W R Davies Ltd

Source: Retail Digital

Date :14/11/2007 12:11:41

Regionalising and improving

Managing Director Jonathon Davies explains to Exec UK how W.R Davies seeks to broaden its customer service through investments in technology and customer service

Written by Rebecca Waters and Produced by Charles Sizeland

As a family business, W.R Davies is currently in its third generation, having been established in 1924 by William Rees Davies.

The initial dealership was located in Berriew in Mid Wales before moving to a larger site in Welshpool where it became a limited company.

From here, Grandson and Managing Director Jonathan Davies explains, the company collated franchises such as Ford and Austin before becoming a sole representative for Ford after being approached in 1968.

Since then, the franchise has expanded, branching out into Staffordshire, creating a Toyota franchise in addition to expanding its Ford, Citroen, Nissan, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealerships of which it currently has nine, in Mid and North Wales and Staffordshire.

Davies says that most of this was leveraged by its family roots. “Having the shareholding of a business helps. It enables you to go in the direction you want to go in. You certainly have more autonomy.”

Having trained as an accountant, Davies has been working for the company for 14 years. Like in any business, you have to find your feet, Davies explains, but he agrees that his background has given him a fantastic grounding.

Investing in the future

Recently, the company has been looking to increase its profitability and heavily investing in increasing its franchise business. Last year, the company invested in a new Chrysler Jeep dealership in North Wales which will be source of profit for the group.

“In the first year, we made a reasonable profit. This year, however, we’ve been undergoing a major change in our Jeep stable. The first quarter of a year was a bit of a struggle through to April or May, but since then new products have come through and it’s starting to hold its own again.”

Apart from the company’s franchise expansion, over the past year, the company has invested in computerised technology. One of the main investments is in a new system for its Ford dealerships, which provide Windows-based point-of-sale and accountancy functions. As Davies explains, a lot of real-time operations for example, are computerised, seeing it as a profitable and efficient long-term progression.

The company sees the scope for its internet presence too. “We think that the internet is going to provide a fantastic platform for a marketing tool going forward and I think you have to have a viable web presence to succeed.”

Last year, the company revamped its website to form a group site, instead of individual dealership sites. The reason for this, Davies asserts, is so that customers can come to the website and see the whole range of vehicles on offer, not just the ones at its local dealership.

Facilitating needs

One of the reasons the franchise has been able to enjoy such growth and expansion is due to the “incredible loyalty” of its customers. The company has achieved this, Davies explains, by setting the business and its services apart from the rest.

As well as primarily dealing in new and used vehicle sales, the company also operates two accident repair centres, parts centres, vehicle hire and petrol forecourts. “What we try and do,” says Davies, “is offer a full service to our customers for their vehicles from basically the moment they pick it up. Not all dealerships offer the full suite of facilities as we do.”

As a result of this, the company has received many awards for its service offering, which explains Davies, the company is proud to receive. Last year, the company was the top supplier for the Arval fleet network. It has also received customer satisfaction awards from Ford too; a couple of years ago it was a Ford Aftermarket Excellence Club National Award winner for its Newtown accident and repair centre.

About half of the company’s cars are sourced from part exchanges, says Davies, with a further 20 percent from manufacturer programmes such as the Ford direct programme. The remainder are sourced from rental cars and individual dealers.

“We don’t use auctions if we can help it,” says Davies. “First of all you’ve got to be sure of the history of them. Even then, when the vehicle comes in we check it over carefully. In the workshop we do a full HPI test and check on it to make sure the vehicle is as they said.”

Regionalising and Improving

Although the company is spread over Wales and Staffordshire, the group as a whole is closely linked. “On the one hand, by regionalising you get to have the management there on the ground and they can react to things as they see fit. By the same token, because we are closely involved as a group, we all have to get together fairly regularly and share best practices with the group.”

This, Davies says, allows them to compare the dealerships, to see what’s going well and what is not. Although, as Davies says, the different franchises have different requirements; he explains: “It’s an independent business and we make the decisions we see fit and run our business in the way we want to.”

While the company has increased its franchise business over the past few years, Davies says that this is not an area where the business looks to expand in the future. “If an area came up within that geographical area, we might look at it, but we’re not looking to expand our business any further really.” Rather, he says, the business is looking to provide a good customer service and increase brand loyalty.

At present the business is more concerned with improvement than expansion, which will include the relocation, rebuilding and upgrading of one of its ageing sites in Anglesey, in order to provide a more modern dealership. As part of that, Davies says this will probably include adding franchises to the North Wales market. Other than that, concludes Davies, “We have no ambitious plan to double our size in the next five years.”