Duncan Industries

Situation Analysis – SWOT

Duncan Industries can greatly benefit from a SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to provide a solid foundation as a springboard to identify subsequent actions in the marketing plan.

Strengths

• The Duncan Lift was judged by many as superior to competitive offerings because of its design, the quality of workmanship, the safety features, the ease of installation, and the five-year warranty.

• Mark held four patents on the Duncan Lift.

• As of early 2000, Duncan Industries had developed a reputation for a quality product backed by good service in the hoist lift market, primarily in the wheel alignment segment.

• The sales force is knowledgeable enough to sell, install, and service the units.

• Duncan Industries distributes a catalogue-type package with products, uses, prices and other required information for both distributors and users.

• The company’s success to date was based on a strategy of offering a superior product that was primarily targeted to the needs of specific customers.

Weaknesses

• Duncan Industries sells one type of automotive hoist. This lack of variety could limit his sales.

• The company is a local company and does not currently distribute products over a large region.

• Duncan Lifts were between 5 and 20 percent more in price than its two main competitors.

• The sales force only accounted for 25 percent of the unit sales each year.

Opportunities

• Duncan thinks that with more effort, sales could be increased in the United States.

• The market is large and diverse. There are many potential customers out there who are in need of several different products.

• Surface lifts (similar to the Duncan Lift) accounted for 79 percent of total lift sales in 1999.

• The business currently sells in a small area. Therefore there are great opportunities for future business in expanding consumer markets.

• There is opportunity to expand their product line to offer different types of lifts.

• Duncan Industries can try to persuade their wholesaler to push the Duncan Lift more.

• The U.S. market has unrealized potential with more than 146 million registered vehicles. The U.S. market was almost 10 times the size of the Canadian market.

• Four countries in Europe had more than 20 million vehicles in use.

Threats

• Sixteen companies competed in the automotive lift market in North America: four Canadian and twelve U.S. firms.

• AHV Lifts accounted for 40 percent of the market.

• Duncan Industries had two competitors that manufactured scissor lifts.

• AHV Lifts sold for 20 percent less than the Duncan Lift.

• Mete lift was a small regional company with sales in California and Oregon. It sold for 5 percent less than the Duncan Lift.

• Duncan Industries’ U.S. wholesaler accounted for less than 20 percent of the total lift sales from that particular wholesaler.

• If Duncan decided to sell in Europe, it is probable consumers there would choose a European product over the American product.

Situation Analysis – Customer Analysis

The sales force of Duncan Industries main task was to service large “direct” accounts. The initial step was to get the Duncan Lift approved by large chains and manufacturers, and then, having received the approval, to sell to individual dealers or operators. For example, if General Motors approved the hoist, then Duncan Industries could sell it to individual dealers of a number of large accounts including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Petro-Canada, Firestone, and Goodyear. Duncan Industries had been successful in obtaining manufacturer approval from the big three automobile manufacturers in both Canada and the U.S. As well, Duncan Industries had