Posts Tagged ‘warranty services’

Aftermarket Services have been in high demand for a number of years now.  With the explosive growth in consumer electronics and offshoring of many factories, Aftermarket Service providers have seen demand skyrocket.  According to Livingston Partners, the Aftermarket Services sector has grown over 20% since 2006. Furthermore, they expect the Aftermarket Service sector to keep on this growth trajectory for the next five years. While demand for Aftermarket Services has been strong for quite a while, the service providers are still a fragmented lot with no dominate player emerging as the “Go-To” Aftermarket Service provider of choice.

Aftermarket Services traditionally include returns processing, repair and refurbishment services, and end-of-life services that include recall processing and product recycling services. Over the last few years, however, Aftermarket Services have expanded to include warranty management, customer service, and comprehensive reverse logistics programs.

Due to rising costs and pricing pressures retailers, distributors, and OEM’s have looked to outsourcing Aftermarket Services. They outsource because of a general lack of expertise in the services needed and to limit potential liabilities. There are other benefits but for the most part, companies outsource Aftermarket Services because the service providers can provide the services for a net lower cost, with lower capital requirements, and a higher quality result.

The question remains to be “Why hasn’t a dominate Aftermarket Service provider emerged?”

We think the answer is because of the wide variety of services and sectors that would be considered Aftermarket Services. There are a number of 3PL’s that offer returns processing but these services are often no more than gate keeping processes to receive and ship returned goods.

There are many companies that repair and refurbish aftermarket goods, but these companies are usually narrowly focused on a limited number of categories.  Most repair and refurbishing companies operate on a local basis and do not have the infrastructure required to handle the large volumes that come with a comprehensive nation wide program.

Few reverse logistics companies understand end-of-life processes at all, much less have comprehensive solutions they can take to the market.  Going beyond these three basic Aftermarket Services into the newer solutions such as warranty management, customer service, or comprehensive reverse logistics is a bridge to far for the Aftermarket Service providers of today.

There are a number of 3PL’s who are looking to expand their services and develop differentiating services.  The market is looking for a service provider that can provide comprehensive Aftermarket Services.  When the two intersect, growth and prosperity will abound for both. The question is “Is there any provider out there who has the vision and the capability to be the dominate Aftermarket Service provider?”