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Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
340,000. That’s the number of auto parts and accessories that are sold just through eBay mobile apps each week!1
There’s no doubt that the market is there for online sales of motor parts and accessories, but there’s a chance you’re unprepared to take advantage of this e-commerce opportunity. Want to take the plunge and streamline your online sales? Take a look at our tips below for selling motor parts online.
1 http://www.ebaymotorsblog.com/about/
Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Manual or Automatic?Chances are, you’re planning to hire (or you already have) a team of employees to handle your e-commerce listings. Or maybe you already have a group in place or are outsourcing your e-commerce efforts to an agency.
No matter what your process, automation is the way to go. Manual uploading is tedious and time-consuming, and can eat up an e-commerce budget quickly if you’re paying an individual to physically upload each product complete with its fitment details.
The ChannelAdvisor platform automates the tedious, day-to-day tasks associated with selling online, especially for the automotive segment — that requires specific details like make, model and year compatibility for every product.
K2 Motor, a ChannelAdvisor customer selling motor parts and accessories on eBay, has experienced a 272% increase in online revenue since launching with ChannelAdvisor. ChannelAdvisor Marketplaces helps K2 Motor automate its eBay listing process, enabling the company to spend more time and budget on development initiatives and marketing strategies.
Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Service Station E-commerce is a moving target, and many retailers struggle to keep up with the seemingly endless changes.
Take, for example, the following recent changes:
✓Product listing ads are gaining momentum after Google’s introduction of Shopping campaigns.
✓Comparison shopping engines change their rates every holiday season.
✓EBay issues multiple Seller Releases each year, with changes such as new metrics, requirements, policies and product categories.
✓Social channels are starting to roll out buy buttons.
✓Sellers are increasingly listing products and advertising products on marketplaces using programs like Amazon Sponsored Products.
It’s difficult to fully understand and stay on top of all of these changes and how they affect you, the retailer. If you’re not aware of and acting on changes within each e-commerce channel, you risk wasting money and resources and potentially jeopardizing your e-commerce presence.
Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Internal ComponentsYou’ve just received a full shipment of catalytic converters that are each compatible with several different automobiles. They’re in high demand because of changing emissions regulations, so you need to get these converters listed on as many e-commerce channels as possible, as quickly as possible.
ChannelAdvisor integrates with dealer management systems, so with just a few mouse clicks you can have the products up and running on multiple e-commerce channels with appropriate fitment for each product as well as quantity and price. You can also benefit from having all of your orders in one space, preventing overselling and helping you make performance-based decisions on where to best allocate additional funds according to where products are selling the best.
Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Going the Distance Once an order is placed, half the battle is complete; however, you still need to make sure that a product is picked, packed and shipped out in a timely manner. Good shipping practices are critical to maintaining a top-rated seller status on both eBay and Amazon. This can affect your sales on eBay and whether or not you secure the all-important Buy Box on Amazon.
ChannelAdvisor integrates with back-end shipping software to communicate information about the sale and to send the tracking number for the product to the buyer. Automating a process as important as shipping is vital to maintaining and improving sales on marketplaces.
Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Most of the grease monkeys out there know exactly what they’re after when searching for a product online. They aren’t going to waste their time trolling through online listings. They’re going to type in the exact name of the part they want. This is called a long tail keyword.
For example, a search term might be “1969 Ford Mustang chrome grill.” The customer searching for this is very likely to buy since they aren’t just searching around. They’re ready to purchase the exact item they’re after.
This is where ChannelAdvisor’s Inventory Driven Search feature for Digital Marketing comes in handy. The feature helps retailers develop long tail keywords for thousands of products in their inventory, and then automatically bids on these keywords. Not only are the keywords less expensive than broad-match search terms like “chrome grill,” but they are also more likely to convert, saving retailers money on search fees while making them money in increased sales.
Custom Job
Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
DiagnosticsJust how are your products performing, anyways? What are your best-sellers? Are you well-stocked in inventory for
those best-selling products? If you’re not able to answer these questions quickly, you’re not alone. Lots of sellers are
unsure of some of the key data points that define their business.
Not ChannelAdvisor customers, though. ChannelAdvisor’s reporting and analytics tools surface all the important details
that retailers need to know, such as whether there are any unshipped items, what the top 10 products are (and the
quantities for each), plus the seller standing. The Cross-Channel Dashboard also allows retailers to compare how each
e-commerce channel is performing, as well as how individual products are performing on each channel. So, if a certain
muffler is selling out on eBay, you can pull stock from Amazon and transfer it to eBay to satisfy that demand.
Life in the Fast Lane: 6 Tips for Selling Motor Parts Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Next StepsTo learn more about how ChannelAdvisor can help you streamline your auto parts sales, connect with one of our e-commerce experts by calling 866-264-8594 or emailing [email protected].
What are you waiting for?
To learn more: Call 866.264.8594 • UK 0203 014 2700 • AU 1300 887 239 Visit www.channeladvisor.comEmail [email protected]
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