SEMA’s latest webinar presentation, “Business Efficiency 101: Using Product Information to Increase Sales, Boost Image and Reduce Costs,” outlined how adopting product information data standards could be the most important step a company takes toward saving time, getting to market faster and selling more products.
Presenter Scott O’Toole, Motor State Distributing manager of product pricing & PIES compliance, covered the industry product information data standards PIES and ACES. PIES, or Product Information Data Exchange, is designed to standardize information used to buy and sell products, and ACES, the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) Catalog Enhanced Standard, helps standardize the information used to ensure proper product selection and fitment.
O’Toole outlined to simple reasons to adopt the standards: 1) To sell more parts and 2) To save time by reducing unnecessary phone calls and e-mails.
To get started, O’Toole suggests identifying where your data exists and consolidate it, whether it’s in spreadsheets, text documents or on multiple computers. This is the product information that is vital to 95% of the distribution chain.
O’Toole stated that speed shops, performance dealers, chassis builders and even end users expect accurate electronic product data at their fingertips. “Chances are that if a counterperson has to pick up a printed price sheet to quote or close a sale, they will seek an alternative brand after doing so two or three times,” he explained.
He also stressed the importance of having every part number produced or offered included in a product-data file. “Data quality and data quantity have an equal value in today’s marketplace,” stated O’Toole.
Click here to download the complete SEMA webinar presentation, sponsored by the SEMA Business Technology Committee (BTC).
The SEMA BTC is an initiative of the SEMA Board of Directors and is comprised of a group of industry leaders in the business-technology sector. The mission of the BTC is to help members adopt widely accepted industry data standards and best-business practices.