“Always nearby” is not an empty promise from automotive service company KwikFit. With about 165 branches in the Netherlands, broad national coverage is guaranteed. And since KwikFit set its sights on bicycles as well, RetailSonar has been ready to help approach further expansion in a targeted way.
KwikFit is a successful chain of automotive service stations across Europe. The Dutch branch also performs well and has been well represented in the country since 1983. Director Paul Traas: “We are not a dealer, but only offer service and repairs.
In the United Kingdom, such service companies are very popular, while in countries like Germany people remain very loyal to their dealer. The Netherlands sits somewhere in between. KwikFit’s advantage is that people can drive in and out quickly, no matter what car brand they have.”
In 2011, KwikFit was acquired by the Japanese conglomerate Itochu. Paul Traas: “Before, we chose new locations mainly based on our own insight or intuition. But our Japanese shareholder considers it important to link data to those decisions as well. Since the acquisition, we support our choices with facts, based on the RetailSonar platform. Where do people live? What do the traffic flows look like? Where are our competitors located? It forms the foundation we need to make decisions.”
From 10 to 100 bicycle branches
Due to the electrification of cars, KwikFit felt the need to broaden its offering, explains Paul Traas: “Electric vehicles require less maintenance. That is why we eventually started looking at bicycles as well. But while we knew a lot about cars, we had little knowledge about bicycles at that time. For example, what is the most strategic location for a bicycle branch?
Through someone in my network, I came into contact with RetailSonar, and that’s how our collaboration began. Not long after, we realized: actually, we don’t know everything about cars either. So we reviewed our automotive service locations with RetailSonar as well. We learned a lot from that.”
Today, KwikFit has about 10 bicycle branches. Traas hopes to expand that to 100 in the long term: “We always want to expand, both for cars and bicycles. For now, there are no standalone bicycle branches: they are part of our automotive service locations. But not every branch or location is suitable for both. When it comes to cars, it’s important that we are close to the customer. People prefer not to drive too far to our branches. But when it comes to bicycles, the city center becomes more attractive again.”
“We have now identified 70 potential locations for bicycle branches. For 20 of them, we are already developing a plan.”
The RetailSonar platform helps KwikFit explore how both activities can complement each other. “One option is to open larger branches outside the city ring for both cars and bicycles, combined with several smaller bicycle branches in the city center.”
Supplementing with partnerships
According to Paul Traas, the RetailSonar platform brings interesting new opportunities. “In the past, we mainly targeted private customers. Now we also appeal to larger, business partners. The RetailSonar platform is very valuable now that we are strongly focused on national coverage.
“We can now see at a glance whether branches are performing well enough.”
We now have partnerships with international car brands such as NIO and Fisker. They do not have dealership networks in our country, but they do look for a strong partner where customers can go for maintenance and related services. For them, a company like KwikFit, which is present almost everywhere, is very attractive.”
Comparing branch performance
KwikFit now also has a clear overview of all available data. “Data collection and analysis used to be labor-intensive and time-consuming. That is no longer the case. We reach insights much faster and can easily compare branches. This way, we can see at a glance whether they perform well enough. If not, we can run local marketing campaigns or set up targeted email campaigns in specific areas.
“We now manage to match data quickly and draw the right conclusions.”
“We can also link our customer database to our locations. That allows us to see exactly where we are still far away from potential KwikFit customers,” Traas concludes.
