Advantage Mobility Outfitters, an affiliate of Special Tree Rehabilitation System, offers individuals with physical limitations the opportunity to access their community through making vehicles handicap accessible. In operation since 1979, the relatively small company sells, modifies and services vehicles that will accommodate this population. Advantage is a licensed Braun vehicle dealer, requiring them to both sell a specified number of Braun vehicles each year to maintain their license and to stay within designated service areas.

Current Frame of Reference

Target Market. Advantage provides services to all individuals with mobility needs, however, the most common customers are individuals that have been involved in motor vehicle accidents. These individuals are accompanied by an interdisciplinary rehabilitation team that assists them in choosing their vehicle and all of the necessary accommodations. In order to receive full insurance funding for the vehicle, the team must gather 3 estimates from different dealers. The insurance company then encourages the customer and their team to purchase the vehicle that produced the lowest bid; however, the customer has the right to choose any of the companies that they would like. As a result of this purchasing structure, the current target market of Advantage is the entire interdisciplinary care team and the individual with physical limitations. The insurance companies would not be a part of the target market groups because they have no decision making power over the customer. The other interdisciplinary team members cannot make the decision, but they ultimately persuade the customer toward the company with which they have a relationship.

Competitors. With one small dealership and service garage in Wayne, Advantage is currently a market follower in the local mobility vehicle industry. Mobility Works, a nation wide organization, has the majority of the market share. Gresham Mobility, with three locations in the Detroit Metro area, is their only true market challenger. When an organization becomes a Braun dealer, other Braun dealers become the only players within your category membership. Service stations that are capable of modifying vehicles to accommodate individuals with disabilities are considered secondary competition.

Mobility Works is able to dominate the market based on economies of scale and secondary associations. Braun’s pricing structure is set up to provide incentives to dealerships that can place more vehicles on their lot. For example, the price of 5 vehicles on your lot is much more per vehicle than if you are able to place 10 vehicles on your lot. When the insurance companies push the customer to choose the lowest bid, Mobility Works is able to cut the bid lower than Advantage based on the overall lower costs of the vehicles. Mobility Works is also able to leverage secondary associations. The organization has formed a strong relationship with the University of Michigan Health System, which encourages their former patients to shop for their vehicle at their location. They also have a wheelchair bound staff member that was a former patient of the system to quietly demand credibility.

Gresham Mobility also exercises the same advantage with economies of scale. They are able to place more vehicles on their lot than Advantage. However, Gresham’s primary advantage is proximity. Although Mobility Works is nation wide, they only have one facility in the area. Gresham has 3 facilities, which provides the customer with a sense of convenience if anything were to go wrong with their vehicle and they were not close to their primary dealership.

Same Customers/Same Products

Mobility Works

Gresham Mobility

Clock Mobility

Various Service Facilities

Different Customers/Same Product

Various Car Dealerships

Various Automobile Manufacturers

Same Customers/Different