Following a successful transition of its Mercedes-Benz Brisbane operations into the new Breakfast Creek landmark dealership and its increasing potential as a destination in Brisbane in its own right, the company is coming to the view that creating prestige attractions and activities as a drawcard into the Mercedes-Benz retail environment will give it a key advantage as the conventional dealership business model evolves over time.
The view that there is a role for the model in other cities has been reinforced by the early success of corporate events within the Mercedes-Benz showrooms within the building and the embracing of the building as a culinary base by celebrated chef Shannon Kellam. (See main story)
The managing director of LSH Auto Australia John Good told GoAutoNews Premium that the model would be assessed as it unfolds.
Mr Good said: “The group has ideas of what may evolve in Victoria to move forward with a similar concept. There is a lot of integration of the various pieces to pull together before we can give any details.
“But these are concepts that we can develop, prove and refine here at Breakfast Creek and then we can really springboard into other markets, maybe in different ways but with the core lifestyle concepts.
“So we will take this model, maybe not with the same view as we have here in Brisbane, but there are opportunities to take this type of concept and do something similar in other markets and, more important, something similar internationally.
“So what we have here at Breakfast Creek gives LSH as a company and as a brand substantial differentiation in the eye of the customers.
“When you think about the profile of our Mercedes-Benz customers, they are passionate about the Mercedes-Benz product, passionate about fashion, food and beverage and arts, and this culminates in this type of lifestyle centre and the gastronomic experience we will be offering.
“We are fortunate to have someone like Shannon Kellam come in here because when we do all our customer events we will have the best doing them with us.
“We are already seeing this with the banking and high-net-worth individuals who have already been to functions here.
“Shannon always keeps his menu fresh so he will be providing good reasons for people who have already been here to keep coming back.”
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Mr Good said: “Many companies these days are trying to minimise their touchpoints with their clients but LSH Auto is working to increase the touchpoints with an increasing number of clients. It is very targeted with a very laser-like focus on who are our potential customers and giving them reasons to keep coming here.
“This is the only facility anywhere where Shannon could develop this kind of strategy.
“If he wants to be outsourcing events he has to find a venue, make sure it fits – where does he do the cooking and make it all work? – whereas here it is all in-house. It is a unique concept but for me the bigger picture is the long-term customer experience.
“It comes back to what we were saying originally, you bring your car for service in the morning and you could then spend the whole day in this facility. Have breakfast on the boardwalk, go to the lifestyle centre, have a cooking lesson, use the workspaces to connect to work; it is all there.”
Mr Good said that LSH Group has an integrated business model of property and automotive retail.
“Others look at property as a cost of operation, LSH looks at property as an opportunity to build value and to build that value over the longer term in a city like Brisbane that has a lot more potential for economic growth,” he said.
“We have very strong demographic values in Brisbane and we are also confident we can integrate this business models into other cities as well.
“The lifestyle element is integrally important to the business model but Mercedes-Benz is the anchor tenant and always will be. The business is fundamentally driven around that.
“But these peripheral like-minded brands that come in will drive the experience and drive the differentiation. So Shannon Kellam with the restaurant is a key integral part and that is why we want to get that up and running first.
“That will help with the customer experience and spreading the awareness of what is happening here out into the wider community, and additionally there will be other lifestyle tenants coming in as well.
“So it is not only a dealership and a restaurant. Sport is another area where our customers are focused. In terms of that we will get the other pieces of the lifestyle package as something that is very different and unique.
“The idea is to have areas of health and wellbeing which the property team are focusing on as well and that links into beauty. So there could be a beauty salon and hairdresser which we are considering at the moment.
“We also want a very upmarket business centre built around the attributes of a chairman’s club lounge where customers could be waiting for their car to be serviced and getting on with business. There could be ideas such as meeting rooms and video conferencing and so you could have a meeting, have a nice lunch, got back to the meeting and book a table for the group for dinner in the evening.
“The idea is that we maximise their engagement and minimise their downtime so that it is not an inconvenience to take their car in for service, it is actually a pleasure.”
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