Pedler: Catalog Chaos, Part Two: How the aftermarket went digital (and nearly imploded)

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead

Last month, we looked at how the aftermarket’s paper catalogs gave way to early electronic catalog systems. The promise was exciting, but reality was messy: multiple formats, constant updates, and quality that couldn’t be trusted. The industry had solved old problems only to create new ones. This month, we examine the “cats and cat herders” who crafted one of the watershed moments in our industry’s history.

The late 1980s through the 1990s were the era of digitizing paper catalogs. Much like calling a warehouse and asking, “Do you have it in stock?”, the method was inefficient, tedious, and quaint. Two different people would take the same paper catalog and ‘key’ it into a software program — little more than a glorified text editor. Their outputs were compared, differences isolated, and errors researched and corrected. (Those data entry people became the aftermarket’s first data analysts.)

Despite their limitations, e-cats were gaining traction. Ron Larson, then director of information services at CCI/Triad, recalled: “The goals of the first e-cats were to increase productivity, and help parts stores make more money and sell more parts, and we did that.” Jim Pedler, one of Larson’s customers and owner of multiple independent parts stores in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, agreed. Said Pedler (Hi, Dad!) “E-cats immediately made it easier to train new counterpeople and increased related sales. Our counterpeople did sell more parts after we bought an e-cat.”

By this point, many manufacturers had digitized their catalogs, but they were not standardized. And these catalogs typically contained only vehicle fitment data – not the rich digital content we expect today.

The junkyard-engineered battery and the singing fish

So, what does “standardization” really mean?

Say I’ve invented a Billy Bass singing fish plaque (I didn’t), but it doesn’t have a power source. I reach out to distributors and retailers, hoping they’ll help me become the Warren Buffett of singing fish plaques.  But all I hear back is: “We can’t sell this without a power source.”  

I hop into my 1980 Toyota Celica, gather supplies, and cobble together a battery: rusty tetanus-flavored nails, copper wire “liberated” from an abandoned building, a juicy pickle, and duct tape (or alligator clips if we want to get fancy). To my delight, it works! Billy Bass can belt out one verse of Hanson’s “MMMBop.”

Excited, I pitch my improved product again. Here’s what I hear:

• Distributor #1: “Wrong power source. If you want us to sell Billy Bass, it needs to use two AA batteries.”
• Distributor #2: “We can only sell this if it uses one nine-volt battery.”
• Retailer #1: “Nope. Come back to us when your power source is exactly one C battery.”
• Retailer #2: “This is the stupidest thing we’ve ever seen.”

I retool Billy Bass to run on four different setups: two AAs, a nine-volt, a C, and a three AAA version for good measure. Each trading partner insists on their own flavor.

That’s exactly what was happening with e-cats: manufacturers had digital catalogs (our “backyard battery”), but every trading partner demanded a different version (AA, AAA, C, nine-volt).

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a manufacturer could need up to five different versions of their digital catalog. Here is how each of them referred to a 1986 Chevrolet two-wheel drive 1/2-ton pickup:

• Format 1: Chevrolet C10
• Format 2: Chevrolet C10
• Format 3: CHEVY TRUCK C+K 10,20,30 P/U
• Format 4: Chevrolet Truck Pickup C10/R10/C1500 1/2 Ton
• Format 5: Chevrolet Truck C10 1/2 Ton - Pickup

Building toward standards

Manufacturers were frustrated — and rightly so. Will South, then director of marketing technology with Dana and chair of NCMA (the National Catalog Managers Association)* met with Al Gaspar, president of APAA (the Auto Parts & Accessories Association)**. South pointed out the burden on manufacturers: creating and maintaining multiple versions of the same catalog was costly, time-consuming, and slowed time to market. The industry needed a true standard for the creation and delivery of vehicle fitment data.

Gaspar agreed and recruited Scott Luckett, then a sales manager for a Pronto warehouse in Washington, D.C., to join APAA. His role: develop technology standards and serve as liaison between APAA and NCMA. Luckett worked to help control costs, improve efficiency, speed time to market, and reduce barriers to entry.

Toward that end, Technologue donated a flat make/model/year table to APAA. Luckett handled pushback from the e-cat companies and retailers, fielded user comments, and worked with Technologue to vet and normalize the vehicle table. Eventually, an industry known for its obstinacy accepted it. The AAIA Make/Model table became the aftermarket’s first standard for the creation and delivery of vehicle fitment data, but not for long.

The table’s simplicity was also its limitation, and adoption was not universal. As Luckett explained, “We had to figure out a way to say less or more variably and digitally, and a flat file was an inefficient way of doing this. Data needed to be normalized, rationalized, and standardized.” Mitchell, a repair and shop management software provider, had a relational database vehicle table, which they generously donated to AAIA (formerly APAA). XML and database experts and volunteers developed a schema for a new standard to replace the Make/Model table: ACES, the Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard.

ACES had its detractors, but as Luckett pointed out, “If it was a little unsatisfactory to everyone, it was probably the right thing to do — find some middle ground that works. And the work is never done.” A pivotal meeting for stakeholders in Seattle in about 2003 set the stage for the transition from the Make/Model table to the much more powerful ACES standard. “We needed to codify, document, socialize, and evangelize,” Luckett said.

Today, ACES is nearly ubiquitous, continually evolving under the care and governance of the Auto Care Association® and countless volunteers. ACES was followed by PIES, the Product Information Exchange Standard. Where ACES attaches the right part to the right vehicle, PIES provides the detailed product data customers expect. Today, most aftermarket fitment and product content in North America comes through ACES and PIES files. As Luckett reflected: “This was an unprecedented industry effort. The solution came from within the industry. ACES and PIES represent the generous and selfless contributions of hundreds of aftermarket volunteers.”

What happened in those years was remarkable: fierce competitors and unlikely allies set aside differences to build something that would benefit every manufacturer, every trading partner, every repair technician, and every vehicle owner. These standards weren’t handed down from outside experts.  They were hammered out in conference rooms and on phone calls, fueled by this industry’s best qualities: perseverance, determination, and grit. The aftermarket pulled off a feat of true collaboration, and we’re still reaping the benefits today.     *NCMA would later become ACPN — the Automotive Content Professionals Network, still active and relevant 53 years after its inception. **APAA would later merge with ASIA (the Automotive Service Industry Association) to become AAIA (the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association). Then AAIA would rebrand to become what it is today: the Auto Care Association.

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