Fast-moving parts move quicker in Dragon Den

DragonFire expands its Store-In-Store program

Xtreme of Washington County only implemented the DragonFire Store-In-Store program to enhance sales of side-by-side parts and accessories about six months ago, yet the dealership is already seeing increased P&A sales from it and is improving the space.

DragonFire introduced its Store-In-Store car display program in 2012, but this past fall, it added a slat wall program, known as the Dragon Den, in an effort to help dealers better merchandise their parts departments and increase P&A sales.

“It’s a new one but it’s caught on very quick. It’s a sharp look and draws the customer’s eye and gets them talking about the product as they’re touching and feeling the product that would typically be behind the counter,” said Megan Dible, sales and marketing manager for DragonFire.

Going Xtreme with DragonFire

When DragonFire approached Jason Frye of Xtreme of Washington County, he was willing to listen to the idea because as a high-volume side-by-side dealer, he was excited about the prospect of increasing his P&A sales.

He liked what he heard from DragonFire and added both the car display program and the Dragon Den slat wall to his Claysville, Pa., store.

“Some stuff just doesn’t translate really well until you display it on vehicle because some stuff you put it on a slat wall or wherever, and people will look at it and say, ‘I don’t know what that will look like on my vehicle.’ But then if you can actually put it on a vehicle to display, it makes a huge difference,” he said. “You have to do both parts — you have to display it on a wall, and you have to display it on a vehicle for it to work best.”

Frye had carried DragonFire products in the past, but at a much smaller scale than he does now. Since adding the DragonFire Store-In-Store to complement his dealership’s Can-Am and Polaris side-by-sides, Frye has seen his DragonFire sales increase 10-20 percent.

“We’ve always tried to do a good job of stocking some of the products, but basically when we do this, we’re doing a broader scope of some incremental products that we probably typically wouldn’t carry,” he explained.

Just having a side-by-side loaded with DragonFire accessories on the floor helps sell the vehicle, along with a number of the accessories in a lot of cases. Frye has noticed the display and word of mouth about it from his loyal customers have set his dealership apart from its competitors.

“Ultimately you can go in and buy your Maverick, RZR, or Ranger at any Polaris or Can-Am dealer in the United States, but if you come in and you see something completely different from right out of the box, you get to drive it out of the showroom, and it’s already the way you want it, that makes a huge difference,” Frye said.

The dealership has also found some of its previous customers eyeing up the display and purchasing parts for their already-owned units.

“That’ll also drive parts sales because people who already own that vehicle will look at it and go, ‘Wow, I always wondered what this would look like on it, but I wasn’t willing to take a $300, $400 shot in the dark to see if I liked it,’” Frye said. “That’s another great thing that comes out of that. You get a lot of residual parts sales from displaying that unit.”

Xtreme of Washington County is in the process of remodeling some of its departments, and the P&A department has been updated to better integrate the DragonFire Store-In-Store due to the results Frye has seen so far.

“When you walk in, you see that unit, and it’s got a bumper and roof and exhaust and all this stuff on it, and right behind that is that same product displayed on the wall, the guy’s like, ‘Well, I really, really like this,’ and I’m like, ‘There it is. You can take one home with you today,’” he said. “That makes a huge difference and really plays into building customer loyalty, if they can say, ‘Hey, that dealership there has it installed, and they showed me how it mounted, how it looks.’ It goes a long, long way to getting that return customer.”

Frye is glad to dedicate about a 13-by-15-foot space to a pre-accessorized unit, as well as 10 feet of slat wall to his DragonFire display.

“It’s definitely a good program. It works as long as you have the space, and you’re willing to put in the time to properly accessorize and display. It’s definitely worthwhile,” he reported.

Helping the dealer

DragonFire has heard a number of success stories like Frye’s, which is why the company expanded the Store-In-Store program to include a slat wall feature beginning in October.

“We were trying to look at a way to brand and help the dealers out in merchandizing the areas and really getting the customers in and start engaging them. Having a nice looking wall display really gets the customer in there an excited about the product and talking about the product,” Dible said.

The Dragon Den program includes fast-moving products that get customers excited not only about DragonFire parts and accessories but also about buying the associated units.

DragonFire offers Store-In-Store programs specific to Polaris, Can-Am and Arctic Cat, with the full Dragon Den wall including 48 skus and smaller programs available for dealers looking for less of an investment.

“We tailor it to fit the allotted space given to us by the dealers. We’ve got them as small as 8 feet wide and others are as wide as 24 feet,” Dible said.

Each Dragon Den wall display includes a leaderboard that goes along the top of the wall. Popular products included in the planograms include tie rods, drive belts, LED dome lights, street legal kits and mirrors.

“We give dealers a complete list of products that we recommend, and they can tailor that to what they think is best for their particular dealership,” Dible explained.

Though many dealers have implemented the Store-In-Store car display, the Dragon Den slat wall allows dealers easier entry into the Store-In-Store program.

“It really helps those smaller dealers that might be a little intimidated about doing an actual built car. It gets them product and brand recognition in the store without having to convince the sales manager that the parts department wants to have all these parts on that car. It helps bridge that a little bit,” Dible said.

A number of dealerships that have been participating in the car display have even added the Dragon Den wall to enhance their offerings, much like Frye has done. DragonFire expects than in the future many Dragon Den-only dealers will also add the car display as well.