In May, the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association updated what are now known as the Digital Asset Best Practices Guidelines, in order to help suppliers and receivers simplify requirements for digital photos, video, audio and PDF documents that are becoming an increasingly important part of selling parts online.
The new document replaces the 2005 best practice guidelines, which originally related only to images. "We defined those guidelines as best practices because we didn't want to force a standard on people," says Pat Weilmeier, vice president of Visual SKUs and chair of the AAIA's Digital Asset Best Practices workgroup. "It turned out to be extremely well adopted. Last year we realized that so much had changed just on the product image side that we needed an update."
In addition to updating the image guidelines, AAIA began developing similar best practices for other digital assets such as video, audio and PDF files. "With those four categories, we figured we'd cover at least 90 percent of the assets that are actually being traded right now," Weilmeier says.
Having images available can boost sales online. The capabilities of digital cameras have advanced so rapidly since the first guidelines were issued, that the workgroup felt it was imperative to accommodate that new technology (in fact, what used to be maximum resolution requirements have now been changed to minimum resolution requirements for these images). Companies are also starting to add 360-degree images of their products that can be rotated using a viewer, and Weilmeier says the committee is classifying those images as a separate type of digital asset. "There's a viewer involved in addition to a lot of images," he says. "We're just starting to see companies make that move, and we expect that to grow."
At the recent National Catalog Managers Association conference, Michael Stoll, catalog director at Robert Bosch, described his own company's experience upgrading to 360-degree images, which Stoll described as "an expensive decision." However, the company knew that the product images could increase sales through customer channels, minimize product returns and help build brand awareness and provide differentiation. Since a lot of companies have not yet deployed 360-degree images, Bosch also felt that they could gain some first-to-market advantage.
The result: Bosch found that it was not always easy to photograph all the company's products, and not all products really needed that kind of presentation (like brake pads, for example). Bosch partnered with Visual SKUs to provide the 360-degree product photography.
Video is the next frontier
Although the AAIA guidelines for images were widely accepted, some trading partners still have slightly varying image requirements. Weilmeier says most of these involve slight variations on file names, for instance, or different size or resolution requirements.
The trickiest asset now is video, because it is complex and also the most subjective in terms of content and presentation.
"But video is massive; it is just so prevalent and such a powerful tool to present products and services," Weilmeier says. "It's starting to creep into the aftermarket. It can be used for things like installation videos and instructions, how-to videos, promotional videos and so forth. Companies are starting to put more resources into video."
Video also requires a certain degree of expertise and technical knowledge. For example, in order for the video to play on multiple devices, at least three versions of the file have to be created to support the various media players now on the market. "If you make that video, you have to send those three distinct files to Amazon or O'Reilly so that anyone can view the video on any device," Weilmeier says. "Otherwise, why do it at all?
"Creators of content are not experts in video; they build and sell parts," he adds. "There's a lot of confusion about what to even ask for form receivers."
Weilmeier says that is not used much, although it does occasionally turn up in the SEMA realm (i.e., to present muffler noises). "Video I will expect to grow significantly," Weilmeier says. "Audio, I don't know."
Many companies in the aftermarket have still been hesitant to invest in digital assets, despite the evidence of the potential for increased sales and competitive differentiation. What stops companies from investing in their digital asset programs? Primarily, a lack of resources. "Think about images," Weilmeier says. "If you have 50,000 parts, that can be a big problem in terms of meeting your trading partner's needs. If you start factoring in videos and PDFs, it becomes resource intensive."
Cost is another hurdle. At some companies, two or more employees are dedicated to managing digital asset files. "Some companies I've spoken to have 30 or 40 trading partners, and each one may have a slightly different requirement," Weilmeier says. "It's a massive job to manage a library of 30,000 product images among all those trading partners. As I create more parts, what do I have assets for? Whom do I owe them to?"
Despite the cost and complexity, digital assets of all types are becoming a must for online sales and marketing. The new AAIA guidelines provide a starting point so that companies can at least streamline file management and reduce the number of conflicting trading partner requirements. "There are also tools moving into the market that can automate that process," Weilmeier says. "You can set up a profile and the software can distribute those assets automatically, to free up resources."
For a copy of the updated guidelines, visit:
