I have been in 2022 and 2023 in Remanufacturing Meetings, hosted by the wonderful folks of APRA Europe.
Nice venue, nice people, interesting topic. Zero customers.
It struck me: how come that so much hot debate about the topic brought to no real interest from the market?
It could have been due to how those people (myself included) communicate: too much engineers around, not fancy enough to drag people. Or it could be that customers were largely unaware of the event.
Whatever.
I do believe that the main issue was another one: positioning. Missed. Completely.
And looking at what OEM do, I am more and more conviced about it.
A simple glance at the masterpiece by Al Trout and Jack Ries gave me the answer (if you did not read it at least twice: do it now. Stop reading this post and go read it).
Even in my corporate experience the issue was always a positioning one.
What do Remanufacturing wants to ring to customers? And even if we think we know, are we giving this message clearly?
No.
Rematec undazzling visitors, OEM mixed results, lack of Marketing papers on the topic: they all point to the fact that positioning was missed.
If you got a strong brand, it is fine to sell remanufacturing stuff, but you may have to brand it differently.
If you sell revamped cars (like many brand do, as this gives a nice revenue stream from maintaining those cars, plus they keep customers abreast): ok to keep the brand. It gives the right quality flavour (“Certified by Mercedes-Benz”).
What if you sell remanufactured Electronics like PC or Laptop? Would you sell if under HP or XXX brand? What does your prospect want?
My two cents: use a different brand, especially if this product got bought by somebody else than your “main” target.
Of course, positioning entails the values you want to carry to your clients. So talking about “sustainability” (whatever it means) when your customers are money-driven, it is useless.
Selling “low-price” alternative when you make big bucks on the “standard” line offer is, at best, confusing customers.
Focus always pay.
Decide who shall buy your stuff, and why. Then position properly.
And after that, go back to the 4P model, or whatever works.
Becasue, if it does not work, you are losing.
Blaming customers does not help.