“Every industry, including agriculture, construction, retail and hospitality, is now looking at how they can take advantage of robotics to make their companies more successful,” Alex Shikany, A3’s vice president of membership and business intelligence, said. North American companies started the year by purchasing the most robots ever in a single quarter, with 11,595 robots sold at a value of $646 million, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). These Q1 numbers represent growth of 28% and 43% respectively over the first quarter of 2021 and 7% and 25% respectively over the previous best quarter, Q4 of 2021, A3 explained. Each industry segment experienced double-digit growth over the same quarter of 2021.
Entering the North American marketplace can often be frustrating for many OEM manufacturers in the robotics space, they are unfamiliar with the North American business sector or are too slow to adopt to the culture. This is the case with many entrepreneurs with strong knowledge in technology and local business practices in their own country but not familiar with how to launch successful B2B (business-to-business) startup in North America.
To tap into the huge North American market many OEM’s try to partner with local distributors, making them “Master Distributors,” but in reality, they focus on one geographics area and not North America and focus on the products that make them money. This can be detrimental to both parties when sales are stagnant, and manufactures require more time spent on their products. Another path is to partner with a large national distributor most often deal in commodities, such as linear rails, bearings, and simple pneumatics, but hi-tech products like vision systems, robots and AMR’s that are more involved require technically specialized distributors that focus on a smaller geographic area and in this case many distributors are needed to cover the NA market.
The best way to solve this dilemma is to have a small staff with many disciplines, Business management, Engineering, and Sales, other than staff many more things are needed for companies to consider purchasing products from your company, such as local warranty repair, spare parts, and product stocked in NA for immediate shipment. OEM manufacturers cannot ignore the potential hurdles of scaling, do not want to make the commitment, or don’t have the funds to test the NA market. One solution is to open a virtual office like 360-Robotics until the company sales are ready to support the new office.
Understanding the needs of a B2B customers is paramount for any company looking for long term growth. Solving major pain points in manufacturing or logistics with robotics is just the start to get your foot in the door, but the product must meet or exceed what the product specifications. Here are some other items engineers look for:
- A stable product, bug free.
- Has support, stock and repairs in North America.
- Has a two-year warranty and can purchase a longer warranty.
- Can pay in USD.
- Most prefer to purchase through distributors that are on the approved vendor list.
- Has a strong API and is able to integrate accessories easily.
- Easy programming and or Interoperable architecture.
- Can integrate easily with third party products.
The industrial B2B space also has Sales and Marketing challenges, Capex sales tend to be long, research, evaluations, many engineering meetings and budgeting approvals must be complete prior to getting a purchase order, there are not impulse buys for this type of equipment. B2B companies often ignore current customers and do not listen to the VOC (voice of customer) taking them for granted. Current customers are invaluable to long term growth of a company and their feedback helps develop and improve on products. To gain new customers companies must take advantage of online channels, Trade shows and leverage distributor contacts with marketing campaigns.
Customer first approach is the best way to retain and grow customer base, how is this realized? It all starts with the product manufactured. First, the product must be useful, stable, have longevity and repairable quickly are crucial step towards providing excellent service. No matter how good your products are they will need repairs. This has been an illusive question for many overseas OEM’s. Down time is unacceptable for any manufacturing assembly plant. By having a local repair and stocking facility in NA can solve many of these problems with fast turnaround, from the initial call to putting the robot back in operations.
360 Robotics helps build bridges between B2B OEM robotics manufacturers and customers. We can accelerate your growth with a range of services. Select from one or all the following:
- Startup Business Setup
- Marketing
- Business Platform
- Warehouse Platform
- Technical Services Platform.
360-Robotics helps establish operations, virtual office and or presence in North America to gain market share of overseas companies that are struggling to build a presence and increase sales.
Send us an email today for a quote or visit our website for a full list of services to choose from www.360-robotics.com