Date of Award

1-1-1970

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Marketing

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze the marketing practices involved in leasing farm equipment by selected independently owned and operated farm equipment dealers in North Dakota. The data, for this study was obtained by personal interviews of farm equipment dealers who lease.

Farm equipment retailing has its origins in the hardware store of the nineteenth century. Retailing of farm equipment in North Dakota, began in the late 1800's. The North Dakota. Implement Dealers Association was formed in 1899.

Leasing is a relatively new method of marketing farm equipment. Farm equipment lessors felt that adequate capital was the most important factor in establishing a leasing firm. Evidence indicates that a dealer can most successfully lease new, high-cost farm implements.

Direct mail is the most commonly used method of advertising equipment to be leased. One-half of the farm equipment dealers advertised their leasing business. Publicity plays a large role in the promotion policies of farm equipment lessors. Few of the firms trained salesmen to sell lease contracts. The most often cited advantage of leasing presented in promotion by lessors, was the fact that leasing freed the capital of the farmer for other investment purposes.

The majority of the farm equipment lessors based the lease rates on a fixed percentage of the retail price of the machine. This lease rate varied between 20 and 30 per cent of the retail price of the machine. Leasing firms experienced an annual growth rate in sales of approximately 20 per cent annually for the past three years.

The future success of firms which lease farm machinery depends upon the applications of modern marketing techniques to the leasing business.

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