A few weeks ago, I got into my car and completed the usual pre-drive procedure (check mirrors, plug in iPod etc). I started the car and noticed that the gas tank was empty. Great, I thought, another trip to the gas station. I put my foot on the accelerator and noticed something really odd. The speedometer dial wasn’t moving. I tried it out a few more times to no avail. I put 2 and 2 together and realised that must’ve been why the tank was on empty to. I drove the car to my local Kia garage (calm down it was only a couple of blocks away) and asked them to check it out. They said it’d be a couple of hours (apparently they were busy) so I walked home. They called me back later that day and told me that a tiny but important part was damaged and needed to be replaced. They then told me that the part had to be ordered from Toronto. A few days pass and I decide to call to check up on the car. They said that they checked but didn’t have the part in Toronto and that they’d have to order it from Korea. With all the recent trouble in Korea, it’s taken a lot longer than expected. A whole month later and I still don’t have my car back. Luckily they gave me a courtesy car.

So what was the point of this long-winded story? To show how ineffective Kia’s channel structure is. Take a look at this diagram showing some generic channel structures:

An important aspect of an effective channel structure is strong facilitation of information throughout the channel. In Kia’s case, I’m convinced that it’s not so strong. Kia did not immediately know that there were no parts in Toronto, instead they had to wait several days for confirmation. If they had a good inventory information system, they would have known there were no parts in Toronto, but instead I had to wait. The delay has negatively impacted my view of Kia and the trust I have with the brand has weakened. I knew I should have got a Ford…