Black Friday is consumers’ biggest shopping day of the year, and industrial manufacturers can learn from the ecommerce experience.
Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year for consumers. Everything is “discounted” on this special day, from electronics to appliances to clothing to spare parts – to you name it. Over time, people have evolved from waiting in long lines outside their favorite stores to refreshing their favorite e-commerce site, waiting for sales to drop on their desired products.
As more and more people flock online to shop, they expect the same experience when making B2B spare part purchases. While Black Friday is typically associated with B2C sales, you should apply the same customer experience principles to your B2B e-commerce strategy for aftermarket spare part sales.
Let’s explore how your weekend Black Friday shopping experience should influence your aftermarket spare part sales ecommerce approach.
Every Black Friday ecommerce purchase starts with a search, and the same goes for aftermarket spare part sales.
The first thing you need to consider is your spare parts search functions. Just like customers scour the web to find the desired product on Black Friday, aftermarket spare part buyers search your online (or traditional) catalogs the same way.
By providing a user-friendly search experience that allows your customers to easily find the parts they need, whether or not they have a specific part number, you will increase your chances of making a sale. Additionally, having accurate product data ensures your ecommerce site is optimized for search engines to attract more organic traffic to your site and ultimately convert to higher sales volume.
Image search is another feature to prioritize your ecommerce spare parts sales strategy. Image search allows users to make queries with photos instead of words. Implementing a spare parts ecommerce solution without image search severely limits your ability to help customers quickly find the parts they need. With image search, customers can snap a photo of the part they need, and the platform will identify the proper part without a word search or part number. Amazon has successfully implemented image search into their ecommerce experience, and you should deliver the same experience for your customers.
Implementing image search for your aftermarket spare parts sales saves time and helps your customers be more efficient buyers. Consider sourcing high-quality 2D or 3D visualization solutions for every part you sell and incorporate them into your website using your existing CAD models to help customers visually confirm their search before purchasing.
You wouldn’t buy a product on Black Friday without images, so don’t assume your B2B customers will.
Consumers rely heavily on product images on Black Friday (and any day) to quickly discern their options in a crowded market. Similarly, in the B2B spare parts industry, high-quality and detailed images and 3D visualizations can streamline the search process, empowering buyers to make accurate and confident purchase decisions.
Spare part sales, just like Black Friday deals, are not homogeneous. B2B buyers must ensure they procure the right part for their equipment repair needs. Images become a critical tool, enabling easy identification and addressing compatibility issues whether or not they have a part number. Images provide crucial clarity to your customers. They serve as a validator in scenarios of uncertainty, helping them traverse the myriad of options available from competitors and other sellers.
Remember the role Artificial intelligence (AI) plays in your aftermarket spare part sales strategy.
Misidentification of parts decreases margins, deteriorates customer trust, and erodes your customer’s experience. Many aftermarket parts appear identical but differ in material composition or dimensions. It presents problems for buyers who can spend a long time searching for the correct part, only to return it because it was not the right fit for the job. Incorporating AI into your aftermarket spare parts e-commerce platform can help eliminate these problems and ensure your product data remains pristine.
The biggest e-commerce platforms in the world use AI to clean up product data, ensure products get appropriately matched with customer searches, and ensure efficiency in the supply chain to manufacture and ship a working product to your job site. Advanced technologies like AI take your product data and catalog information and match them to your and your customer’s specific requirements to find the perfect part every time.
As you shop online this weekend, reflect on how your Black Friday shopping experience could apply to your ecommerce aftermarket spare part sales strategy.
We’ve outlined how your black Friday shopping experience should influence your aftermarket spare part sales ecommerce approach. By focusing on features such as parts search, image search, and artificial intelligence, you can differentiate your ecommerce spare parts experience from competitors. Implementing these features and providing a smooth user experience will help maximize your ecommerce sales volume and drive more aftermarket revenue to your business.
As ecommerce sales continue to rise, it’s important to follow trends from the leading shopping day of the year. So, take notes from your most successful online black Friday shopping experiences and apply them to your ecommerce approach.
Happy selling!
CDS Partable is the leading manufacturing aftermarket spare parts digital catalog for ecommerce. Reach out to us to see a demo.
Learn how we helped Environmental Solutions Group (ESG) increase ecommerce aftermarket spare part sales by 900% with Partable.
