Facts you should know about the global auto parts industry online market

Facts you should know about the global auto parts industry online market
Facts you should know about the global auto parts industry online market. Image source: Pixabay

Sales Volume and Market Share

Europe:

According to a 2014 report by Roland Berger, the automotive aftermarket volume in Germany came to around EUR 30 billion whilst the parts market (excluding crash repair parts) volume came to around EUR 14.9 billion in 2013. Among which online sales already make up around 11% and the volume is going to grow further by 7-8% yearly.

As for all industries in Europe, the online retail market share has already hit 16%, and continues growing significantly. Thus, Roland Berger made a prediction that there is a strong growth in automotive parts online sales with a 7-8% CAGR, ending up with around 20% online business share and EUR 3.6 billion in sales volume by 2025.

North America:

According to a forecast on the auto parts industry in 2019 made by Hedges & Company, online parts sales in Canada will reach C$3.8 billion/US$2.9 billion in 2019. Online parts sales in Mexico will amount around US$700 million. Thus, it is expected that the North American online auto parts market volume would reach about US$15.9 billion in 2019.

Australia:

Also according to Hedges & Company’s report, the online market size of Australian auto parts was estimated at $484 million in 2018, growing at 7% per year. That sets the Australian online parts market volume amount around $518 million in 2019.

The E-commerce Trend

Taking Germany for example, the internet has become a mass medium – 77% of people in Germany regularly access the internet.

  • E-commerce shopping is on the rise – number of online shoppers and sales per user increasing steadily.
  • Multi-channel shopping is increasing – there are already 86% shopping using two channels, 25% use four or even five different channels.
  • Mobile commerce is not yet fully established, but growing – 59% of German mobile users shop by using their smartphones, with further growth expected.

In the U.S., online sales transacted on mobile phones will amount $7.5 billion in 2019. That’s an around 30% increase over 2018 when the mobile market size nearly hit $6B. Today, for most online parts and accessory shops, more than 60% of total traffic comes from mobile devices.

Auto parts E-Commerce on mobile will continue to grow rapidly online. It has an annual growth rate of over 25% expected over the next few years. Thus, many in the automotive aftermarket have transitioned their websites to be mobile-friendly.

Transitioning to Online Business

Based on the fact that the online market of the auto parts industry is flourishing globally, more and more established offline players as well as pure internet newcomers are pushing into this area. Following this trend, it is time for auto part businesses to reach a broader market by expanding their business from offline to online.

However, transitioning online is not easy. There are many issues related to parts sales such as stock, fitment, sales channels, shipping, payment, etc. that need to be considered. Thus, for auto part businesses that would like to set up an online store, a smart online auto parts management tool is essential.

PartsPal is an online software that aims to help auto parts businesses reach the online market. It provides a thorough digital solution for managing parts inventory, vehicle fitment & part compatibility, and ecommerce sales – all in one tool. Via PartsPal, after being uploaded to an online inventory system, fitment information is added to parts and pushed onto ecommerce sales channels automatically.

At a time when brick and mortar stores need to make significant changes to catch up with the ecommerce trend, a handy software tool can really help businesses to get through the transitioning period more easily.