CPFilms Going Direct to Dealers for Northeast Distribution

Solutia® Inc. has announced that effective January 7, its CPFilms® business will go to a dealer-direct distribution model in the Northeast. The St. Louis-based company says its Martinsville, Va.-based window film business will begin working directly with its dealers in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and New York. As a result, the company will discontinue its relationship with SAGR Products International in Gettysburg, Pa., its past Northeast distributor.

Representatives from CPFilms say its revised strategy is designed to allow greater penetration into the Northeast market.

“By partnering directly with our dealers, we’ll be able to maximize the potential of the market as we help them grow their businesses,” says Kent Davies, vice president of Solutia and president of its CPFilms business.

Terri Fair, general manager for SAGR, says this move will impact SAGR significantly, but luckily the company has plenty of other automotive accessory products on which to fall back. Fair says she believes this has come as quite a shock for CPFilms’ dealers.

“I think this has been a shock for most of them,” she says. “When something just gets thrown at you like that, it leaves you unsure. I think they were very confident and secure, because they had worked with us for so long.”

Solutia says this move required substantial investments in creating an infrastructure of support, including additional resources in sales, marketing and customer service, among other areas. But Davies’ says the well thought-out plan should provide CPFilms with a greater market share by providing greater intimacy with the company’s dealers.

“This is a move that features our dealers’ success as the number-one objective,” He explains. “We will succeed through them.”

For complete details, including dealer reactions and details from an exclusive interview with CPFilms and SAGR, see the Newsworthy section of WINDOW FILM’s January-February edition.