In the US Nissan Dealers Still Getting REDI (Retail Environment Initiative)

In the US, Nissan Dealers Still Getting REDI

Nissan's initiative to bring a fresh image to its dealerships - to correspond with the brand's resurgence - is coming along, report Nissan

North America officials. Nationally, about half of Nissan's 1100 dealerships have decided to participate in the NREDI (Nissan Retail Environment Design Initiative) program; more than 300 of those facilities are complete, while another 250 are in the design stage. NREDI began in 2001, when brand-strategy and design experts at Lippincott Mercer were hired to help develop Nissan's global brand image. One of the main aims of the program was to give the dealership the same brand identity that was being projected through marketing and promotions. But it calls for a whole new layout for dealerships, not just cosmetic details. Under the new plan, the sales, service, and parts departments are fully integrated, with parts and service no longer out in back. Many dealers have opted to build new stores; an example is Cool Springs Nissan, an NREDI-completed dealership that will be less than two miles from Nissan's new national headquarters in Tennessee. Windows and open floor space are an important part of this initiative - customers can now see the service check-in area from the showroom, and the parts department is directly adjacent to the showroom. The program remains optional for dealers, with some money available from NNA, though most of the bill is footed by the dealerships themselves. Nissan says that NREDI dealerships are showing evidence that the formula works, though: in 2004, NREDI-completed dealerships showed an average 57 percent sales growth, versus 33 percent nationwide for the entire sales force.
-Bengt Halvorson (The carconnection)