May I presumably be the final person to wish you all a Happy New Year!
It's good to be back with you, bringing you all the news relevant to the independent dealer trade each week. Once again in 2018 you can count on us to be here every Friday, in addition to the bi-monthly paper magazine - the most recent of which you should have hopefully received this week.
One of the items which we're kicking off this new year with today has become a bit of a tradition, where we look back to see which stories our readers were most interested in during the previous year. As you would expect, like the Top Ten we compiled 12 months ago, today's list also veers towards the dramatic. The news items included swing between the very positive (for example revealing the Dealer of the Year award winners) to the outright depressing (the dealer who suffered from card fraud following a break-in).
Also amongst the highest opened stories last year are a couple which more than anything generate a sense of uncertainly amongst dealers - I'm thinking of STIHL's announcement that they would be selling some cordless products through non-traditional servicing dealers and Husqvarna's that they would be piloting a pay-per-use hire-box scheme.
I guess what this does show is that there is a definite appetite out there for information, with people always fascinated about change in its many forms.
As an interesting aside I, like perhaps many of you, choose to subscribe to the American trade association, the OPEI's email newsletter. The final one of 2017 which they sent out did a similar thing to what we're doing today, in that they also collected together the most read stories from their publication during last year.
For those that don't see it, their publication is slightly different to ours in that they tend to collate links to other sources around the web, pointing their readers in the direction of stories that they think will be of interest to them.
To my surprise and delight, the first item on their most read list for 2017 was a link to a story from this Service Dealer Weekly Update! The news item in question was regarding Husqvarna revealing their new professional identity back in May.
Interestingly that particular story doesn't make our top ten most opened. As mentioned it was a different story regarding Husqvarna which seemingly held more interest for our mostly UK-based dealer readership.
Again though, the interest in the theme of change is clear to see. Therefore, Service Dealer intends to keep you up to date throughout the year, covering all that's developing in our industry.
As ever, please keep us informed of anything you feel ourselves and our wider community should be aware of. We are always delighted to hear from our readers. We hope it's that close relationship which keeps us relevant and keeps you interested year-round.
Who knows what the industry has in store for 2018? What might occur which ends up becoming our most opened stories this time next year? It will as ever be a fascinating and unexpected ride. And just maybe, with our optimistic hat on for a moment, it could be a wholly positive story which claims that coveted number one spot next January!