10 Surprising Benefits of Catalog Management for Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers

The U.S. automotive aftermarket is a huge industry. It may even exceed one trillion dollars by 2022. If you want to be part of this booming industry, you’d better keep your hat on!

Whether you’re new to the aftermarket or not, keeping your products organized is essential for success. One way to do this is with proper catalog management.

How exactly can catalog management benefit your automotive aftermarket company? Keep reading to find out. Here are 10 benefits you need to know about, whether you’re a supplier or a distributor.

1. Error Reduction

You need to keep everyone in the loop if you want a successful aftermarket business. Your suppliers (if applicable), your customers, and your employees all need to have the correct information.

Catalog management helps you do this. An automated system is especially helpful. When you’ve got an effective catalog management system in place, you reduce the number of errors that may occur.

If you don’t have a system in place, things may not get updated and numbers might be wrong. This would result in the wrong information being sent to your suppliers or customers.

Try implementing a catalog management software program to provide everyone with up-to-date information all the time.

2. Quick Information Relaying

When you’re properly managing your catalog, you know exactly when new items arrive. You’ll also know if products or prices change.

Since your catalog management system keeps you in the loop, you can quickly relay this information to your distributors or customers.

A price drop won’t bring customers in if they don’t know about it. And they won’t look for new products if they don’t know they exist.

Managing your catalog well will help you stay on top of things. This will let you tell each audience what they need to know.

3. Better Organization

To run an efficient aftermarket business, you’ve got to know what items you have in your inventory. By managing your catalog, you’ll know what’s available and what’s not.

Besides knowing what’s in or out of stock, everything in your inventory will be organized. A well-organized catalog means you’re tracking all your products along with descriptions and images.

4. More Customer Satisfaction

Nobody likes shopping in a situation that seems chaotic or unhelpful. An organized catalog helps customers find what they’re looking for.

When someone comes in looking for a part, you must be able to locate it quickly. Your catalog provides that information as long as it’s managed properly.

5. Easy Searching

Since you’re in the aftermarket business, you probably run a lot of searches. Customers or distributors come to you looking for specific parts.

There’s no point in searching if you don’t have a catalog, or if your catalog isn’t maintained well. The information you find won’t be accurate.

If you do manage your catalog well, you’ll find the info you need in a jiffy. Searching for the right parts and information is simple when you employ good catalog management practices.

6. Accurate Inventory Info across All Channels

Do you sell online as well as in-store? If so, you should be able to access your inventory information from each location. If you’re trying to manage eCommerce and in-person products separately, there’s a better way.

Implement a catalog management system that tracks all your inventory. That way, your information will be accurate for each sales channel you utilize.

7. Consistent Product Information

When using the same catalog across all channels, your product information remains consistent. Whether someone looks up an item in your store or online, they’ll find the same helpful information.

If your online store tells a customer one thing and they’re told something else when they come into the store, you won’t have a happy customer. Keep product information consistent by managing your catalog across all channels.

8. Business Growth

It’s hard to grow a business that isn’t organized. This only leads to problems.

As you keep an eye on your catalog, you’ll find opportunities to build your business. If your business is currently operating well, growth will go a lot smoother than if you try to expand amidst chaos.

A well-organized catalog allows you to seamlessly add more products. Catalog management provides the structure you need in order to handle adding more items.

9. Smooth Startup

If you’re just getting into the aftermarket business, a well-organized catalog will help you start off on the right foot. So many things go into starting a business. Not knowing your inventory properly isn’t a complication you should add to the mix.

Use good catalog management practices from the get-go. If you do, you’ll start off smoothly and have a better ride.

10. Image Coordination

Images are vastly important in today’s world. Someone may come searching for a product based solely on what it looks like. If they saw an image on your website, they should find the same one in your in-store catalog.

Images can be coordinated successfully through catalog management just like other information can. Like with your product descriptions and prices, if you manage your catalog properly, you’ll have all your images up-to-date and consistent across the board.

Catalog Management: The Key to Automotive Aftermarket Success

As part of the automotive aftermarket, your business will see lots of products come and go. Keep them organized and consistent across all sales channels by implementing a catalog management system.

The benefits of catalog management are easy to spot, especially if you’ve come from a not-so-organized situation. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for a better organization solution, catalog management is the way to go.

We have the expertise to help you manage your catalog successfully. Contact us today to get started!