What are the Key Drivers for Aftermarket Growth?
For Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), the aftermarket represents a goldmine of opportunity, going beyond the initial product sale to cultivate a thriving ecosystem of recurring revenue. While many OEMs have traditionally focused on those initial capital equipment transactions, there’s a growing awareness of the aftermarket’s potential to generate long-term value for your manufacturing business. Investing in your aftermarket business not only includes increased profits but also stronger customer relationships and ongoing product support. By removing the friction from aftermarket part and service sales, OEMs can transform satisfied customers into loyal brand advocates while unlocking significant revenue potential along the way.
Ecommerce is a key driver of this aftermarket growth opportunity. It offers a convenient, accessible platform for customers to find and purchase the parts they need when they need them by delivering a familiar B2C-like experience. However, successfully integrating ecommerce into existing aftermarket operations requires more than just choosing the right platform. It demands a well-structured change management plan to ensure both internal teams and external customers embrace the new system and its benefits. Without a thoughtful approach to adoption, even the most sophisticated ecommerce initiatives can fall short of their potential.
Why is Change Management Important When Investing in Your Aftermarket Business?
Change management is the bridge between a new technology and its successful implementation. It addresses the human element of introducing new processes and systems, ensuring that your team understands, accepts, and effectively utilizes the ecommerce platform. As we all know, humans are creatures of habit. When asked to change our habits, we instinctively tend to resist and opt to continue doing things as we have always done them.
Digital transformation initiatives like implementing an ecommerce platform to increase your aftermarket spare part sales can easily fall flat if you do not have a proper plan to retrain and incentivize all users to change their behaviors. It’s not enough to install new technology and expect everyone to adapt seamlessly. Change management planning addresses the human element of introducing new processes and systems, ensuring that your team and customers understand, accept, and effectively utilize the ecommerce platform.
For OEMs, implementing an ecommerce platform to increase self-service spare part sales requires a comprehensive plan to address the human factors involved and ensure a positive return on the investment. A well-executed change management plan will:
Minimize resistance: Change will be met with skepticism. Clearly communicate the benefits of the new system to your teams and customers. Have an open feedback loop to address internal teams’ concerns about their roles, responsibilities, or the learning curve involved with the process changes (or technology use). Establish channels for continuous feedback with your top customers to identify areas for improvement and ensure the platform meets their evolving needs. Transparency and open dialogue are crucial for building buy-in for both your internal teams and end users.
Facilitate training: Provide comprehensive training programs to ensure your users are comfortable and proficient with the ecommerce platform. Internal teams should ensure they have clear directions on the new processes for doing their work, including technical training on how to use an ecommerce platform and training on related processes like order fulfillment, customer service, and parts inventory management. For customers and end users, communicate early and often with quick “how-to” guides and videos to showcase how your new solution improves their experience when searching for and buying spare parts.
Encourage utilization: Actively promote the use of the platform and incentivize its adoption across the organization and your customer base. For internal service reps, it could involve setting targets, recognizing early adopters, and showcasing success stories to demonstrate the platform’s value to other team members. For customers, you can highlight the convenience of identifying, searching, and buying products without the need for service reps or long and manual search processes.
Three Customer-Backed Strategies to Drive Ecommerce Adoption for OEMs
Driving adoption of your new aftermarket ecommerce platform requires a strategic approach that goes beyond simply making the technology available. You need to actively engage your team and customers to address their concerns and foster a sense of ownership in the transition. Your new solution will provide a better customer experience that blows away the competition, so be sure to give them the opportunity to experience the benefits.
Below are three customer-backed proven strategies to effectively drive adoption within your organization.
Champion-led Approach: Identify key influencers within your organization—individuals respected by their peers and enthusiastic about the change—and empower them to become advocates for the new ecommerce solution. These champions can help drive adoption by demonstrating the platform’s benefits, providing peer-to-peer support, and addressing concerns from a place of credibility. Additionally, identify key customers that are progressive and bring them into the fold to create external success stories and best p[practices for a larger rollout.
Phased Rollout: Instead of launching the ecommerce platform across the entire organization and customer base at once, consider a phased rollout. A strategic rollout allows you to gradually introduce the system, gather feedback, and make adjustments as needed, minimizing disruption and allowing for a more controlled learning process. Start with a pilot program in a specific department or customer, and then expand to other areas of the business once the platform has proven successful in the initial phase.
Incentive Programs: Motivate employees and customers to embrace the ecommerce platform by implementing incentive programs that reward desired behaviors. These programs can recognize and reward employees for using the platform and processes, providing valuable feedback, or achieving specific goals related to internal ecommerce adoption. For customers, you can create adoption incentives like discounting ecommerce transactions or adding a surcharge for sales rep calls that could have been completed online. Incentive programs will drive adoption and foster a sense of ownership that encourages active participation in the transition.
Driving Ecommerce Adoption is an Ongoing Process that will Grow your Aftermarket Business
Driving ecommerce adoption for your aftermarket parts business is a journey that requires careful planning, consistent effort, and a customer-centric approach. By embracing change management principles and implementing the proven strategies outlined above, you can successfully navigate the transition, empower your team and customers, and unlock the full potential of your ecommerce platform.
Driving ecommerce adoption is not a one-time event; it’s an ongoing process that requires continuous attention and refinement. Continuously gather feedback, monitor performance, and optimize your platform to ensure it remains user-friendly, efficient, and aligned with your business goals. By fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and customer focus, you can transform your aftermarket business into a thriving engine for growth and customer loyalty.
At CDS Visual, we have helped OEMs revolutionize their aftermarket businesses by partnering with them to digitize their aftermarket business to be ecommerce first. Learn how we helped Environmental Solutions Group explode its ecommerce business by increasing sales by 900%.
If you would like to learn more or see a demo, get in touch with us today!
