By Mr Retail
As most of us have figured out, dash cameras are a thing. They are not a fad, they have not peaked, and are continuing to grow in popularity and market penetration. So, now is the time to do an analysis of the category in your market.
This category should be examined from several angles; product mix, install time/labor rates, and marketing focus. All of these factors will help determine how successful you can be in this sector.
Product mix
Here is where you choose the price segments of the models you will carry. If you don’t sell $79 head units, why would you sell $79 dash cameras? Cheap dashcams require the same amount of time to install as a $300 one-channel unit, and I know you already understand that. The key is to educate your clients on why you are more expensive, why your models will better suit their needs, and so on.
In our store, we stock one forward-facing camera that we retail for $300 installed on domestic and Asian vehicles and $375 in European cars. We then inventory three different two-channel units, with some of them capable of up to five channels–front, rear, both sides, and interior. We also stock higher capacity memory cards and build them into our higher-end packages.
Install times
Here is another opportunity to make money in this category. We actively promote the fact that when it comes to dashcams, we don’t “throw them in” or “slam them out the door.” We explain to clients that we properly aim or calibrate all of the cameras for best image capture. We solder and heat shrink connections, and neatly run wiring. We also confirm the camera is working with its app and adjust the settings to our in-house standards. We then help our client pair their phone, we review the settings, and show them the live views so they can see the camera is, in fact, working.
Marketing focus
I think this is the single biggest part of your long- term success. Whether your shop has a policy of handling walk-in product or not, I think this is a category where you say no. It takes too much effort for your team to learn all the different apps and how to properly set up the cameras.
And since the video footage can be extremely important in a civil or criminal case, we explain to clients that they want to buy their camera from the company installing it to ensure everything is maximized for optimum video quality. We explain to every client all the things we do from an installation perspective and why that is highly valuable to the client.
We have a high success rate with clients returning the camera they bought online in order to buy from us. That said, 90 percent of our calls these days are from either repeat clients or those responding to our marketing efforts that position us as the trusted experts.
The end result?
Our average ticket in dash cameras is around $999 installed at this point, so it is profitable for two hours of labor per technician. Some of our clients have traveled two hours each way for us to do the install. So, I can promise you that these tactics work. Just as there is a market for high end audio, there is one for dashcams. Take the time to become the expert in this category and the end result with be healthy for your bottom line.
About Mr Retail: Mark Miller
Mark is the CEO of Westminster Speed & Sound, an award-winning retailer in Westminster, Maryland. The company was founded in 1969, and Mark took it over in 1990 at the age of 23. He first started in the industry in 1986, so he has been at it for a while. He has served on the board of MERA, taught seminars in over a dozen different cities, and served on the SEMA New Product Awards judging team. He has been married to his wife Dawn for 35 years now and has five grown children and four grandchildren. His hobbies include being a sound engineer, doing life coaching, and being active in the local and national Porsche community.M
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Keith,
That is a great idea. We used to sell them in years past and to be honest, forgot about them.
Hope you are well, sir.
Thank you for that reminder Mark. There are too many times when we cannot see the trees through the forest.
One thing that I’d like to add to your carefully crafted wordsmithing is the back up battery. This is a major source of revenue for us as parking mode has caused so many issues. It’s at least two more hours of labour, plus a larger source of profit margin on the battery system.
We have found that this extra expense will save the customer a lot of headache down the road with a dead battery. Yes, I know that there is a voltage shut off from the dash cams, but it creates a memory issue with their batteries. If they are parked on busy streets or the airport or mall, the dash cam will record until it can’t, then record a little more when the battery gains enough juice from not being drained so that it can go into shut down again….It’s a killer.