Connected Customer Experience

This guest blog was written by Ted Fellowes, President of Fellowes Research. It is the third of three posts that prepares the reader for webinar hosted by Mize titled Parts eCommerce & Megatrend Impacts on Aftermarket Parts Sales in which Ted is the guest presenter

Introduction

Megatrends are shifts in behavior or attitude that are large, transformative, global and cross-industry in impact.  The megatrends discussed below appear pivotal to shaping parts and service operations for vehicles and equipment.  The digital solutions that automate and improve service-parts management (SPM solutions) will be vital to OEMs, dealers and repairers as they forge at path to success through the tumult.  

This post focuses on forecasting impacts, not on exact timing and sizing.

This guest blog was written by Ted Fellowes, President of Fellowes Research.

Preface. 

Parts eCommerce is the fastest growing segment of fixed operations (a.k.a., ‘aftersales’ and ‘aftermarket’) – it’s projected to reach $6.5 billion in revenue – for U.S. car dealers in 2020.  Parts eCommerce is also evolving and innovating rapidly – and faster than in other sectors.  Mastery of parts eCommerce is challenging and starts with understanding the distinct market segments and solution types.  Success also requires deep understanding of OEM data and technical documentation.  Fortunately, success has its rewards: parts eCommerce represents the best opportunity to promote and profitably sustain – even grow – dealer parts sales – in part through powerful capabilities that parts eCommerce best facilitates. 

This guest blog was written by Ted Fellowes, President of Fellowes Research.  It represents an update and refocus of  a blog posted earlier on the Fellowes Research website.

Premise

• Vehicle and equipment repair in many industries will open further under pressure from Right-to-Repair (R2R); OEMs should prepare for the inevitable. Even those skeptical of R2R, will benefit from looking closely at mitigating downsides and capitalizing on opportunities of R2R.
   

Major technology advancements such as Mobile, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D and smart machines are creating opportunities for companies to provide innovative solutions to elevate customer experience and drive Service Parts sales.