Agriphoto

Opinions Niels van der Boom

Better one dealer than no dealer at all

14 February 2025 - Niels van der Boom - 7 comments

Exactly one week ago, a small shock wave swept through agricultural Central and Northern Netherlands. John Deere importer GroeNoord, no small fry with nineteen branches, announced that it had filed for bankruptcy. Criticism of importers and dealers is timeless, but one dealer is still better than no dealer at all.

Earlier this year I was sitting at the table at my car dealer, a major player with forty branches. During the sales conversation, the representative announced that they were no longer a Ford dealer. Ford Netherlands has already changed its sales strategy in 2023. The dealers are now 'agents'. In short: a conduit for cars. Preparing for delivery, servicing and - oh yes - the trade-in will end up on their plate.

Stress-free purchasing process
The representative didn't think it was that much of a problem. Ford itself speaks of a 'stress-free purchasing process', because negotiating the price is no longer an option. That is one of the reasons why the car company went to this agency model. Whether you order a car online (yes, that is possible) or at your dealer, the price is the same everywhere. The trade-in value of your current car rolls out of an app, after taking a few photos and recording the mileage. There is no room for negotiation there either. For the dealer, the agency has another advantage: no expensive stock on the dam that you have to pre-finance.

That was partly what ruined GroeNoord, those financings. As always, people are queuing up to say that they saw it coming for a long time. Even on the forum of this website – sometimes almost the largest digital café of gossiping, agricultural Netherlands – visitors can't stop talking about it. I have spoken to people in the sector who have knowledge of the matter. No one saw this news coming. Yes, things were (and are) not going well in the sector, but to put a line through everything in one go is drastic. It also causes unrest and a breach of trust with customers. I cannot imagine that this step is part of a strategy.

According to the company, a loss in 2024 - as a result of high ICT costs, interest and increasing personnel costs - caused the bankruptcy, which has now been declared. The company did not expect any improvement for this year. Farmers and contractors are putting the brakes on their investments, or putting them on a back burner.

Green-yellow nemesis
GroeNoord's nemesis; Kraakman, was immediately mentioned as a takeover candidate after the news was announced. The name of the German company LVD Krone is also suggested. The curators state that takeover candidates have indeed come forward, but that the first choice is a restart. Kraakman in particular has pursued an aggressive takeover policy in our country. The driving forces behind that company are the North Holland brothers Siem and Jan Kat. With an estimated net worth of €760 million (Quote 500, 2023), they are not an impecunious party. Moreover, both studied in Wageningen and are farmers themselves. After the takeover of dealer Kraakman, in Zuidoostbeemster, Reyneveld followed, with several branches in the western Netherlands. In 2020, Vervaet joined them and two years later Geert-Jan de Kok.

With seventeen branches, Kraakman is no small fry. The brothers from Bergen, who earned their fortune with supermarket chain Dekamarkt, may think and act as a family business and have the sector at heart, but they remain businessmen. Kraakman is faced with the same challenging market conditions as GroeNoord. If the figures turn dark red, what will they do?

Spreading opportunities
Fendt also has two dealer-importers in the Netherlands: Abemec and Mechan Groep. For years there has been speculation about when this snake will eat its own tail. However, I think the chance of this happening is not that great. The German agricultural group baywa, also one of the largest Fendt dealers in the country and owner of Abemec (Agrimec Holding), faltered last year after it became known that it had built up €5,5 billion in debt. The company was helped back on its feet with difficulty, but for the mechanization sector it was a wake-up call. Don't put all your eggs in one basket and spread your chances. Multiple importers keep each other and the market on their toes. There is competition and risk spreading. Manufacturers realize this all too well. For John Deere too, two parties in the Netherlands is the best option.

For those who think that the fall of a large dealership offers opportunities for small players, I have bad news: that is not going to happen. The demands on a mechanization company, from tractor and machine manufacturers, are simply so high that this is no longer going to happen. I am not saying that there is no room for a small player. They simply do not play in the premier league, but in the second or third division. Fine for those who do not need a star player, but manufacturers do. The argument about the lack of branches is also not valid. With 36 branches, John Deere still has a nationwide network.

No village blacksmith
I can agree with the comments that the current large dealer importers are impersonal, expensive and less flexible. The fact is that it is reality. The time of the village blacksmith is over. He can no longer repair your tractor with CVT transmission, RTK GPS and Isobus steering. So let's be careful with the companies that are still there. Better one dealer than no dealer, I think.

Niels van der Boom

Niels van der Boom is a senior market specialist for arable crops at DCA Market Intelligence. He mainly makes analyses and market updates about the potato market. In columns he shares his sharp view on the arable sector and technology.

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.

Selection Most read
Comments
7 comments
Subscriber
the tenderloin 14 February 2025
This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/column/10911938/beter-eacute-eacute-n-dealer-dan-helemaal-geen-dealer]Better one dealer than no dealer at all[/url]
I would like to add some nuance to this article because if you didn't see this coming it does seem a bit like the writer has been living under the proverbial pavement for the past few months. But hey, you didn't hear any farmer or contractor complaining that they could buy equipment below the purchase price of bankrupts so they shouldn't complain now that they can't go to their dealer and this at the expense of the turnover and credibility of other mechanization companies and that made it clear that the situation was tense. In any case, this is all the result of Deere's dealer strategy, although it is questionable whether it fits in a frog country like the Netherlands. In any case, you can wonder whether Deere has mapped out all the consequences properly because their image is suffering a certain dent and a lot of skilled workers will disappear from the Deere circuit. Perhaps other mechanization companies can still profit from this because skilled workers are scarce in this sector
Subscriber
juun 14 February 2025
They will be paid by the UWV for 6 weeks, so they still have that time.
beet grower 15 February 2025
this is what you get when everything has to be bigger and more, liebau used to have 2 great companies in Roosendaal and made, but no, it has to be bigger from the national body blah blah it has only become more impersonal. and 1 big bubble around the main product which means you can no longer be sharp buildings/too many staff/itc/too big/Loch and then still want to sell at or below cost price as a large body which is not possible at all. if you want to be on the ball and sell sharply, you are best off with a small or medium-sized dealer, the boss the representative and no further empty costs. I think that brands like case/styer/claas/deutz/valtra have this better under control. a village Smit/dealer is still very much of this time, in fact these are the ones who stay in the game until the end. it is not about turnover but about keeping costs low
Subscriber
henki 15 February 2025
beet grower wrote:
this is what you get when everything has to be bigger and more, liebau used to have 2 great companies in Roosendaal and made, but no, it has to be bigger from the national body blah blah it has only become more impersonal. and 1 big bubble around the main product which means you can no longer be sharp buildings/too many staff/itc/too big/Loch and then still want to sell at or below cost price as a large body which is not possible at all. if you want to be on the ball and sell sharply, you are best off with a small or medium-sized dealer, the boss the representative and no further empty costs. I think that brands like case/styer/claas/deutz/valtra have this better under control. a village Smit/dealer is still very much of this time, in fact these are the ones who stay in the game until the end. it is not about turnover but about keeping costs low
exact !
Subscriber
well 15 February 2025
If you had a little insight into the supply that Groenoord and Kraakman offer in their used car section, you would see a lot of new stuff for a high price. That is all pre-financed stock that is not going away. In addition, you could see for months on both their social media channels that the deliveries were becoming less and less. So there was indeed a trend that things were not going well (the rumors about Kraakman are of a similar nature as Groenoord, although they will not let the whole thing collapse so quickly). The fact that Groenoord collapsed is of course faster than expected, but there are all kinds of stories about that too. And the loss of Baywa did not come from the mechanization side, but mainly from the green energy side (windmills and solar panels)
Subscriber
Jan Bekkens 17 February 2025
Mechanics were busy but too many who did not contribute enough to the return
Subscriber
switcher 21 February 2025
beet grower wrote:
this is what you get when everything has to be bigger and more, liebau used to have 2 great companies in Roosendaal and made, but no, it has to be bigger from the national body blah blah it has only become more impersonal. and 1 big bubble around the main product which means you can no longer be sharp buildings/too many staff/itc/too big/Loch and then still want to sell at or below cost price as a large body which is not possible at all. if you want to be on the ball and sell sharply, you are best off with a small or medium-sized dealer, the boss the representative and no further empty costs. I think that brands like case/styer/claas/deutz/valtra have this better under control. a village Smit/dealer is still very much of this time, in fact these are the ones who stay in the game until the end. it is not about turnover but about keeping costs low
that's how it is, jd is dropping in sales everywhere, also in neighboring countries. Now just a Case.
You can no longer respond.

What are the current quotations?

View and compare prices and rates yourself

Call our customer service +0320(269)528

or mail to support@boerenbusiness.nl

do you want to follow us?

Receive our free Newsletter

Current market information in your inbox every day

Register

Our houses

Arable Milk & Food Dutch Milk price calculator Pigs & Feed Market data Futures

About Boerenbusiness

About Us Corporate subscriptions My Boerenbusiness Vacancies Boerenbusiness

Our customer service

Get in touch Frequently Asked Questions Advertise