Disruptive technology fuels the digital transformation of the car parts industry. As more customers go online to buy automotive parts, sellers are forced to innovate. Auto parts API integration and other technology applications become the auto part trends of the future.
Innovative trends in the automotive parts industry
Automotive industry reports recently released from McKinsey & Company have made one thing clear: the entire industry is drastically changing. Their reports predict several disruptive trends that will likely change the course of the industry in the upcoming years. Here are some of them:
Digital sales channel
As digitisation becomes more and more the norm in most industries, the digital sales channel for car parts is expected to grow exponentially over the years to come. Customers are already turning to online channels for reviews as well as to improve their shopping decisions when buying auto parts over the internet.
This means that online sales channels will progressively take a larger share of the market, becoming the preferred sales channel for young and tech-savvy buyers. However, logistically demanding parts such as windshields or airbags are likely to continue to be supplied by traditional dealers.
Digital sales channels also make available an unprecedented wealth of big data to car part sellers. This treasure trove of data offers deeper customer insight as well as customer behaviour patterns. As the trend of digitisation coincides with increased connectivity in cars themselves, car part sellers can take this chance to offer new digital services for a better customer experience.
The enormous amount of data to process in the future will be a challenge to most car part businesses. That is why an auto parts API will play a more and more integral role. These systems are designed to act as bridges between different data sets, allowing users to quickly look up the data they need. With so many conflicting data sets, integrating a car parts API into your website will greatly boost the sales process.
Shared mobility
The automobile industry is facing a gradual shift towards shared mobility, with shared transportation services abound on mobile platforms. Shared mobility is defined as sharing your mode of transportation with another person or a group of persons. An example of this concept would be car-pooling or car-sharing.
These services will change the industry, possibly dropping the growth rate of annual car sales by 2 percent in 2030. The report also suggested that dense urban areas, which already have a strong base of vehicles, will eventually become the breeding grounds for new shared mobility services.
Cars will increasingly become more than just a mode of transportation for most commuters. Connectivity will gradually take a more important role, and most cars will be a zone for passengers to consume other forms of media as well as to converse with one another.
The cars of the future are almost guaranteed to be upgradeable ones. This suggests that there will be an increased demand for upgrade parts, which will open up a wide range of opportunities for car part sellers to embark on.
Electric vehicles
Electric and autonomous vehicles are the cars of the future, and for good reason. Electric vehicles reduce our dependence on gasoline. The fight for sustainability was strongly fought in the past few years. Electric cars are going to help with that cause a lot, especially when the technology has been perfected.
Electric cars have parts that are different from fuel-powered cars. Car parts sellers that are not yet offering parts for electric cars can expect to see a massive shift in their online inventories in the next few years. Tapping into an updated and well-managed car parts database will allow them to offer newer parts just as easily.
Autonomous vehicles
On the other hand, autonomous vehicles could help prevent road accidents. Around 90% of all accidents are caused by human errors, so autonomous vehicles represent the future hopes and dreams of the industry. Though the current autonomous vehicles are far from error-free, the future cars are expected to be different and not crash at all.
Industry experts are already expecting some radical changes in the field: if the car is completely autonomous, the customers may not need to drive the car at all. They simply need to pick their destination.
This means that some thought-to-be essential car parts such as airbags or even driving wheels may eventually be phased out of existence. This is a huge disruptive change in the industry. However, experts believe that some automobile enthusiasts still want their cars to look different, so they might add personalised parts to the cars.
Auto parts APIs and industry digitisation
Car database APIs present a new emerging horizon for the automotive industry. Though APIs have been extensively used in other industries, their potential has not been fully realised in the auto parts industry for data fitment access and configuration.
A car part data API allows users to access catalogs of parts data and quickly retrieve up- to-date information. Integrating a auto parts API into a pre-existing system won’t only allow quicker access to car part information but also help to expand the existing parts data with more fitments, applications and interchanges. With its numerous advantages, a vehicle or parts API, when integrated, helps businesses adapt better to the disruptive trends and keep ahead of the technology changes.
The main use of car APIs is to help businesses help their buyers find the correct part for their vehicle. When integrated into an e-commerce sales channel, the cars API allows users to look up car parts information quickly when needed.
Without integrating into a centralised up-to-date car parts database, potential customers often need to go through text specifications and details to determine if it fits their vehicle. With an integrated car API, the process is considerably streamlined. Potential customers only need to add the relevant information into the system, and the API helps them find the car parts that fit. This also means that businesses don't have to constantly update their catalog.
The wind of change is blowing, and the industry is heading towards an exciting future. However, car parts sellers need not necessarily navigate blindly through this storm of changes.With the integration of auto parts APIs into the system, auto parts businesses operating online will be in possession of a highly powerful tool that streamlines the processes. Whether you need to provide better access to potential customers or to help cut down on unnecessary processes within your system, auto parts APIs are essential tools to use.
