What makes automotive catalog content excellent?

June 23, 2016
Timeliness, completeness and consistency may all sound like soft terms that have little to do with gigabytes of content. But they are what separate the best catalogs from the rest.

The Automotive Content Professionals Network (ACPN) recently wrapped their 43rd annual conference with record-setting attendance. The growth of ACPN mirrors the growing importance automotive companies are placing on the content that fuels their businesses. Previously known as the National Catalog Managers Association (NCMA), this organization is evidence of the unique role that content plays in the automotive industry.

The executive-level speakers were unanimous in how they described the role of content in their businesses. Susan Ulrey, Tenneco, Executive Director, Customer Experience; Stan Gowisnock, Cardone, President & CEO; and Greg Henslee, O’Reilly Auto Parts, President & CEO all underscored the role of great content in selling more product and keeping it sold.

Great catalog and product information was referred to as a competitive advantage, a customer satisfaction strategy and a key asset in growing their business. The days of wondering if the industry data standards (ACES and PIES) were going to win adoption seem to be behind us. And, now the competition is for excellence in practicing the standards.

It is a long-standing tradition at ACPN to recognize the best examples of automotive content with the President’s Awards. Paper, web and electronic catalogs are judged on a variety of criteria. Each year the competition is fierce and the plaques are proudly displayed in the home offices.

The most coveted recognition is the Content Excellence Awards, presented by the retailers and e-catalog providers to their suppliers. Advance Auto Parts, AutoZone, NAPA, O’Reilly, Epicor, WHI and MAM Software each thoughtfully deliberate and settle on one supplier, out of hundreds, that is best in class and supplies excellent catalog and product data to the respective receivers.

A pattern emerged and several attributes were mentioned frequently in describing the winning data suppliers. Timeliness, completeness and consistency may all sound like soft terms that have little to do with gigabytes of content. But they are what separate the best from the rest.

Timeliness refers to the practice of supplying updated files at an appropriate frequency. Not all brands are created equally in this regard. If a supplier is in the habit of introducing new items every month, then data updates monthly is the correct cadence. But, if new items are only introduced annually, less frequent files may be justified. These files must be carefully coordinated with the release of the products to distribution.

Releasing data a bit ahead of the product release is a good practice because the data file can include an “available date” and time has to be allowed for the processing and distribution of the data. But, releasing catalog and product data files after the release of the products (or worse yet, after the release of the paper catalog) is a sure way to lose sales. The inventory will languish on DC shelves while the data updates make their way to the point-of-sale. Careful timing of data updates is a great way to ensure the new items jump off the shelves as soon as they are available.

Completeness is sought in the number of items found in a catalog or product file as well as the number of data elements available for each item in the file. When asked for a position on net changes, some receivers have begun accepting files that only include the items that are new or changed from the last. But, even these receivers were heard to ask that annually, they would like to receive a complete refresh of all items available from the brand. Understanding the expectations of your data partner and consistently fulfilling them is a somewhat obvious best practice.

But, completeness is also a measure of how rich and robust the content about a single item can be. The best suppliers send multiple images when only one is required. They send descriptions and market copy in multiple languages and they encode the performance and physical attributes of the product based on the standard terminology of the Product Attribute database (PAdb).

In using the industry standard PIES format to send product information, only a small number of data elements are required by the specification. But, the bar that represents industry best practices is rising daily. And the ACPN Data Excellence Awards went to suppliers who reach for the stars in proving complete content to help sell their products.

Consistency was a word used by several of the presenters in describing the attributes of their award-winning content suppliers. Whether it was the technical compliance of the data files, the timeliness of data delivery and updates, or the completeness of the content from one item to the next, excellent content providers are consistent and dependable. They have the systems and technology to trap for errors and deficiencies before they get sent to channel partners. The files are vast and humans are fallible, but the technology is available to notice when data rules are broken or when series of products go missing. Consistency is hard, but very achievable.

The progress and achievements in supplying excellent content have been in large part due to more executive sponsorship of these initiatives. Cardone’s Gowisnock and other executive presenters at the conference confirmed that the investment required to author and manage great automotive content required the full backing of the C-suite. But, the recognition by happy customers and the competitive advantages make excellent content a great investment.

More than a decade ago, Jerry McCabe, then of Affinia Group, explained to an audience that if all other factors were equal and competitive between two alternative suppliers (price, quality, service level and so on), great data and the systems to supply it consistently to customers would be a powerful point of differentiation and lead to a sticky customer relationship. Systems throughout the enterprise perform better with excellent content. And customers would prefer to focus on other things. When they have the best content suppliers, they can.

Congratulations to ACDelco, Delphi Product & Service Solutions, Dorman Products, Gates Corporation, Tenneco Automotive and Wells Vehicle Electronics for your commitment to providing your customers with timely, complete and consistent content.

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