Rocketing demand in a South China city shows the need for local lubes knowledge
A group of motorcycle taxis Image: Faunng |
Year-on-year sales of motorcycle lubricants in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, increased by 278% in November. The small tourist city, situated next to Macau and Hong Kong, has seen refills of two-wheeler lubricants increase to 1,362 cans in just one month.
Although the area boasts just 20,000 motorcycles, local gas stations have been keen to increase awareness and promote lubes sales to motorcycle customers.
Across local branches of Everest Co gas stations, managers have been training staff to answer techinical questions about motorcycle lubes, providing practical knowledge speedy oil changes and supplying an array of tools to increase turnaround time for busy customers.
All this effort has lead to startling results. At Zhuhai West Station 29, staff sold 80 cans of motorcycle lubricants, far exceeding previous targets of just 10 cans. Gas station workers feel the emphasis and support provided by management has lead to the jump in sales.
While the market size is small in terms of volume, there are two major lessons to be learnt from Zhuhai.
One is that local knowledge is key. Promoting motorcycle lubes might work in the balmy south, but perhaps would not be as successful in frozen Heilongjiang.
The other is that properly educating and training staff can lead to dramatic improvements. Companies looking to educate consumers about the impact of better quality lubes should first ensure their staff are able to deal with a wide array of techinical requests from consumers in order to maximise sales opportunities.