Point, click, rideMotorcycle maker Harley adds more choice to the ordering processBy Brent Burkey
Article linkJust a few years ago, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. was known for waiting lists.
Even as sales declines began, then-CEO Jim Ziemer would talk at length to analysts about avoiding production of more motorcycles than the market demanded, which would risk brand-weakening sales promotions and inventory clearances.
Now the iconic firm has rebranded its longtime aftermarket customization initiatives under the program H-D1, and added to it scores of from-the-factory choices for the first time, amid significantly lower sales.
Customers can point and click their way to the paint job or handlebars they want, take printouts to local dealerships and have the Harleys they want in four weeks or less, said Paul James, director for the company's product communications.
There are about 2,600 configurations in which customers can order the first Harley model in the program, the Kansas City-built Sportster 1200 Custom, James said.
Custom motorcycles and parts are nothing new to Harley. It has for years offered parts that customers could put on their Harleys after buying them, and operated limited-production custom vehicle operations.
"We know that customers are doing that today," James said, referring to customizing their motorcycles. "What if we could give them a way to visualize what the motorcycle could look like right from the factory?"
Factory customization also will help Harley attract younger riders, who more than any other retail demographic want things to be exactly to their tastes and in their timeframes, James said.
Harley also plans to introduce an application for mobile electronic devices in the next few weeks with which customers can create an outline of the bikes they want, James said.
The dealership closest to Harley's largest manufacturing facilities in York County reported interest from buyers for the H-D1 program. But it hadn't made a sale from the new program as of the middle of March.
Once it's warmer, the dealership will see how well the new initiative can help sell bikes, said Heather Goodwin, general manager at Manchester Township-based Laugerman's Harley-Davidson.
Prospective customers can either bring Laugerman's a printout of what they want to order or staff can walk through the options on computers in the dealership, Goodwin said.
Customers also can see and feel the actual options, such as metal paint chips, to get a better idea of what the finished product will look like, she said.
The endeavor seems more consumer friendly than Harley's sales efforts used to be, said John Schouten, marketing professor at the University of Portland in Oregon.
He and colleague James McAlexander have studied consumer habits from an anthropological perspective. They delved into how subcultures helped drive buying habits among those subcultures.
"Harley riders were such a subculture," Schouten said.
Around the early 1990s, Harley Owners Groups took on much of the responsibility of recruiting and indoctrinating new riders. The company invested in those efforts.
Beyond that, the company could concentrate on making motorcycles at the factory, he said.
"The dealers could sell everything that came through the door," Schouten said.
Harley has traditionally appeared to be a conservative company, never wanting to overextend itself by ramping up production too steeply or jumping into new products or offerings lightly, said McAlexander, now a professor of marketing at Oregon State University.
Nearly going bankrupt in the early 1980s appeared to weigh heavily on the firm and contribute to what many saw as Harley motorcycles being hard to get at dealerships years ago, he said.
"It served them well over the years," McAlexander said.
But several years ago, quarterly sales figures began to decline. The rate became more pronounced as the Great Recession took hold.
Harley began reducing its workforce and building more efficient operations, telling employees in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Missouri that they either get with the program or Harley would leave them behind.
Reduced production could be a reason Harley has rolled out the H-D1 program this year; the company appears to be no longer "running as fast as they can" to keep up with core demand, McAlexander said.
The greater flexibility built into new contracts with union workers and in some cases restructured facilities, such as in the midstate, will enable factory customization and similar initiatives to move forward in years to come, Harley spokesman Bob Klein said.
http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/article/20110401/FRONTPAGE/110339949
