts common sense tells me the number of active suppliers vendors and production numbers alone for Meriden Triumph motorcylces reinforces the fact you are in your own Andover Norton world looking inwards and not at the big picture
 
A good friend of mine is a small independent motorcycle trader, i approached him some time ago at the start of my project to open account so i could benefit from trade pricing on parts.
The account was turned down with no explanation given even though he has traded for years with a good financial record.
He also asked for trade pricing on parts purchased on a cash debit card basis. but was told no
 
You can debate business strategies until the cows come home, the real test will be who is left trading in 10 years.

Not sure you can say that ZDF does not know about the Triumph side as he sells Triumph parts in Germany on the Norton site.

https://nortonmotors.de/de/triumph-motorrad-ersatzteile-shop-drawings/23

I have worked under both the pile them high and sell them cheap and the keep them waiting strategies. Both have their own risks and the keep them waiting always has the issue of the higher margins giving a competitor an easier entry, however the pile them high keeps you bordering on bankruptcy in a fixed or decreasing market. The number of pre 961 Nortons is fixed and spare part consuming miles are reducing.
 
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