Case Study: Atlantic Tractor Boosts Average Margin 20% With Tractor Zoom Pro
2/15/2024Case Study Summary:
Josh Martin, used equipment manager for Atlantic Tractor, increased used equipment profit margin by 20% leveraging Tractor Zoom Pro Inventory from Tractor Zoom to not only improve the company's used equipment repricing process but to also optimize used inventory pricing.
The Challenge:
Antiquated Methods of Assigning Equipment Values
- Older methods require hours of searching to gain confident comparable values
- Lengthy requirements and personnel constraints result in less frequent price adjustments
- Many of the older methods for equipment valuation were designed 20 years ago
Time-based Price Review Practices Were Not Keeping Up With the Market
- In 2021, the row crop tractor market rose 20%, with most other categories rising at a similar rate
- Most price adjustments are currently done every 6 or 12 months
- Infrequent adjustments either become outdated or out-of-touch with the actual market
Existing Repricing Process Would Result in Equally Negative Outcomes in a Down Trending Market
- Too high of a list price becomes filtered out of the buyer's online subset of potential options
- Missing the sales window for certain equipment categories (e.g. combines) can have a significant negative impact on the bottom line
"I couldn't make my list shorter. Never really got anywhere. I would knock out 10 one day, then open it up, and there would be 10 more the next day."
The Solution
Three actions enabled Martin and Atlantic Tractor to improve its repricing strategy and achieve better results.
- Streamline the valuation process using auction and dealer listings search within Tractor Zoom Pro
- Expand company reach and transform inventory into usable 'big data' by leveraging the free dealer listing offering from Tractor Zoom
- Implement Tractor Zoom Pro Inventory platform to analyze and make pricing decisions based on current market conditions
"It surely is making me more efficient. I don't have to spend tons of time in {Tractor Zoom Pro} either. Now I have an extra hour in my day. Before it took me an hour just to figure out where I was in the process."
The Results
A 20% improvement in average used equipment profit margin has been documented in the first four months, over the previous eight, since the adoption of Tractor Zoom Pro Inventory.
"I'll make a small price adjustment to ensure I have the right pricing going into the end of the year. Before I was typically writing a bunch of stuff down. Now I'm doing small, $2,000 adjustments, then I'll pause it for just 30- or 60-days so at that time I can reevaluate to see how it's doing. It's wonderful for what we do."
Proactive Repricing for Your Dealership
The benefits of Tractor Zoom suite of solutions, including Tractor Zoom Pro inventory management tools, is that it is dynamic and responsive to the current environment. In much the same way, each of the 50+ dealer groups who utilize Tractor Zoom Pro leverage the power of Tractor Zoom data in unique ways that best suite their business goals and processes. If you would like to see other examples of how dealer groups are partnering with Tractor Zoom to leverage real-time data in combination with their specific equipment, see our customer success stories.
About Atlantic Tractor
Atlantic Tractor was founded in 2004 with the combination of five family-owned John Deere dealerships, from 11 locations in the Mid-Atlantic. They now serve a wide swath of the Northeast, from as far north as Delaware, west through Pennsylvania, and south into Maryland. Covering the agricultural industries of row crop and dairy, they are also heavily involved with lawn, garden, and light industrial equipment. Primarily a John Deere dealership, they also sell new Frontier, Stihl, Honda, Kinze, Kuhn, UM Unverferth, Great Plains, Alamo Industrial, Tiger, FAE Group, and Rome Equipment models.