From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
European sales performance, market expansion, and business strategy for 1914.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 180\M3\M3.3\ img016 | |
| Date | 21th October 1913 guessed | |
| N° 2. at our disposal we could easily have sold them. France. With regard to FRANCE, the position has greatly improved, especially in respect to the Coachbuilders and Intermediaries, from whom we are now receiving firm orders, and it is practically certain that the demand from this quarter will steadily and seriously increase. There are certain European markets which we have not as yet touched so to say, viz., Germany, Holland, Belgium, &c., and these markets are just beginning to open up negotiations with us; in fact we have already begun to effect sales for Germany. As to the North and South American markets, of course there is an immense future for our chassis, from which direction the demand is daily increasing. The profits on sales will evidently be effected by the fact that the coachbuilders and most of the retailers in France abandon a large proportion of their discount to their clients, in consequence there will be a steady falling off of retail sales. The majority of sales are made with a commission of 15%; the average, however, would be slightly lower, as the first sales to retailers ranged from 10% to 15%. The expenses for advertising are extremely low, the reason for which being that most of our clients do our advertising by recommending our mark to their friends. The French clientèle is steadily improving, and this, in my opinion has been greatly enhanced by the very active and useful propaganda carried out by our social adviser - Mr André de Fouquières. A kind of tacit resistance which was very noticeable during the first two years of our business in France on the part of the coachbuilders and retailers, has so to say disappeared, and on the contrary some of them, Messrs Rothschild and Kellner in particular, have become most useful agents of the Company. The success of the French Branch has also been contributed to in a large way by the useful and interesting recommendations of the French directors. With regard to sales for 1914, we are starting on this new financial period under very encouraging auspices, and have already sold 47 chassis allotted to that financial year, so that there remains at the present moment out of the 168 chassis allotted to the Continental business for 1914, only 121 chassis still to sell. Spain. Mr de Salamanca has been a most useful and active agent not only in Spain, but also particularly in Russia, the business of which was really prepared by him; thanks to his intimacy with the Princes Orloff and Dolgorouky, &c., which did much towards enabling us to make a sale to His Majesty The Emperor of Russia. The sales in Spain have been important and interesting, especially since Mr de Salamanca won for us the Gundarrama Trial. | ||