FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2014
Contact: Della Domingo
909-978-6723
dellad@sema.org
Editor's Note: An image is available. Please contact Monika Earle at monikae@sema.org.
SEMA Data Co-op Announces Membership Milestone
--Now 600 members strong and growing-
DIAMOND BAR, CA (March 13, 2014) -- The SEMA Data Co-op is now helping more than 600 automotive specialty equipment Suppliers and re-sellers around the world standardize and manage their parts data to improve efficiency and increase sales, a 300 percent increase from August last year. The Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) is the trade organization representing the $31 billion automotive aftermarket industry.
The SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) has seen unprecedented growth following a very strong formal launch of its Product Information Management System (PIMS) in May 2013 and the announcement of free product data exports to SEMA members.
The SDC is an industry-owned and operated initiative designed to bring full product data management capabilities to participating Suppliers, and to deliver clean, customized data exports to Receivers at the lowest possible cost.
Features include a secure, industry standards-based centralized data repository, extensive on-boarding tools, expert live training and technical assistance, and unlimited standard or fully customized data exports.
"The reception we are receiving in the industry is just fantastic," said Jim Graven, Director of Membership of the SDC. "In particular, we are seeing very strong interest from the re-seller community, who obviously have a very strong pent-up demand for quality, affordable product data. As we continue to build this momentum with these data Receivers, more and more manufacturers are coming our way to utilize the SDC as a central point for easy management, storage, validation and distribution of their data. We are even seeing significant interest from the replacement parts side of the business, and we welcome any manufacturers in that marketplace to check us out."
Jon Wyly, CEO of the SDC, commented, "Successful distribution of product data across the industry is critical to powering business systems of all types, ranging from internal shipping and category management needs at the distribution level, to the mandatory availability of product information to grow business and close sales in brick and mortar and eCommerce retail environments. It feels great to have made such significant progress in this arguably, very challenging endeavor."
To learn more about the SEMA Data Co-op visit www.SEMADataCoop.org or contact Jim Graven at JimG@SEMADataCoop.org or 888-958-6698 Ext. 4.
About SEMA
SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association founded in 1963, represents the $31.3 billion specialty automotive industry of 6,537 member-companies. It is the authoritative source for research, data, trends and market growth information for the specialty auto parts industry. The industry provides appearance, performance, comfort, convenience and technology products for passenger and recreational vehicles. For more information, contact SEMA at 1575 S. Valley Vista Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765, tel: 909/610-2030, or visit www.sema.org or www.enjoythedrive.com.
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