Pep Boys 2012 Annual Report Download - page 43

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Deliver customer experiences that are ‘‘beyond expectations’’. We strive to be friendly, do it right,
show compassion and keep promises with each and every customer. We are in the early stages of a new
training program designed to teach our associates how to enhance the customer experience through
building relationships with our customers. Before addressing a customer’s immediate need, our
associates are being taught to build rapport with the customer that will not only lead to customer
satisfaction with the current transaction, but will lead to the customer choosing Pep Boys for all of their
automotive needs in the future. Information gathered through our rewards program, customer surveys
and focus groups helps us to understand the customer experience that our target customer segments
expect and the services and products that will best meet their needs and desires.
Provide the best assortment and shopping experience in the automotive aftermarket. We begin
by being a full service—tire, maintenance and repair—shop. Our full service capabilities, ASE
(Automotive Service Excellence) certified technicians and continuous investment in training and
equipment allow customers to rely on us for all of their automotive maintenance and repair needs—
from replacing the oil in their engine to replacing the engine itself. By offering a broad assortment of
branded and private label products, we enjoy a competitive advantage over many of our DIFM
competitors.
The size of our Supercenters allows us to provide the highest level of replacement parts coverage
and the broadest range of maintenance, performance and appearance products and accessories in the
industry. We are able to leverage our Superhub stores, which have a larger assortment of product than
our normal Supercenter, to satisfy customer needs for slow-moving product by delivering this product
to requesting Supercenters on demand. We are also expanding our Speed Shops, a store-in-a-store
within existing Supercenters that creates a differentiated retail experience for automotive enthusiasts by
stocking high-performance and specialty products. We are similarly focused on price optimization and
inventory rationalization opportunities.
We are currently testing a new market concept that we call ‘‘The Road Ahead,’’ which recently
began with a re-grand opening of our West Hillsboro, Florida location. Designed around the shopping
habits of our target customer segments, this concept enhances the entire store—our people, the product
assortment, its exterior and interior look and feel and the marketing programs—to learn how we can be
successful in attracting more of these target customers and earn a greater share of their annual spend
in the automotive aftermarket.
Tell our story internally and externally. It is essential to our success that our associates and
consumers understand our vision and brand position. In recent years, our brand position has been PEP
BOYS DOES EVERYTHING. FOR LESS. This positioning was designed to convey to consumers the
breadth and depth of the automotive services and products that we offer and our value proposition. As
we believe that consumers have now come to understand the breadth and depth of our offerings and
give us credit for our value proposition, our attention has turned to focusing on the customer
experience that we believe our target customer segments desire, but have been unable to find in the
automotive aftermarket. Consistent with our strategy described above, our brand positioning in fiscal
2013 will begin to shift from a more promotional message to a more customer service oriented
message. We are conveying this message to our associates through corporate communications and
leadership training. Meanwhile, we are developing tailored marketing plans for our target customer
segments. These marketing programs will include TV and radio promotions and be complemented with
digital media, direct marketing, grass-roots and print campaigns.
STORE IMPROVEMENTS
In fiscal 2012, our capital expenditures totaled $54.7 million which, in addition to our regularly-
scheduled facility improvements, included the addition of 20 Service & Tire Centers, six Supercenters,
the conversion of seven Supercenters into Superhubs, the addition of 17 Speed Shops within existing
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