Trade Show Highlights for Motorsports Parts Manufacturers

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SEMA Member News—November/December 2014

Trade Show Highlights for Motorsports Parts Manufacturers

Last year’s MPMC Hall of Fame inductees were honored at a breakfast celebration during the PRI Show. For 2014, the induction ceremony will take place during a Friday reception from 5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

Last year’s MPMC Hall of Fame inductees were honored at a breakfast celebration during the PRI Show. For 2014, the induction ceremony will take place during a Friday reception from 5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

The fall and winter months are busy for members of SEMA’s Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council (MPMC), as many exhibit at both the SEMA Show in Las Vegas and the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show in Indianapolis. These shows represent two of the biggest weeks of the year for MPMC members. Though much of the council’s focus is placed on preparing a lineup of events for the December PRI Show, MPMC will also power two seminars at the 2014 SEMA Show. Eugene Zelek Jr., co-chair of the antitrust and trade regulation group for Freeborn & Peters LLP, has designed these back-to-back sessions to help members navigate the ins and outs of pricing policies.
  • Pricing Policies 101: Combating Resale Price Erosion With Resale Price and Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policies—Adopting a New Policy or Improving an Existing One

Monday, November 3, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m., Las Vegas Convention Center, Room N253

This is everything you wanted to know about pricing policies but didn’t know who to ask. Resale price erosion is an increasingly common problem faced by suppliers. It is caused by corrosive competition among traditional resellers and those with lower costs of doing business, such as online sellers. Various lawful approaches that a supplier can take to prevent or manage this situation will be discussed in a realistic, no-nonsense fashion, along with which options might work best in particular circumstances.

  • Pricing Policies 201: Advanced Topics—Once You Have a Good Resale Price or MAP Policy, What to Do With It and the Issues That Arise

Monday, November 3, 2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m., Las Vegas Convention Center, Room N253

This interactive program will discuss effective pricing policy management and enforcement, including such things as successfully dealing with powerful resellers (online and otherwise), account or channel-specific variations, cheat avoidance and coping with the parade of excuses. Other practical topics include policy add-ons, internal enforcement guidelines, violation letters and distribution agreements. Participants are encouraged to raise other subjects of interest.

MPMC Offerings at the 2014 PRI Show

The 27th annual PRI Show will take place at the Indiana Convention Center December 11–13, 2014. Each year, the trade-only show brings in more than 48,000 buyers and 1,200 exhibitors from all over the world.

The week will kick start for MPMC members with an open meeting on Wednesday, December 10, from 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m., providing a networking and brainstorming opportunity. Lunch will also be served to attendees following the meeting.

Last year, MPMC hosted its first-ever Education Day at the PRI Show, and the council looks forward to bringing the event back in 2014 with a few adjustments and new features. The 2014 event, titled “New Racing Products in the Fast Lane,” will feature three 30-minute sessions on Wednesday afternoon. Guests will have their choice of three presentations, which will run concurrently. Each of the nine presentations will be focused on cutting-edge products from MPMC members, allowing attendees to learn more about the ins and outs of the parts in a casual, small-group setting. Since it is still a new and growing program, the council leadership is hopeful that moving the event to the Wednesday prior to the Show’s opening will allow more members a chance to attend the sessions.

Hall of Fame

Always an important part of PRI week, the MPMC Hall of Fame immortalizes those who have made a significant contribution to MPMC or to the motorsports parts manufacturing segment as a whole. Nominations are collected from the MPMC general membership each year, and an MPMC Hall of Fame task force votes on the final selection of inductees based on stringent criteria. Last year, Bob Ritzman, Dennis Overholser and the late Earl Gaerte were inducted for their contributions to the racing industry.

In the past, MPMC Hall of Fame inductees have been honored at a Friday-morning breakfast, but the council will switch it up a bit this year. To make the event a little more convenient for the general membership at the 2014 Show, the formal induction ceremony will take place during a reception from 5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. on Friday in the Indiana Convention Center. Attendees will have the chance to network over drinks and hors d’oeuvres.

All in all, the PRI Show provides a week that allows MPMC members to gather information and make connections that can bolster business throughout the year. For more information about any of these events, contact Council Director Jim Skelly at 909-978-6690 or jimsk@sema.org.