New Era for Duckhams Oils Brand

• Duckhams brand re-launch for Europe

• New Brand Licensee announced

• New Duckhams brand website launched

Moove Pro-Brands is pleased to announce its appointment by Alexander Duckhams Limited as the exclusive manufacturer and marketer of Duckhams lubricants, across Europe.

Founded in 1899, Duckhams has been a leading lubricants technology brand throughout much of Europe for most of the 20th and 21st Centuries, with a significant brand presence in many forms of motorsport. 

Jabir Sheth, Duckhams Chairperson Commented on this occasion: “The team at Duckhams is extremely excited in Partnering with Moove Pro-Brands, having carefully evaluated several companies Moove Pro-Brands stood out in terms of professionalism, enthusiasm and commitment for Duckhams: together, we hope to achieve the leading position in Europe in automotive lubricants.”

Mike Bewsey, Moove Pro-Brands spokesperson commented: “We’re thrilled to have been trusted to re-launch and re-invigorate the iconic Duckhams brand across Europe. In spite of a brief market absence, our data shows time and again that Duckhams is still one of the most recognised lubricants brands amongst automotive consumers and trade professionals alike.”

Founded in 1899 by British chemist Alexander Duckhams, the history of Duckhams oils includes pioneering engineering developments in aviation, breaking land speed records and a prestigious motorsport heritage – over the years, some of the greatest names in motorsports have relied on Duckhams: Graham Hill, David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine, Nigel Mansell, Martin Brundle, James Hunt and Ayrton Senna, to name just a few on four wheels. On two wheels, Paul Smart, John Cooper, Ray Pickerell and Dave Crockford trusted Duckhams to support their success.

Mike Bewsey continues: “With a newly developed range of OE approved oils – offering coverage of the latest vehicles, a striking new brand image and packaging both reminiscent of the traditional identity andappealing to modern consumers alike, the Duckhams brand story is as much about the future as it is a rich and colourful past.”

Mr. Sheth added “For Duckhams, Moove Pro-Brands is the perfect partner with outstanding lubricant technology and marketing expertise. We hope to deliver outstanding quality and service to our customers and help them grow their business.”

For more information about the latest Duckhams brand and range development, visit the new Duckhams.com site; to investigate distribution possibilities, please contact Moove.

Covid – changing loyalties, shifting habits or just ‘distress purchase’?

• A third of workshop technicians have tried different brands since Covid

• More than a third of workshops have started using a different parts supplier

• The majority of workshops think the industry is bouncing back well from Covid

Earlier this year we identified a series of trends that we predicted would characterise 2020 – the reliance on brands, the growth in digital, an increase widening share of the car parc taken by electric and hybrid technology vehicles, and so on. And whilst we’re not quite ready to complete a 2020 retrospective, its fair to say that the ‘Covid impact’ has been to accelerate some trends and bring others to a grinding halt!

One thing that seems certain in the immediate, is that the pandemic has already made things ‘sustainably different’ in the automotive aftermarket. (Noting that ‘different’ needn’t necessarily be better or worse, depending on your perspective.)

In a recent study of UK workshops, a sector that is generally considered relatively ‘unchanging’ and committed to ‘the way we do things around here’, it was particularly notable to see how many workshops had changed their buying behaviour, if not their habits and loyalties. In a recent study undertaken by Moove Pro-Brands, more than a third of workshop respondents reported using parts brands that they had not previously used and separately, more than a third also reported turning to alternative wholesales, suppliers and motor factors.

The obvious conclusion to draw is that, due to Covid restrictions, some stockists were closed and therefore the workshops ‘usual brands‘ were unavailable. However, a good proportion of respondents had tried different brands without changing stockists – in fact only 10% of respondents had tried both different parts brands and a different parts supplier. The study does not reveal why that may be the case but certainly it seems likely that many wholesalers have changed their ‘stocking habits’ as a result of availability further up in the supply chain. This underlines more than ever the importance of having the right stock, in the right place at the right time.

In a world of so much bad news it was reassuring to see that half of all workshops believe that the industry is ‘bouncing back well’ from Covid and in fact, only a very small minority (less than 1 in 10 respondents) disagree with this view.

We know that for many businesses, the Covid-impact has been catastrophic but it is reassuring that industries, like the automotive aftermarket, can survive, adapt and evolve for the conditions – continuing to generate economic value and providing essential servicing and product to motorists.

If your business is looking for support on how it adapts to its environment, particularly in the automotive lubricants category, then please feel free to connect with a member of the Moove Pro-Brands team today. You can also find us on LinkedIn.

Company Statement on COVID-19

Moove UK leadership team is closely monitoring the Coronavirus situation and strictly following UK Government and World Health Organization guidelines, with regular updates being published to all our employees through our internal communication channels.

Our priority remains the health and safety of our employees, customers, suppliers and communities while doing our best to minimize any business disruption in these uncertain times.

The company is following its Business Continuity Plans which have been updated to address the specific circumstances with all office-based employees able to work from home. We have implemented special measures within our operational teams to support our employees to ensure social distancing and reduce any risks.

We are also committed to providing reliable services and we do not anticipate any service disruption at this time as our suppliers have demonstrated preparedness to manage impacts related to pandemics.

We are committed to maintaining regular communication with our valued customers, suppliers and our employees.

Mike Bewsey

Business Director

Pro-Brands

Automotive Aftermarket Private Labels 2.0

The European Automotive Aftermarket can be characterised from many perspectives – from a ‘brands’ viewpoint, the growth, acceptance, relevance and evolution of the private labels has been a significant feature of the marketplace.

Throughout the 2000s, as trade distributors and retailers grew, private labels traditionally offered a neat and simple way to increase visibility, whilst leveraging buying power and reducing dependency on the power of ‘original brands’.

But in recent years, the role and priorities of distributors have changed – having consolidated their scale, for many the charge for growth has been replaced by a mature, more sustainable goal of sustainable, profitable growth.

Meanwhile, in a world where there’s never been more choice, more complexity, more freely available information, and more urgency (‘time is money’!) the traditional role of brands is re-emerging. Recognised brands shortcut selection and buying decisions – few things offer the same efficacy for the fast communication of quality and price expectation, as a brand.

What does this mean for Category and Brand managers in the Automotive Aftermarket? A key emergent trend is, similarly with other sectors such as FMCG, consumer electronics and clothing retail: exclusive brands. This might seem like semantics but in fact, the creation or acquisition of ‘brands’ in place of where a private label might have traditionally sat is a key growth trend, seen across multiple product categories, in the aftermarket.

Moove Pro-Brands operates a multi-brand portfolio across its lubricants offer – this allows Moove to help satisfy individual category needs, rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all approach. Whether it’s finding a price anchor brand or main volume line, we can tailor solutions to fit or re-engineer a category.

If you’d like to discuss your category opportunities for lubricants brands, please contact Moove.

A new decade, a new normal

More data, better connected

When you consider the rapid rate of change in the automotive sector in the last decade, its almost impossible to predict how the next decade will unfold – but we thought we’d have a go (from an automotive aftermarket lubricants perspective, that is).

The new B2B normal is online…

Some people might say the aftermarket has been late to the online sales channel – perhaps because, compared with many other sectors, the very high service level and prices offered from the ‘traditional’ distribution model made the transfer to online sales less compelling. But times are changing – Amazon and e-bay opened platforms that allowed a wider range of players to trade at a lower cost of entry than ever. It has become perfectly possible – and accepted – for businesses to trade entirely online – no ‘bricks’, just ‘clicks’. (Apart from the large number of people that transfer from being relatively ‘front of house’ to ‘back of house’ – be that warehouses, delivery drivers or digital specialists.)

Motorists – more savvy in pursuit of value

Our second prediction is regarding motorists themselves. Whilst motorists have generally never been so disengaged with vehicle maintenance, equally they’ve never been so empowered to question, challenge and scrutinise exactly what ‘good value’ is when it comes to looking after their vehicles. With so much information freely and instantly available in their pockets, the chance to understand the cost-makeup of their services gets easier.

The availability of that information, connected to an online supply chain and the offers of ‘buy now for next day delivery’ lends itself to what had seemed like an outdated model: ‘bring your own’. Whilst workshops might prefer not to take the risks of motorists supplying the wrong parts and the lost product margin opportunities, it may at least improve their cash flows and they might be pleasantly surprised by the saving of time that was once dedicated to sourcing parts!

End-to-end Data rules

More data, better connected – from the start to the end of the supply chain. For many industry parts suppliers, the unattainable holy grail of their sales and marketing approach has been to fully connect motorist, to service centre, to distributor, to parts supplier. Whether due to competition law, data protection law or just limited resources – this has evaded most supply chain partners. But the increase in online service centre selection platforms – independent, supplier-owned or distributor-owned makes this increasingly possible. (Expect declines in ATL marketing investments and far more on data-driven programmes.)

(Self-)Regulation and Industry Representation

Many consider the European Automotive Aftermarket to be a shining example of effective Competition Law in practice – and some suggest that it now no longer requires the same management as it once did. Aftermarket representatives generally argue that this level of effective market participation owes its thanks to the current Competition Law regime and the resulting availability of vehicle data.

Many OEMs and vehicle manufacturers suggest that increasing vehicle digitisation, automation and connectivity require greater levels of restriction around data access. (Indeed, the debate about who owns the actual data itself, let alone who owns the vehicle thanks to varying finance models, is fiercely contested.)

Where there is an absence of meaningful industry-regulation, we anticipate an increasing level of activity for industry self-regulation: indeed, the success and growth of the VLS (Verification of Lubricants Specifications) in the UK, is now taking momentum in other markets – observed not least with the recently launched Australian Lubricants Association. And the relevance and challenges of the IAAF and other FIGIEFA (The European Federation of the Automotive Aftermarket Distributors) members will only become more.

Lubricants

Lubricants will continue to play an increasingly critical, high-value, vehicle-specific role – in some ways this isn’t too hard to predict as it will follow the evolution of previous decades. As for (hopes or) fears about a fully electrified vehicle parc that requires no lubrication, it seems highly unlikely that this could be a reality that faces the aftermarket, within this decade at least.

If there’s anything with any certainty though, it’s that time flies and so whatever unfolds over the next decade, we really don’t have to wait too long to find out.

Retail trends and lubricants categories

Asking shoppers what they want is still the best way to capture insight

We unpick some of the biggest trends in retail and how it’s affecting lubricants in the automotive and car maintenance categories…

Retail Macro trends and what it means for automotive lubricants

The shape of the European retail industry has changed radically in the last few years. The high-street has always been prone to uncertainty – seasonality and consumer confidence – but in recent years, the onslaught of disruption really has become relentless. The automotive category is of course prone to the same trends that affect most categories… 

Consumers have never had so much information freely available and in the palm of their hands about product specifications, features, benefits and of course – prices. The ability to distil that information down into a ‘deliverable within 24 hours’ purchase-decision was unimaginable to most just a few years ago – now it’s the norm. 

And it’s not just consumer access to information that retailers need to contend with: speed-to-market, fast-fashion and increased personalisation all affect consumer expectations - across all categories. The consumers’ vehicle might only be 6 months old and with the latest generation engine oil, but the consumer expects availability from the start. “You can only get that from the main dealer”just isn’t a sufficient answer for most consumers nowadays. If you’re positioned as a leading retailer, then that’s the expectation of the consumer for all the categories you serve. Theshopper experience may have been digitised, compared, and costed but it’s got to beavailablefor the consumer to have a chance of buying it.

So what can Category Managers do to ensure their automotive categories, and in particular the lubricants offer, keeps up-to-speed with the evolving landscape and consumer needs? 

Know Your Customer

Absolutely the most critical thing to do is know your customerand then put their needs first. In a recent shopper study with a leading British retailer, we realised that one segment of customers found the in-store experience to be hugely inconvenient – not because the retailer was doing a bad job but because for that profile of shopper, the need for the purchase experience in itself was seen purely as a necessity, driven by the need to ‘top-up’their oil. The insight allowed us to work with the retailer and model a shopping experience that prioritised convenience and simplicity. 

In another study with a Scandinavian retailer, we got more understanding around the shoppers’ needs for complete peace-of-mind when it came to oil selection, particularly for winter motoring, where good vehicle maintenance can be a matter of life and death! To reallysatisfy customers around product selection and peace-of-mind, different techniques were required to optimise the brand selection process.

Product Roadmaps

 A limited range of products that vary little year-on-year, or only when a competitor approaches you about a slightly differentiated offer from your incumbent’s never was – and certainly isn’t now – a good way to manage categories!

Whilst the retail sector might have become more changeable and more disrupted, the automotive sector has actually become more mature, structured and in some ways, more predictable. There is a huge wealth of market data available in terms of vehicle parc, engine requirements and specifications. This offers those retailing lubricants a stable platform from which to establish really robust, medium-term product roadmap plans to keep their categories up-to-date with the latest technologies.

Brand Architecture

At a time when consumers anticipate wider availability, retailers have come to realise thatthere is such a thing as too muchchoice. Whilst online stores might help overcome ‘warehouses with walls’ and ‘limited shelf space’ arguments from Category Managers, retailers are realising that offering consumers everything– and everything without differentiation from their competitors – can have its limitations. 

A well-structured category, offering clear price and quality differentiation is still the best way to help organise shopper’s thoughts and provide solutions to their needs. More than ever, it’s important to have a really clear vision of what roleeach brand in the category is there to do – if a brand isn’t adding value in the category, it doesn’t deserve to be there. This is increasingly true of the ‘private label’ sector. Talking of which these are most often now no longer private labels, in fact they increasingly fulfil the role of ‘exclusive brand’ – a very different role from the previous ‘private label’ position.

Moove Pro-Brands has a wealth of experience helping its retail and trade distributor automotive customers plan their lubricants categories. If you’ve got an automotive category and would like help developing your insights and plans, talk to the Moove Pro-Brands team.

Comma Stock Profiling Tool makes oil stocking and selection easier than ever

In today’s complex servicing market, it’s critical to know what oils your customers should stock and in which pack sizes.

We make oil selection simple through application solutions and now we’ve made oil stock management simple with our unique stock profiling tool. It will greatly assist both the distributor and workshop customers by utilising over 1.7m unique application lookups across the whole of the UK. It will:

• Maximise a workshop’s servicing profit by helping them stock the right oil, in the right pack sizes

• Improve cash flow so distributors and garages don’t tie up money by stocking the wrong grades

• Give peace of mind when servicing cars by using online application system

• Give more confidence with OE approved engine oil

Moove confirms re-accreditation of ISO14001: 2015

Moove are pleased to announce the re-accreditation of ISO14001: 2015, having evidenced SIGO as the framework for the processes carried out on site. We are now re-certified as a site for the next 3 years and have made the transition to the new standard. A significant achievement in a short space of time.

ISO 14001:2015 specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to enhance its environmental performance. ISO 14001:2015 is intended for use by an organization seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability.

ISO 14001:2015 helps an organization achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provide value for the environment, the organization itself and interested parties. Consistent with the organization's environmental policy, the intended outcomes of an environmental management system include:

· enhancement of environmental performance;

· fulfilment of compliance obligations;

· achievement of environmental objectives.

ISO 14001:2015 is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and nature, and applies to the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that the organization determines it can either control or influence considering a life cycle perspective. ISO 14001:2015 does not state specific environmental performance criteria.

ISO 14001:2015 can be used in whole or in part to systematically improve environmental management. Claims of conformity to ISO 14001:2015, however, are not acceptable unless all its requirements are incorporated into an organization's environmental management system and fulfilled without exclusion.

Moove Lubricants gets its 21st consecutive Gold at the annual RoSPA Health & Safety Awards

Moove Lubricants has distinguished itself for the 21st consecutive year after earning another Gold award and the Order of Distinction, for its exemplary Health & Safety, at the prestigious RoSPA Awards (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents).

With an innovative and comprehensive safety system at the heart of its operations, Moove has been setting industry standards in employee safety for decades.

 Julia Small, Head of Awards at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, commented:

 “The RoSPA Awards are the most prestigious in the world of occupational health and safety, and held in high regard around the world, as winning one demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record. Achieving the standard required is no mean feat.”

 Click here to find out more information about the RoSPA Awards.