With Austria and Hungary taking part, the total number of participating countries has increased to 10. The other countries are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Netherlands and United Kingdom.
This year's DSI survey was done in June and July 2018 and it weighs the quality of the relationship between tractor suppliers and their A-dealers on 14 items:
1. Brand image and impact
2. Marketing of tractors
3. Marketing of spare parts
4. After-sales service and warranty
5. Computer services
6. Advertising and product support material
7. Administration and terms of payment
8. Training
9. Management
10. Manufacturer dealer relations
11. Profitability contribution
12. Improvement
13. Financing offers
14. Theft protection
In this year's edition, more than 1000 dealers took part. This is less than the number of participating dealers in 2017 (1,159) and a decrease of 19%. Anne Fradier, Secretary-General of SEDIMA and responsible for the execution of the DSI investigation, believes that this partly has to do with the decreasing number of A-dealers (the target group of the DSI) through acquisitions and consolidations and also the date of the survey and due to the later date of execution (earl June instead of April). The lower number of participants however does not influence the importance and outcome of the DSI by any means.
2018 results
The overall brand average, the average of all factors combined, increased by 0.1 points to 12.7 points. Overall there is a slight upward trend in the DSI. On the other hand there are big differences between the brands. This shows the importance for a dealer and manufacturer to see his position on the different points compared to the average. Dealers that participate can see their results compared to the average on each specific point. Only those tractor suppliers/brands that are evaluated in at least four countries are listed in the EU results.
Kubota, Fendt in the lead
Compared to last year's DSI survey, the general number 1 and 2 positions remain unchanged with Kubota and Fendt both scoring 14.5 points. For Kubota this is a consolidation of 2017, for Fendt an improvement of 0.7 points after a decrease of 0.6 points last year. Other brands that have improved their overall relations with their dealers, are John Deere (+0.7), Case IH (+0.6) and Valtra (+0.5). The brands that have seen their overall score decrease, are Massey-Ferguson (-0.9), Deutz-Fahr (-0.4), New Holland (-0.3), Same (-0.3) and Claas (-0.2). CLIMMAR is following up on the fact that its dealers apparently are less satisfied with the relations with these tractor brands and will actively seek the dialogue with these suppliers as of now.
Significant changes
Compared to last year's averages, we can conclude that there's a significant positive development on:
- Financing offers: from 11.1 points in 2017 to 11.5 points in 2018
- Theft protection: from 8.3 points in 2017 to 8.9 points in 2018
- Profitability contribution: from 11.9 points in 2017 to 12.1 points in 2018
CLIMMAR is happy about this progress, but will also encourage tractor suppliers to improve their performance further as the average scores are still far from the maximum of 18 points.
All other performance indicators scored similar in 2018 and 2017, except for the appreciation of the willingness of tractor suppliers to improve their weak points. This indicator scored on average 11.6 points in 2018. A decrease of 0.2 points compared to 2017 (11.8 points). For CLIMMAR this is an important alert to stay in an active dialogue with tractor suppliers to strive for a better dealer satisfaction in 2019.
The complete overview of the DSI 2018 results can be found on the CLIMMAR website.
