Price trumps all else in the do it yourself (DIY) market, according to the latest Aftermarket Business World Reseller Product Study. While 53 percent of respondents said that price was the top need of their DIY customers, only 9 percent said price was the most important attribute of their professional customers.
The top product attribute among professional customers was a tie between quality and availability, which each garnered 36 percent of responses. Among professional customers, OEM form, fit and function ranked third with 11 percent of the responses.
Among DIY customers, availability at 18 percent and quality at 16 percent were a distant second and third to price as their top need. OEM form fit and function ranked fourth with 7 percent of respondents.
Some 61 percent of resellers said their product sales increased in 2014, while 32 percent said sales stayed the same. Among those who experienced increases, 23 percent said sales were up 1 percent to 5 percent, 24 percent were up 6 percent to 10 percent and 10 percent were up 11 percent to 15 percent.
Resellers look forward to 2015 with promise as 70 percent expect their sales to increase, while 29 percent expect their sales to stay the same as 2014. Of those expecting an increase, 30 percent think 2015 sales will increase 1 percent to 5 percent, and 24 percent said they think sales will increase 6 percent to 10 percent.
Some 63 percent of respondents said they did not make any Internet sales in 2014 while 7 percent said they sold more than 20 percent of their products online.
Almost half of resellers responding (49 percent) said the majority of their inventory is national brand product, while 31 percent said their inventory is evenly split between national brand and private label. Click here to see the entire study.
Methodology: The Reseller Product Study was fielded to readers of Aftermarket Business World via email. Survey results are intended to show general market trends, not statistical certainties.
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