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Nearly all dealerships have their own websites. These “main” dealer websites (from Cobalt and many others) focus primarily on selling new and used vehicles to the public. Some dealer websites promote the dealer’s own service workshop – as a secondary focus. Still fewer dealer websites have a Parts page that may provide the hours, direct phone number and staff names of the Parts Department. Increasingly, these Parts pages enable visitors to submit a parts inquiry to obtain pricing and availability by providing part names (descriptions), vehicle VIN and their own contact information. A parts buyer will not find the inquiry page by searching for a part number or name – they will only be able to find the parts inquiry function by going to the main dealer website and navigating (often the path is not obvious). To address this shortcoming, many dealers have implemented separate Parts Websites for their dealerships.
Dealer websites dedicated to parts (and accessories and sometimes merchandise) have been in the market from approximately the year 2000. The half-dozen (or more) companies that have implemented dealer parts websites and are still actively marketing to auto dealers compete on several product features (as well as price and support). The competitive product features include: the parts catalog, SEO, integration and customization/branding. Each of the half dozen dealer parts website solutions supports robust e-commerce including a shopping cart and financial settlement via credit cards and PayPal.
The parts catalog situation is moderately complex. Two distinct types of parts catalog have been implemented within dealer parts websites. One approach is to use automakers’ EPCs (electronic parts catalogs). To date the use of automakers’ EPCs in dealer parts websites has been limited – largely by the (un)willingness of automakers to license their EPCs to dealer website providers free (or at fees viewed as affordable). Another barrier to using automaker EPCs is that these sophisticated and powerful applications were designed for high-volume use by dealership parts countermen who have been extensively trained in the structure and nomenclature of an automaker’s parts catalog. Thus automaker EPCs are often too complex or too non-standard to be of general use – without training. (This limitation be changing as EPC developers/publishers have been commissioned by automakers to build more user-friendly, even consumer-friendly versions of their EPCs – often initially for parts portals.)
The more common approach to implementing a parts catalog accessible by buyers from within a dealer parts website is to license an all-makes OEM parts catalog from a parts and service information aggregator and reseller. For automotive parts websites, the OEM all-makes parts catalog from MOTOR Information Systems has been the preferred starting point. Compared to automaker EPCs, the MOTOR parts catalog has both strengths and weaknesses. The comparative strengths of the MOTOR parts catalog are: (i) nearly 100% of UIO (vehicle units in operation) are covered; (ii) normalization of catalog structure and parts names; (iii) ease of use. The disadvantages are: (i) illustrations are fewer and less detailed; (ii) most, but not all parts are supported; (iii) full vehicle build data is not included. As a consequence, the MOTOR parts catalog will generate the correct part number most of the time but will occasionally provide the user with a wrong part number or with multiple possible part numbers. (In contrast, an automaker EPC, if accurately provided a VIN, will nearly never provide an incorrect part number.)
The dealer parts website suppliers use their expertise to modify and improve the base MOTOR OEM parts catalog. Several suppliers claim to have improved the accuracy and clarity so that their implementation of the MOTOR OEM parts catalog is nearly on a par with the automakers’ EPCs – particularly of the types of parts likely to be ordered by dealer parts website buyers.
Implementing a web EPC from MOTOR OEM parts data, improving the data to boost accuracy and maximizing search engine ratings requires substantial one-time and ongoing fixed costs. Consequently, it is not.
It is common practice among dealerships to validate all part numbers ordered via their parts website by re-specifying all parts ordered on the dealership’s OEM EPC. Sending the wrong part to a customer – is always costly and to be avoided if at all possible. So it may seem counter-intuitive that parts website vendors invest in improving catalog accuracy. The reason is that while shipping a wrong part and having it returned can be avoided in either case, dealers want to minimize the occasions they need to modify an order and communicate the change and obtain confirmation from a potentially hard-to-reach buyer.
While only one vendor is known to have implemented both approaches to parts catalogs for dealer parts websites, greater automaker flexibility could change that quickly.
Collaboration between suppliers and OEMs was non-existent until recently when Nissan provided its web EPC to Trademotion. Also recently, Honda has enabled (or not prevented) dealers from linking Honda’s own “iN Parts” web EPC to their parts website. All automakers cooperate with leading suppliers of dealer main websites – it would seem likely that automakers will find a way to collaborate with some if not all dealer parts website suppliers.
There is at least one friction point between automakers and dealer parts website suppliers: branding and web addresses. Parts website suppliers often suggest and obtain web addresses for their dealer customers. When the web address contains an automaker brand rather than the dealership’s or dealer group’s brand, the automaker may try claim the address (to protect their brand), disrupting the dealers and website suppliers business.
The second competitive product capability for dealer parts websites is obtaining a high ranking for dealer customer websites. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is more of an art than a science and each supplier claims to deliver the best results. SEO can be augmented with paid placements. When a buyer is searching for a part number, part name or simply for a brand all dealers with a parts website want to be near the top of the search results.
The third feature that differentiates dealer parts websites is integration. Most parts websites can integrate with dealer main websites – allowing a visitor to a dealer’s main website to access the parts website via a prominent link. Some dealer parts websites integrate with the dealer’s own DMS allowing an incoming order to be transferred to parts invoice. DMS integration can also transmit parts availability status real-time to the website.
Dealer parts website suppliers also compete on the ability to customize the site and to harmonize the parts website with the dealership’s (or dealer group’s) general branding and marketing.
Buyers first reach a dealer parts website via a Google or Bing search as well as via dealers’ main website and often return directly if the website is marked as a favorite. In a few cases, buyers can reach a dealer parts website from an automaker’s website.
Dealer parts websites are thought to primarily attract consumers and enthusiasts as buyers. B2B buyers with more than a minimal volume of parts purchases for vehicles of one franchise, will have a primary dealership supplier (and often a secondary supplying dealer) for that franchise. B2B buyers will typically secure a significant trade discount for parts purchases from their primary dealership supplier – and, thus, they have an incentive to purchase parts from that dealership. (IRFs and Body Shops bill their customers for parts at MSRP and pocket the discount from the dealership.) The exceptions are occasional B2B parts buyers and purchases of discounted parts (typically due to overstock situations).
Dealer parts websites expand a dealership’s reach – it is widely reported that some dealers have attracted substantial overseas business with their dealer parts website. Many dealers generate business nationally through their parts website. To what extent are OE parts ordered on dealer websites displacing sales of AM or salvage parts? Or, would not occur at all without the website’s convenience and attractive pricing? Or are displacing sales that would have been made by other dealers or even the same dealership by a phone order or walk in? These are all questions that cannot yet be answered authoritatively.
Dealer parts websites have two clear objectives: (1) to boost parts sales; (2) strengthen the dealership (or dealership group) brand. The dealerships that have been most successful with dealer parts websites are reported to generate monthly revenue of tens of thousands of dollars.
The market for dealer parts websites is similar to the earliest days of dealer main websites. Surprising observations include: (1) minimal communication and collaboration between dealer website suppliers and automakers; (2) not a single dealer main website provider currently provides a dealer parts website; (3) limited integration of dealer parts websites (including few links from automaker websites, DMS data interchange, …). The dealer part website market is ripe for advancement via alliances and product extensions.