I recently attended the 44th annual conference of what is now known as the Automotive Content Professionals Network (ACPN). For 43 years, this organization was known as the National Catalog Managers Association (NCMA). I was struck by what has changed besides the name in the past couple of years.
The catalog has become content and the association has become a network. This rebranding is much more than semantics. It captures how the critical business of publishing automotive information has pivoted from the age of analog catalogs to an era of digital content.
I was witness to some of the deliberations several years ago when “catalog managers” first contemplated a name change to “content managers.” Among those who defended the catalog name there was talk of how everything from application listings to interchange tables and market copy, line drawings and technical specs – was all content. So, didn’t the name “catalog manager” accurately reflect responsibility for everything between the covers of the catalog?
The leading argument in favor of the name change was the notion that web, mobile and electronic catalog systems were the primary method of parts identification. A well-crafted Google search can get you close to the right part for your vehicle. Often a click away was an installation or demonstration video on YouTube. On the next tab are multiple images of similar products. Links to information about the company or the brand are embedded in the results. The expectations today from professionals and consumers are for immediate access to rich information and multiple digital assets, all in less time than it takes to open the filter catalog to 2012-15 Toyota Camry.
Here’s where it gets tricky. Paper catalogs are dead. We just haven’t had the memorial service. And some companies haven’t read the obituary. Every retailer and point-of-sale technology company invests exclusively in better ways to manage, search and display digital content. The argument that paper is needed for power outages and other natural disasters is rendered moot by mobile devices. No one is trying to engineer a better catalog rack.
And what’s driving this tsunami is demographics. Not to sound like a broken record, but, baby boomers are retiring at the rate of 10,000 per day and the millennial workforce that is replacing these parts professionals has never known a day without the Internet. And, they are not going to learn how to navigate through 12 feet of paper catalogs.
National retailers invest millions in point-of-sale technology to help their newest store associates appear knowledgeable and to help deliver a great experience to the customer. Of course, most customers have shopped the retailer online before they go to the store. Online, they expect access to all the information about all the products. That’s the great thing about the Internet – it empowers choice and possibilities. And, if one site has less detail and fewer “extras” like videos, an alternative site is just a click away.
On the final day of ACPN I was pleased to moderate a panel discussion with five content executives for major national automotive chains. Seizing the opportunity, I asked, “if digital content is so darned important to your business, why do you continue to require that suppliers print paper catalogs and ship them to you at great expense?” I assumed it was because they were just being big, bad retailers. But, the answer was even easier to understand. One explained, “We require paper catalogs because some of the applications and much of the related product information that we rely on are not available to us in digital form. When all the content between the covers of the paper catalog is available in digital form and supported by the industry data standards there will be no further need for paper catalogs and the requirement will go away,” he explained – that was the applause line of the session.
Many millions of dollars are spent annually to print non-automotive applications, technical specs and other assets that are not available digitally. Depending on the markets served by the chains, these marine, off-road and industrial applications may account for 2 percent or up to 15 percent of their sales volume. But, until the industry supports the exchange of applications for all classes of vehicles and machines, the burden to print catalogs remains.
One panelist suggested that if the Auto Care Association invested the dollars necessary to populate all the needed vehicle types in the ACES standard, the industry would save millions annually, ensuring a very positive return on investment. In my most genuine John F. Kennedy tongue, I believe that this industry should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of extending the data standards to support all vehicle types and eliminate the need to publish paper catalogs completely. We live in the era of digital content. Paper is dead. It’s time to have the funeral.
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