Channels

Amazon and eBay dominate the auto parts online market of tools and accessories for motor, powersports and marine vehicles. Amazon was considerably behind eBay in the aftermarket category, but has been rapidly making up lost ground for some time and digitally influences a massive amount of commerce. With its obsession on the consumer experience it is a master of controlling that journey, and has embraced part fitments catalogues. It presents fitment detail as bullet points in listings and uses its product catalogue approach to present one listing against which sellers – brands and resellers – compete to win the buy box.

If those listings are your brand, we can get your authority back so you control the content on them and we’ll get the indexing right so that your auto parts online information is optimised for the way consumers buy. While price can’t be a driver for control of third party listings in the EU, we can help to control any element where a brand or distributor owns the IP. We’ll use the Amazon Brand Registry and A+++ content to attract consumers to buy your brand. If you’re a distributor or reseller, we know the parts already indexed, and we understand white label. Our services and technology will scale your growth across your parts, tools and accessories inventory. We’ll manage the end-to-end ecommerce process.

eBay was the heir apparent and is still just about the market leader in automotive aftermarket ecommerce and for many sellers is still the preferred marketplace. It too has a huge fund of experience to draw in with car part indexing to optimise the consumer buying experience. eBay presents the all-important fitment information in its Item Specifics and all seller data needs to be structured and optimised this way. This is because, unlike Amazon, eBay presents many listings for each item to be found and sellers stand or fall by the quality of their data, supported by the promotions they choose and their seller status.

ecommotors has a proven track record in this area, since its management team built the first £1m parts and accessories business on eBay UK. We know what it takes to sell successfully in this marketplace and this category. We know the parts that are already indexed to TecDoc, and we’re familiar with the different global indexing standards. We understand the white label market too. We’re often consulted by marketplaces on what works, and we’re regularly asked to speak on their behalf at industry events. We’ll get your product set listed in consumer-optimised format on eBay, fully manage your eBay stores and sales for you and advise you on the right promotions to drive growth. Our software system will control and automate your end-to-end processes and provide vital intel on your eBay performance.

With Amazon and eBay dominating automotive aftermarket ecommerce, and with no major marketplace dedicated purely to this category right now, other marketplaces with global ambitions are eyeing the opportunity and making moves. While marketplaces have a deep understanding of the consumer buying journey, they have yet to acquire the breadth of products required for critical mass nor get up the steep learning curve for parts, tools and accessories, a curve which the two leading western marketplaces ascended a long time ago.

All marketplaces are united around optimising the consumer buying experience to convert first-time customers into loyal, returning customers. They all have their own rules of engagement, however, and differ in the specific performance criteria they set for third-party sellers. At ecommotors, we know multichannel, and we’re specialists in ecommerce for your category. This allows us to make recommendations on which additional marketplaces you should consider and implement the right channel mix for your specialisation and your growth requirements.

The auto parts online marketplaces drive enormous traffic and own the customers who are buying your products. That means they own the relationship and all the data. Conversely, web stores give you control over the buying process, control over your brand – whether you’re an OE/OEM or a distributor/reseller – control over your auto parts online marketing, and a much healthier margin to boot. All you have to figure out is which web store platform is right for you, build the site, list all your products in a way that makes it easy for your customers to find and buy them, and drive all the traffic you need to make the investment pay…

We’re automotive aftermarket ecommerce specialists, and while that sounds a mouthful it means that we understand brand-building and consumer experience-building across our own web store platform and the other leading global platforms for your category. We also understand multichannel ecommerce, which means we can recommend the right balance of online channels to build growth and long term resilience, and provide the technology to centrally manage your operations and give you the data insight to see where you can improve.