To achieve success in the Automotive Aftermarket you have to build trust



Creating trust in the automotive aftermarket is a process, and it takes time and effort. It is a series of activities that in combination create trust in your store and your brand.  You have to have a plan of action for how to engage and attract customers. You cannot expect to launch your store and customers are going to flock to buy your products.The automotive aftermarket space is hyper-competitive, and you will need to make sure to differentiate yourself from the competition to have success.



The first place to start is with the design of your store. Your store should include intuitive navigation which allows the customer to easily find the exact products they are looking for. Having advanced filtering capabilities will help with that process. Including a Make, Model, and Year filter will allow the customer to identify products that are specific to their vehicle. Including a Garage feature will allow customers to save their car details. The next time they enter the store, the store already has the customer's vehicle details, allowing them immediate access to the right products without having to go through the filtering process again.  This is a nice perk to provide your return customers and make it easy for them to search and buy.  Including a Cloud Search feature allows customers that already have a good idea of what they want to buy to key in a couple of letters or a SKU in the search bar and have that product show up if it’s in your product catalog. A great example is how CarID.com sets up its home page. 



Along with the design of your store, having a well-defined product catalog is a must. If customers are struggling to find the right product, they will abandon your store.  With it being normal for automotive aftermarket companies to have a million + product catalogs, having clear and rigorous product descriptions are critical for success.  Each product should have these unique identifiers:



  • Brand
  • Product Type
  • Product SKU
  • Fitment data
  • One or more product images
  • Detailed Product Description
  • Warranty Information
  • 3rd Party Reviews
  • Installation Videos





One of the key ingredients for building trust is keeping your store and brand visible. Staying engaged with new and existing customers is necessary to keep your business on their radar.  An active engagement process will allow you to stay top of mind when they have a need for a new part or product for their vehicle. The best way to proceed is to have a multipronged strategy that will allow you to message through multiple channels to reach as wide an audience as possible.  A good channel practice should include:



  • SEO:  Ensuring your website is optimized for SEO to it shows up prominently in search
  • Media Channels: Leverage multiple social channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok etc
  • 3rd Person Reviews: Get reviews on Customer Review sites such as Yelp, TrustPilot
  • Paid Search: Invest in paid search services 
  • Email Campaigns: Create an active outbound email campaign strategy
  • Blog Posts: Create a blog page and provide useful and interesting content



With a little sweat equity, you can engage with new and existing customers and start earning their trust. It is important not to get complacent in this process.  Make sure to create a plan and stick with it. You can then gauge results over time and make changes where needed. This continuous process will keep you top of mind with customers and allow you to succeed in this competitive marketplace.