Replacement parts market in transition

Replacement parts market in transition

The first trend from Speed4Trade's perspective is the digitalization focus on business-to-business. There are various drivers for this, such as the new, digital-savvy generation of B2B buyers. This trend is also evident in the platform projects of the software architects from Altenstadt, Germany. Workshops and service companies are often the focus here as a new customer group for platform operators. Established online pure players that have started in B2C e-commerce, such as Autodoc or Kfzteile24, are also doing everything they can to consistently win over workshops with specialized business customer programs and to provide them with excellent service - on a par with wholesalers. However, from Speed4Trade's experience, digitization projects in the B2B aftermarket are significantly more complex. Platform ecosystems are much more about interfaces to a wide variety of third-party systems, data providers and ensuring that processes are digitally mapped in the best possible way.

The B2B trend is followed by the development from pure product sales to a focus on services – states Speed4Trade. Particularly in the B2B environment with often interchangeable products, providers want to make a difference for the customer with useful services on top. As an example, Speed4Trade cites an auto parts manufacturer's plan to create a digital customer portal as a universal 24/7 self-service contact point for its B2B customers. Specialist dealers, workshops and employees should have easy and clear access to all relevant information and services such as price lists, marketing content, availability information and training for the brand lines. “In customer projects, we are increasingly talking about more than just the online shop,” explains Sandro Kunz, one of the two CEOs and founders of Speed4Trade. “Especially in B2B, more specific products and services as well as multi-stage, cross-system processes need to be functionally designed.”

Trend number three deals with the increasing fleet business for the repair market. As the study “Aftermarket 2030 – The Fleet Imperative” by the Boston Consulting Group shows in figures, the number of fleet vehicles is expected to double by 2030. At the same time, the study makes it clear that this development confronts workshops and service providers with extensive IT system requirements in many respects. Speed4Trade also confirms this from the experience of various customer projects in this environment. “Providing services in the fleet business places high demands on workshop branches and their employees,” emphasizes Sandro Kunz. “So far, we are still operating with too much paper and manual data entry.” This results in media disruptions due to a lack of system networking and error-prone processes. A change from analog to digital is therefore essential. In this environment, Speed4Trade offers a central digital platform that provides effective and digital support in managing all fleet service orders from workshops and mobile breakdown services.