Hedges & Co., an automotive digital marketing agency, has published its annual automotive parts & accessories forecast for online retailing. The 2019 forecast shows online auto parts and accessory sales in 2019 will be more than $12 billion in the U.S. and nearly $16 billion for North America.
Hedges & Co. projects online sales of auto parts and accessories in the U.S. will be around $19 billion by 2022, with an annual growth rate of 14 percent to 16 percent.
The 2019 forecast from Hedges & Co. shows online auto parts and accessory sales in 2019 will be more than $12 billion in the U.S. Digital influence will affect $148 billion of auto parts and accessory sales through all channels, including traditional retail channels. “Digital influence” occurs as consumers and service professionals search for and read information online, when they read reviews, when they are exposed to product and brand advertising, and as they watch video advertising or video content.
About nine out of 10 consumers now do some form of research online before they directly purchase any auto part or accessory. This online activity influences sales through chain retail stores, automobile dealers, big box retailers, local independent brick and mortar retailers, jobbers and online sales.
Online sales include online retailers, as well as the growing number of manufacturers selling direct to consumers (DTC).
The four most popular methods of online consumer research are: Using search engines like Google or Bing (74 percent of all consumers); visiting online auto parts retailer websites (73 percent); visiting manufacturer websites (57 percent) and visiting automotive forums (47 percent).
Other highlights from the annual Hedges & Co. automotive industry analysis include:
- Online auto parts sales in Canada are projected to reach C$3.8 billion/US$2.9 billion in 2019.
- Digital influence on parts & accessory sales will grow to more than $160 billion in 2022.
- Amazon auto parts sales are projected at more than $8 billion in in 2019.
- More than $7 billion in online parts sales will come from mobile in 2019.
Hedges & Co. has tracked online auto parts sales closely each year since 2007, using a combination of proprietary industry research, trends analysis, US Census data, data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, interviews with industry sources, analysis of third-party data and statistical modeling. The forecast does not include used or recycled parts, online auctions such as eBay Motors or third party marketplaces.
The annual automotive industry analysis is published here.
