[Shomare]

You know this back and forth about Ford did me wrong, I pre ordered my ST and now It looks like dealers will get dealer stock before I get my car.


This discussion usually pops up within threads and doesn't have its own dedicated thread so I thought we should have one.

Let me get the ball rolling. Because I'm obsessed with the whole pre order ordeal, I started by looking at what is a pre order.

Pre-order - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A pre-order is an order placed for an item which has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores due to their popularity. Companies were then given the idea to allow people to reserve their own personal copy, before the release, which has been a huge success. Pre-orders allow consumers to guarantee immediate delivery on release, manufacturers can gauge how much demand there will be and hence how large initial production runs should be, and sellers can be assured of minimum sales. Additionally, high pre-order rates can be used to generate publicity to further increase sales.

Pre-order incentive, also known as pre-order bonus, is a marketing tactic whereby a retailer or manufacturer/publisher of a product (usually a book or video game) encourages buyers to reserve a copy of the product at the store prior to its release.Reasons for this vary, typically publishers wish to ensure strong initial sales for a product, and the offered incentive is used to induce shoppers (who might otherwise wait for positive reviews or a specific shopping period like the holiday season) to commit to a purchase. Having paid for part or all of the purchase when placing the order, these consumers will usually complete the transaction shortly after the product's release, often on its first day in stores. Individual stores or retail chains may also offer bonuses for a popularly anticipated product, to ensure that the customer chooses to buy at that location, rather than from a competitor.
The pre-order bonus may be as simple as a discount on the item's purchase price or other related merchandise (another marketing strategy), or may consist of an actual item or set of items. These items may be related merchandise or exclusive items available only through the pre-order program.

So, if we take this definition of what a pre orders is, marketing 101 would suggest we got exactly what was promised. A guarantee that we will be able to purchase a ST, and, a camera for being one of the first to step forward and order a yet on the market car.

My assumption was that because we were pre ordering our cars we would be at the top of the list for delivery, first come first serve. It would seem that this isn't the case.

Now we know the pre orders have a deadline of August and that the magic 1000 number wasn't even close to being reached. The suggestion that there would be such demand for the car that it would be difficult to obtain, (pre order yours now!) is simply marketing hype.:yay:

I am content to wait for delivery day, what every that may be and will be have to accept that I got played by Ford and assumed too much in regard to what my pre order status guaranteed me.

 

[Baron164]

I never really cared all that much if I got my car ahead of the dealers. I just figured the pre-orders were a way for Ford to judge the demand for the car. Only reason I pre-ordered anyway was to get the camera since I figured I'd by the car when it came out anyway. I am disappointed that I probably won't get my car until October and will have to immediately put winter tires on it. But I still have my current vehicle and I'm not as obsessed or as upset about the situation as some people are. I'm use to pre-ordering video games (something I've been doing less and less but still) the process is similar, you put your order in and it gets shipped to you so if you have he item when it's released. But retailers still get their copies before you get yours so your in no way getting it before anyone else. Like everything else it comes down to perception and expectations. As this is my first time ordering a vehicle I did not have any expectations of how the process would go other than it would be long and annoying. My friend ordered a Golf R and had to wait close to 8 months for it to be built and shipped across the pond from Germany. I also don't blame Ford since they never told me I would have the car by a certain date since that is a process that is mostly subject to a lot of possible issues that we as a community has discovered. Now they could have been more up front about some of the delays etc but I feel that most likely they can't say for certain for various reasons. Such as they can't be 100% sure when a supply issue will be resolved etc. All in all I will wait patiently for my car and hope there isn't snow on the ground when it gets delivered.

 

[BDD]

Concur Shomare – We’ve “PUNKED” ourselves

 

[SilverBullet]

Thank You Shomare!! I couldn't agree more. I never got the impression from Ford nor did they tell me I would receive the car before dealers did. I have a small dealer so I would have had to order it anyway and the camera was a bonus.

 

[FocusDreamin]

I always saw preordering as a way to get the exact options and color I wanted rather than having to search local inventory and taking the chance of settling for something else.

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[jthj]

I figured I would order either way as with the low allocation I wouldn't easily find the color options I wanted. The camera incentive put me over the top. And I do think I will have my car faster this way vs waiting for release then ordering.

However, the wait is still annoying. I just don't think Ford is being deceiving or anything.


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[TehSlow]

Personally, I dont want one of the first to leave the factory. I'm going to wait 2-3 months until I order. The standard Focus has been out for a while, so I don't think there are going to be any problems. But my brain says wait.

 

[Frankenbike]

I think I pretty much understood that pre-ordering was a hedge against scarcity, and also a way to ensure I got exactly the car I wanted. I pretty much assumed that it was going to arrive when the dealer cars arrived, because it would be tremendously wasteful to put one or two STs per dealership on a truck and run them around towns.

In a way, I'm glad the ST3s are arriving after the ST1 and ST2s. They're only superficially different, but anything learned from the early production models could be applied to the later ST3 run, given the flexibility of the Wayne plant.

 

[higgrit]

Pre-orders for anything usually only involves an extra or perk. But I've never taken it as priority over everyone. Just think about video game releases, pre-orders are for the hardcores! Luckily I pre-ordered but it was ordered as dealer stock priority 10 and still got confirmed for the GoPro.

 

[faST]

Pre-orders for anything usually only involves an extra or perk. But I've never taken it as priority over everyone. Just think about video game releases, pre-orders are for the hardcores! Luckily I pre-ordered but it was ordered as dealer stock priority 10 and still got confirmed for the GoPro.

Priority 10 is retail. From what I understand:

Retail orders are given a priority of 10-19, Stock orders get 20 and up.

My order was a priority 10. But that number is relative to the dealer only, not Ford entirely. So if they have 2 ST's ordered, they may be 10 & 11.

The mystery here is what happens at the factory....what is the logic behind the order they are built? Because its certainly not the order that they are received.

 

[PiSigma]

The mystery here is what happens at the factory....what is the logic behind the order they are built? Because its certainly not the order that they are received.

And the order they are built probably won't be the order they are shipped either......

 

[Chip]

Thanks shomare, I think we all got punked in some way shape or form. I'm sure the people at Ford are laughing about what we are saying, giving that they have been vague about most details on this car.

 

[faST]

And the order they are built probably won't be the order they are shipped either......

Very true. That's another process we can consider to be independent.

I did a quick google of the Ford Allocation system and found this from a Blue Oval Moderator:

It's a fairly complicated formula that is based off your previous year's sales and your available floorspace, and factored into that is the total amount of production scheduled.

Dealer allocation is the number one priority, the number two priority are additional dealer stock orders, and customer orders are number three.

That may seem a bit unfair (it certainly did during the '05 Mustang bonanza), but Ford can't be in the business of altering the allocation procedures for -one- model, nor can they be in the business of alienating their customers (dealers), in order to satisfy the dealers' customers (the car buying public).

While that may sound a bit harsh, custom orders are, by their very nature, odd vehicles. They represent outliers among the car buying public, and if the customer refuses to take delivery of a custom order (happens more often than you'd think), then the dealer is stuck with it--and because it's an odd configuration, stuck is about the right word for it.

Ford Dealer Allocations - Ford Motor Company Discussion Forum - Blue Oval Forums

Also,

5. Scheduling. Scheduling usually happens Thursday night (allocation happens Wed night and we get the results sometime Thursday). Basically its all done by computer (unless something like a priority 01 may be manually scheduled first to make sure it gets scheduled). It lines all the dealers (that have allocation) in some sort of random order. If there are no commodities, this is easy, first dealers unit scheduled, second dealers, third dealers, etc, Once all dealers first allocation has been scheduled they go to the next round and do the same for the dealers that have a second allocation, once everyone’s second is done they go those with a 3rd and so on. Now that’s in a perfect world where there aren't any commodities.
Ford dealer discusses orders and allocation - GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars

So it looks like its random.

 

[faST]

Also interesting to note and perhaps why my order has been scheduled/built already. My dealer ordered a ST3 stock car, which was cancelled. They did not re-order anything else. So next in-line was my retail order, which turned into the first allocation for them. Otherwise, the dealer stock car would have been scheduled first and my car would still be waiting for the #2 allocation scheduling.

 

[Frankenbike]

This would go a long way toward explaining why we were told that our pre-orders wouldn't affect the dealer's allocation. It would have been nice to know those rules ahead of time.

So dealers who aren't douches could order allocation stock that matches our pre-orders to get our cars sooner (when they become available for the ST3 peeps), and can probably work out a deal with Ford to get our pre-orders as future stock to replace them. After all, a sale is a sale. Unless they make the same money on the X-plan cars, they wouldn't have any motivation to do such a swap.

 

[Baron164]

I know my dealer wasn't ordering any ST's so unless I planned on making a trip of it I would have had to order an ST anyway. I almost ordered my last car, they just happened to have one that matched up with what I wanted so I saved myself the hassle.

 

[Shomare]

Unless they make the same money on the X-plan cars, they wouldn't have any motivation to do such a swap.

They make money on all plan deals. I've had them say they wish they could do X Plan on all sales. They make money and the customer is happy. Win-win.



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[PiSigma]

Despite the allocation and scheduling systems it does sound like pre-ordered ST3s will go to the top of the list when the HIDs are available. This posted by Lisa a few hours ago:

I can assure you that no ST3s have been scheduled or built yet and it is our intention to schedule verified retail pre-orders first once ST3 is back online. - Lisa Schoder Focus ST US Brand Manager

 

[Gatorbait]

on the st facebook page Lisa says all registered pre order st1 and st2's will have a vin# in mid to late august.

 

[Shomare]

Yeah, the next two weeks.


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