Digital influence on the automotive parts and accessories market will be at $177 billion in 2023 in the US, according to a recent report from Hedges & Company. The digital marketing agency projects that the impact of digital media on retail sales, both online and office, will reach $200 billion in 2026 and $217.8 billion by 2028.
According to the report, digital influence is the ability to create change in opinions or behaviors based on exposure to online reviews, search engine results, social platforms postings, online videos, online brand messaging and other digital sources. Pre-pandemic, digital influence on auto parts and accessory sales was at $142 billion and jumped 13% in 2020 with an increase in e-commerce as consumers largely stayed and worked at home and shopped online.
The report states that influenced sales dropped back a bit in 2021 when more consumers returned to shopping in person. Then, influenced parts and accessories sales came back in 2022 and reached a new record at $169.6 billion, with the aftermarket starting out strong in 2022, both for online sales and brick-and-mortar sales.
The influence of the internet is either passive (ads displayed to shoppers, seeing social postings, receiving a marketing email) or active (consumers intentionally looking for reviews or a website, receiving an abandoned shopping cart email), the report states. Passive involves high purchase-intent consumers (actively shopping and seeing ads) as well as low purchase-intent consumers (not actively shopping but still seeing ads or social postings). Active activities include looking for a brand’s website, looking at reviews, or doing product research on marketplaces or websites.
To view the whole report, click here.
