Selling Electric Vehicle Parts Online

The automotive software and electronics industry is projected to reach $462 billion by 2030 worldwide. It’s growing at a staggering pace and proves to be a lucrative option for entrepreneurs and customers alike. 

It allows them to go to the next level in the automotive world by going electric. As a seller in this industry, you need to create an authentic audience base and engage with it.

Given below are seven actionable strategies to help you sell electric vehicle parts online. They focus on attracting and engaging customers authentically and sustainably to ensure long-lasting growth.

1. Set up a personalised web store

The first step in selling electric vehicle parts online is setting up a personalised web store. Auto parts e-commerce solutions help you set up a digital presence that attracts customers with the information they need in making decisions about what parts to purchase. 

The agility of a cloud software allows you to integrate with your ERP and tech stack seamlessly. You may use your SAP or Microsoft Dynamics ERP for this. Both provide a strong foundation for storing complete data and sound technical integration for a personalised web store.

In 2021, a whopping 98% of manufacturers are actively using or are in advanced planning to implement an e-commerce strategy. This is because it gives them the opportunity to engage with customers by providing personalised and relevant information.

Here are the features you must have in your web store to engage customers with ease:

1. Personalisation to the core — Offer customised pricing based on the customers’ needs and ease in documentation. Give them access to their online and offline order history and the option to assort spare parts themselves.
2. Exploded views — Allow extreme zoom in and out on the picture of a spare part. Allow customers to rotate and take parts apart to figure out which part fits where
3. Filtering — Provide specific filters such as model, maker, year of registration, and usage specification to make the search easier
4. Product grouping option — Group relevant products together to help customers find what they’re looking for. These can be products that are complementary or alternative. They also help upsell.
5. Self-service documentation — Documentation can be time-consuming and hinder the customer’s experience with you. Help them by providing them access to instruction videos and tutorials to help put their documents together beforehand. 

Your goal should be to personalise every aspect of your customer’s experience with your web store. It makes it relevant for them, which in turn makes them want to interact with you more. Such an approach boosts your marketing efforts by prioritising customer experience.

2. Educate consumers about what you offer

One of the challenges with selling auto parts online is letting customers know what you offer. Auto parts are a niche industry in the sense that only the people who are interested in automobiles of various kinds will have sufficient knowledge about them to buy them as per their needs.

To overcome this hurdle, educate your target audience about what you offer and how it fits their auto part needs. Content marketing helps you create stellar content centred around:

1. The many benefits of a product,
2. How a part complements a vehicle, and
3. Different ways a part can be used.

Create content that displays what you have to offer in exciting ways. You may delve into the product development of a product to explain how you have improved on it or focus on the functions it performs.

Content marketing offers a variety of ways to present the same information as well. You may write articles, blogs, and guides or create video content about the same. You may even merge the content to engage all kinds of target audiences.

3. Rebrand from traditional auto parts to electric auto parts

The automotive industry going electric gives entrepreneurs who sell electric parts an opportunity to rebrand themselves. As you progress toward going electric, make it your USP and create content around that.

Many customers face challenges going electric with their traditional vehicles and parts. Positioning yourself as a seller that helps them make that transition will tremendously benefit you in tapping that market.

Here’s how you can rebrand yourself as an electric part seller in the market:

1. Create content in your content marketing practices we discussed above that relates to adopting electric vehicles.
2. Focus on how electric parts help you upgrade to the electric future of the automotive industry.
3. Remember the goal should be to show potential customers how easy it would be to make the transition and that you’re there to support them throughout.
4. Look for customers willing to use electric auto parts on forums and social media and engage with them in conversation.
5. Let them know the various benefits of electric parts they’re potentially missing out on.

Focusing on adopting the electric future of the automotive industry helps you and your customer base to upgrade to the best of your benefits. It rebrands your brands and displays a positive, agile attitude on your part that both old and new customers will be willing to engage with.

4. Assist the customers in finding what they want

A challenge customers face when buying auto parts online is reaching what they’re looking for and completing a purchase. This is crucial to take care of from your end because it directly hampers your sales and profits if customers cannot finish purchases due to a lack of support.

Provide stellar sales support to your customers right from the moment they enter your website. Here are a few ways to do it in easy ways: 

1. Use chatbots to engage customers as soon as they enter your website. Greet them and ask them what they’re looking for and provide them with steps/links to help them reach the specific page they wish to go to.
2. Design your website in a way that is easy to follow and helps them locate their items. For example, list out the main categories first thing and display the subcategories under them.
3. Provide the options to personalise that were discussed in the first point. Extreme personalisation of your catalogue helps users navigate your website to the best of their abilities. 

Sales support ensures that every customer finds the auto parts they want with ease and does not leave the transaction halfway. It helps increase your conversion rate as well as brand loyalty in the long run.

5. Provide seamless customer service

Potent customer care helps enhance customer experience and satisfaction with your business. If they face an issue with a part they purchased from you, they’d want it resolved as soon as possible without much hassle. 

Focus on providing continuous and consistent customer service to boost your after-sales relationships with your customers and make sure they return to you. Here are a few tips for the same:

• Reply to customers in a timely manner.
• Provide basic assistance, such as asking them to fill out a form detailing their issue.
• Resolve issues as early as you can and update them about every single development to keep them in the loop.

6. Create a community 

Creating a community of like-minded individuals who are interested in auto parts and electric automotive advancements can help you lock in hot leads more consistently. It has become easier to find and cultivate such communities with the rise of digital media platforms. 

Here are a few platforms you can scout for leads and network with them:

• Reddit 
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• TikTok
• YouTube

You can create dedicated pages on these platforms and invite people to participate in them. Moreover, you can approach people on your own and strike up conversations with them. This may take time but it helps in creating an authentic connection with your audience. 

7. Leverage influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is one such digital marketing strategy that can greatly benefit auto parts sellers in demonstrating the use of the parts they sell. People are likely to trust an influencer they enjoy interacting with. And vehicles people own are usually near and dear to them.

When influencers in the auto industry talk about what auto parts they use in their vehicles, it can help raise positive buzz for your business. Their followers would take an interest in your business and check to see what parts you offer.

It helps increase your target market as you can tap their audience as well. More importantly, an audience for an influencer in the auto industry is already primed to be interested in auto parts.

Focus on educating customers about auto parts to create a formidable market for them

Selling auto parts online is usually seen as tricky due to the many challenges it faces. However, by focusing on educating your target audience about it, you can create a seamless purchase experience for them and boost your sales.

Personalise the website you set up by allowing extreme customisation to help them find the exact part they’re looking for. Focus on the shift to electric parts and assist customers in making that transition. Build a community around educating customers to increase loyalty.

Let us know in the comments what you think are the best ways to sell electric auto parts online.