TOYOTA
TRADE GRADE
Toyota Trade Grade was one of the first marketing and business strategies I developed and led, a significant shift in brand investment and policy, and a first-in-category trailblazer that influenced other many other brands (both manufacturer and aftermarket) to create similar strategies, which continues to this day.
Seeking growth in genuine replacement parts that had flattened, research identified a significant, untapped opportunity of independent mechanical repair workshops. As a consequence of continued market share leadership, dealer capacity was stretched and in addition to revenue growth, independent repairers provided capacity for loyalty and partnership in customer experience.
Toyota Trade Grade was a wide-ranging business strategy designed to create inclusion, visibility and engagement. It included a new price strategy for groups of parts, a dedicated call-centre for repairer contact with the factory, brand activation events, a sales incentive and promotional structure, advertising and publicity to raise awareness of the program.
The strategy directly contributed to increasing revenue of genuine parts, grew loyalty and changed attitudes towards genuine parts with repairers, and subsequently car owners.
