With the spring selling season gaining momentum, now is the time to be thinking about how to get your share of sales in the months ahead. Economic forecasts look promising in many areas, meaning we could be looking at some strong signs of normalcy coming to the marketplace after a seven-year drought! With that positive swing, however, will come more aggressive competition than ever. Businesses that have struggled to keep inventory available will be filling the shelves, and competitors will regain market position and confidence as their business kicks in.
So how do you stake your claim early and keep that competitive edge? It’s back to the basics, with strong inventory availability, great customer service, multifaceted marketing and a competitive position on price.
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
—Henry Ford
It’s almost hard to believe that the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) was officially launched just two short years ago with one employee, an ambitious mission and a handful of industry hopefuls who were willing to test drive an idea that, by all accounts, was going to be difficult at best. It seems appropriate as we approach the end of our second year to stop and take a look at where the SDC has been in its short existence and what the future holds for us in the coming months.
SEMA-member companies that are resellers or distributors may obtain an unlimited number of product data exports from the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC) at absolutely no cost. The savings—available to any SEMA-member receiver in the SDC—totals $1,200 per year and is the newest incentive for members to join the SDC.
Launched in March 2012 with a beta test, the SDC is now a fully operational service that makes it possible for businesses to easily obtain valuable information about products from manufacturers. Information includes weights and measures, accurate descriptions, current pricing, UPCs, images, other digital assets and more. Details also include rich vehicle-application data and year/make/model look-ups.
Vulnerability Awaiting Plunder
“With data collection, ‘the sooner the better’ is always the best answer.”—Marissa Mayer
It’s a simple truth in today’s business environment: Data is driving business like never before, whether it’s data about customers, products, competitors or any number of other factors that determine how well informed we are. For those of us in the automotive specialty-equipment trade, “data” is typically talked about in terms of product data—all of the properly presented words, numbers and pictures that illustrate the full rich value, function and desirability of a particular product.