Selling Performance & Accessory Parts: Trends and Growth Opportunities. A review of the many online trends that has disrupted the traditional distribution and sales cycle in our industry. And by disruption, I mean that in the introduction of each of these trends, they have caused us to reevaluate how we need to conduct or adapt our businesses to capitalize – or just keep up with changes in consumer shopping and buying behavior.

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PRESENTED BY:
Life in the Fast Lane: Accelerating Growth in
the Automotive Aftermarket
Gigi Ho, Dir. Product Development
Direct Communications Inc. (DCi)

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PRESENTED BY:
Gigi Ho
14 Years in the Industry
Data Geek better known as…
The Data Goddess
NOW PRESENTED BY:

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What is DCi
Largest Sales & Data Network
for Performance & Accessory Parts Market

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Products Seen in
Over 100 Countries

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$933 Billion
Product Exposure
Annually Worldwide

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Sales Network of
Over 60,000
Business Locations

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Facilitating Sales of
Nearly $7 Billion Annually

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What is DCi
Largest Sales & Data Network
for Performance & Accessory Parts Market
N e a rly
20 Years
of electronic cataloging
experience
O v e r
60,000
aftermarket businesses
annually supplied via the
data network
N e a rly
$7 Billion
in sales annually powered
via the sales network
O v e r
150 Million
vehicle fitments

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Trends we’ve seen
in the last few years…

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 Social Media
– Present: As a way of connecting with your audience
and customers.
– Future: Several are transitioning to “social shopping”
blurring lines of connecting and buying.
• Products pinned or posted on Pinterest or Instagram
connecting to eCommerce product pages.

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 Responsive Design
– Research and shopping predominantly mobile!
Buying still more on desktops and laptops.*
• 44% - desktops/laptops
• 41% - brick-and-mortar locations!
• 11% - phones/tablets
*2014 ComScore Study

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 Marketplaces
– eBay and Amazon commands majority share.
– Their success has fueled others into the mix with
niche focus or brand name power.
• Newegg
• Walmart
• Etsy

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 Logistics Entwined with Purchase Decision
– 58% will leave a cart after seeing shipping costs.*
– Customer are expecting more and waiting less.
• Need to have selection and inventory.
• Need to offer reasonable to free shipping options.
*2014 ComScore Study

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so…what’s next? .

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 Minimum Advertised Price (MAP)
 Unilateral Pricing Policy (UPP)

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 MAP and UPP are not new
“trends” per se.
 New tools for manufacturers
to enforce these policies is
what’s next!

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 Over 50% of premium brands today have MAP
or UPP on some or all of their products.
 By end of 2015, could be over 70%.
 And manufacturers are very serious about
enforcing these brand value-protection policies
today.

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Confessions of a MAP Violator
 I sold below MAP and got caught by over 100
vendors and put on a Do-Not-Sell list on most…
 I created fake UPCs and still got caught...
 I changed my name in Amazon three times, trying
to avoid MAP pricing issues. Only to find that
Amazon gives [out our] company ID that is traced
by MAP enforcing companies…

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What It Means to Online Sellers
 The Good
 The Bad
 The Ugly…“Do-Not-Sell List”
 …and The Good again.

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The Good .

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The Good
 Helps level competition for small businesses
competing against big box or online stores.
 Profit per transaction goes up.
 Compliments and cross-promotes your brick-
and-mortar stores.
 Allows for better customer service instead of
discounting yourself out of business.

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The Bad .

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The Bad
 In a Marketplace environment…
– Every merchant will be selling at same price.
– Capturing attention of new buyers will be hard if not
already established with customer base.
– Higher margin per sale, but the number of sales
decreases.
– No longer a “get rich quick” scheme.

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The Ugly .

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The Ugly…“Do Not Sell List”
 Brand Protection Agency
 Channel IQ
 Brandskout
 …with more monitoring services emerging.
 Violate and risk being on the Do-Not-Sell list.

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so…what’s Good again??

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Price is not
the main reason why
shoppers buy online.

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 Convenience
 Variety (wider selection)
 Availability
 Product comparison
 Seller comparison
Price is underlying in comparison but not always main reason for purchase.

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 Compete with add-on services and value.
– Build loyalty programs
– Understand what your customers want
– Provide them with wanted content
– If available, promote installation services or
questions “hotline”
– Monitor your customers and your competitors

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But How?!

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your business

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Your Business
 “Bags fly free”
– They don’t fly free. The cost is part of their price!
• But this gives passengers the feeling of convenience,
taking stress out a stressful check-in process.

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Your Business
 Entire fleet are 737’s
– Gives them operational efficiency
• Replacement parts can be bought in bulk.
• Any plane can substitute for any route.
• Lowers maintenance and associated costs.
– Where can you find efficiency in your systems?

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Your Business
 Genuinely happy crew
– Genuinely friendly dealing with the customers.
 And we like doing business with people we like!

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Look to your customers
and your partners.
(ahem…you know, like DCi)

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Find where and how
you can make…
Your Customer

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PRESENTED BY:
Direct Communications Inc. (DCi)
sales@dcinet.com
515.276.0442
THANK YOU!