Rim Trends in Powder Coating

Powder coating rims: In their first attempt to better identify current trends in powder coating, MauiPowderWorks.com recently conducted a survey of powder coaters, specifically: Rim Trends in Powder Coating.

Survey objective statement:
“Our hope is to either validate what you are seeing in your own business or enlighten you on key indicators for growth. At the end of this report, we will attempt to use the findings to make suggestions on what strategies could work best for either attracting new clientele or service offering”.

You can see the actual survey results here.

Based on the feedback from the survey takers of Rim Trends in Powder Coating, they
have comprised a short report of the survey results:

Technical results
Of the 73 unique visitors to the survey link 30% completed the form.
“Considering this is our first-ever survey, we consider it a fair result”.

The highest number of respondents came from the East Coast at 40.9%. Followed by 31.8% coming from outside the US like Canada or Asia-Pacific region. The Midlands were 13.6% which is considered as primarily the midwest through the southern states. 9.1% were from the southwest and 4.5% from the Northwest US.

Survey taker results
Almost 60% had been powder coating for only 1-5 years. The rest of the respondents(40%) had either 5-10 yrs or over 10 yrs experience in powder coating. As expected over 60% did more than just automotive rim powder coating but a surprising number only focused on rim coating exclusively. Almost all serviced both motorcycle and vehicle restoration clients.

Key takeaways
With the bulk of respondents being early-stage coaters (under 5 years of experience) and the
majority of customers wanting to stand out or make a statement on the road, powder coating
rims is definitely beginning to become a more mainstream service.

The largest part of the market is the “everyday guy” who wants to not just turn heads but is possibly seeking longevity to extending the life of their car or motorcycle.

Solid simple color looks like blacks and whites using single-stage powders are clearly the
choice for most customers.

Two-stage application like transparent and illusions is something to pay close attention to or possibly think about including as a service because over 35% are already doing this full-time.

Regionally, based on the opinion poll about where trends are going locally, there were highly
diverse responses:
Some said going back to basics or factory looks. Others were seeing more extreme customizing using two-tones, flakes, two-stage transparent or illusions. Still, others weren’t sure or worried about being able to sustain their rims business as they were seeing a transition to fewer cars on the road in their area.

Questions to think about or respond to:
Are you doing enough in your business to market and attract the everyday customer right now? If no, why?

Are you continuing to expand services to include exotic finishes like two-tones and two-stage
illusions? If not why?

Are your powder suppliers delivering color selections based on these key trends presented in
the report?

In the distant future, could bulk transportation like Uber, bus, driverless cars, and rideshare
eventually reduce the number of rim restoration and refinishing as more people switch to using these modes of travel or will the everyday guy continue to own vehicles and motorcycles?

powder coated rims

Suggested approaches to the market for you, as a coater, to consider:

The most popular style on the road today is solid colors primarily blacks and whites.
Unless you specialize in automotive coatings only, continue with having basic colors as in-stock or regularly carried.

Focus promotion and advertising featuring basic color projects. Use them to garner the most in sales and drive customer growth.

Show posts that explain to customers what they can expect when they come to you for service.

Here are some suggestions:
Before & Afters
Customer Review Posts(with basic colors)
Video Posts showing solid color rims

However, you might be thinking of scaling your skill level to two coat colors and two-tones in order to access the demographic willing to spend more exotic or two-tone finishes.

Place yourself within your market to show off your new skill level and feature how you got there, the struggle it took to achieve it and celebrate your content.

Here are some suggestions.

Color Aspiration posts
Story/Awareness posts (how were you challenged this week)
Customer/Project Featured posts

Approaches to rim customer target audience:

If you’re still finding out who your rim client is, then first think about your dream customer or the client you want to attract.

Write a physical description of who they are, what they do for a living, how much money they make so they can afford your pricing (a little positive affirmation never hurts). What kind of car, truck etc do they drive? Are they “everyday” customers or do they participate in car shows. Describe them to a tee.

Once you do this exercise you should be able to create a marketing campaign or post around them.
Answer the following questions as best you can:

What can you post to: help, inform, motivate, inspire, entertain, connect with them
How should your Instagram feed look like to appeal to them?
Are there other social platforms I should be engaging in? Twitter, Linkedin, etc?

Here are 12 Instagram/FB post ideas:

1. “About you” / personal posts
2. Quotes
3. Tutorials, how-to, educational posts
4. Customers’ experiences / reviews
5. Photos that reflect your brand
6. Ask a question
7. Fun photos
8. Post about your product or service, provide an offer, or direct people to your website
9. Give ideas of how to use/style your product(s)
10. Before / Afters
11. Behind the Scenes
12. Work in progress

Maui Powder Works would love to hear your feedback on this report.
What did you think of it? How will you implement what you discovered in the report into your business? Did we miss anything?

Finally: what would you like to know more about? What subject should we survey next?
Send us an email: Info@MauiPowderWorks.com

Maui Powder Works
142 Kupuohi Street, Ste F5
Lahaina, HI 96761
808-667-9690