Cenex

If you ask a farmer who the leading suppliers of lubricants are in the US you will typically hear the familiar names of such majors as Shell, Chevron, Mobil, ConocoPhillps, and Citgo. But in addition, there is also a very good chance you will hear one or two more names, and you can be sure that one will be Cenex. That's because Cenex is one of the leading lubricant brands in the agribusiness sector. So what is Cenex and why is it now important for lubricant distributors to hear about them?

One reason is because Cenex is now looking to leverage the brand equity it enjoys in the agribusiness sector to grow its lubricants business in other markets. This includes a brand new (slick) look for its packaging, more robust staffing, and business opportunities for the "right" distributors.

Subscribe to Jobbers World today to find out what you need to know about Cenex.

New Products to Old Markets, and Old Products to To New

All the buzz in the lubricants business over the last month has been about ExxonMobil's new family of high endurance motor oils. It's making quite a splash. In fact, if you attended the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 in Las Vegas during the second week in March, you might have thought the race was the Mobil Clean 5000, 7500, or 15,000. Advertising for these new brands was huge!

Promotions for the brand could be seen on a fleet of taxis and trucks wrapped with Mobil's colors, and rolling billboards signing its praises. Planes were seen pulling banners across the sky advertising these new products and rumor has it that 65,000 Mobil tattoos were distributed by a small army of smiling faces hired by ExxonMobil to get the word out. There were speedway signs, charity poker challenges, Mobil 1 hats, thousands of branded concession trays, radio and television advertisements, race cars, and other forms of marketing to make sure that anyone and everyone in attendance at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 heard about Mobil's new products.

Introducing this new product line was a bold and strategically brilliant move on the part of ExxonMobil and there is little doubt that ExxonMobil will enjoy significant growth because of it.

Not to take anything away from ExxonMobil, but sometimes less can be more. And maybe that will turn out to be the case with Shell (SOPUS). Because while ExxonMobil is making plenty of noise bringing new products to existing markets, SOPUS appears to be quietly laying the groundwork for success by doing quite the opposite. Find out more by subscribing to Jobbers World.

How to Win Bids in the Lubricants Business

There are two fundamental requirements a lubricant marketer must meet to win a bid; pricing being one. Although some might think the lowest price is the more important of the two, it's actually not. Instead, the most important requirement necessary to win a bid is to be in compliance with the invitation for bid and the bid solicitor's purchasing policy. If you're not, your price is irrelevant. And beyond being a waste of time, a rejected bid can also sting because it provides the competition with insights into your pricing.

Once a bid has been accepted, all eyes then move to price. In most cases, price will determine who is awarded the contract. Because of this, a lubricant marketer needs to do its homework. This homework starts with a review of previous bid tabulations and bid award histories for any open bid contracts being bid and other similar bid tabulations in the marketer's geographic area of influence. In addition, it can also be very beneficial for a marketer to take a wider look at the bid activity for the company that was previously awarded the contract.

Subscribe to Jobbers World and ask for a copy of the February issue for the complete story and summary of 2004 Bid Prices for selected commerical and industrial lubricants. We did the homework for you!