Hours before the doors opened for the largest global automotive aftermarket trade show, one NAPA executive skipped out on the eve of this week-long annual event, content that he would bring back enough to his 48 retail stores.
Like his peers who gather every November in Las Vegas for the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX), some dread that the exhibitors will wind up regurgitating previous marketing campaigns. These fears coupled with criticism about what role AAPEX plays are misplaced.
Many cherish this conference jointly overseen by the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association and the Auto Care Association, the two trade groups that registered the 2,400 exhibiting companies. They promoted an impactful theme around technologies, digitalization and close on its tail, advance data analytics and vehicle telematics have evolved into a recurring conversation.
Certain people expect a grand slam from AAPEX. Others prefer steady runs. Riskiest of all, vendors must decide how they want to be seen by their customers.
Steep travel costs may deter large delegations from coming. Booth expenses can soar into tens of thousands of dollars. Conscious of these pressures, differentiation is needed to deliver a profitable return.
Brand conscious Hopkins Manufacturing showcased the Arm and Hammer logo on their newly launched “on-demand” car air freshener. Their sales executive noted that Hopkins routinely visits their merchants throughout the year because a fraction of the qualified buyers would be cruising the floors.
A manager for Sylvania Automotive pitched an exclusive strategy to attract customers. To gain access to their newest lighting portfolio, explained the executive who calls on O’Reilly Auto Parts and Walmart, the account must prearrange a private viewing.
A president of a national manufacturer’s representation agency speculated that budgetary trade-offs and tariff payments on Chinese imports remove discretionary spending from cash reserves for many outfits. Duplication is another reason why a supplier may forego AAPEX.
And then there is competition from program groups and mass merchants such as Advance Auto Parts, The Network, Federated and the like that regularly host their own vendor summits. A supplier with finite financial resources must choose where their cash can be most wisely invested to ensure their brands attain maximum exposure.
Despite challenges, AAPEX continues to draw large numbers from both exhibitors and attendees. So what makes AAPEX an industry staple?
Ask Ricardo Da Cruz, founder of Complete Auto Reports, a shop management software provider. Also an entrepreneur who runs a buzzy vehicle care center called Joman Auto, Da Cruz wanted to learn what he could unearth from the 5,000 booths representing 55 categories.
Da Cruz hoped to find hands-on training with imaging systems and emerging battery technology along the spirit of SEMA, the other trade show known for attracting commercial servicers. “At AAPEX we picked up many best practice," Da Cruz states, "and we feel like we have spent the last seven years correctly forecasting that our business model is coping well.”
Referencing a visit to ZF Aftermarket, he said, “ZF understands training exercises. Their display was exceptionally clean and designed to bring in the crowd. They were also friendly to speak to and offered their information for us to follow up with afterwards…I think their ability to explain their system while having a real system to show made it appealing.”
Fleet-minded Da Cruz ruminates about vehicle connectivity before something breaks down on the roadways. Nowadays transport uptime relies on predictive analytics, the trigger that alerts the operator when it’s time to replace the vehicle component before it fails. He recalls thinking about how 5G wireless technologies can translate into CAR’s cloud-based app to promise a transparent service facility relationship with their customers. Mindful of the demand for digital vehicle inspections, Da Cruz devoted one-third of his time gleaning from the exhibitors about how to leverage these standards.
"CAR is about inspecting customers’ vehicles and limiting liability,” explained Da Cruz. His value proposition rests squarely on confidence-building activities. It begins with the tech to accurately diagnose and attach digitized documents for the fleet customer. As Da Cruz evaluates AAPEX, their platform gave him the resources to align CAR’s mission with “trust that leads to increases in service approvals and enhanced customer experiences.”
Da Cruz represents one-fifth of the skilled trades segment who came to the Las Vegas expo. By contrast three times as many white-collar executives attended. While AAPEX welcomes the technician to visit the show at the end of the week, many say that policy limits their relationship with their core constituencies.
Attending AAPEX offers an overwhelming upside for exhibitors says Mike Fitzgerald, marketing advisor for Toronto, Ontario based NRS Brakes. “Staying away gives the competition an edge because people may read negatively into someone’s absence and perceive an indifferent corporate citizen toward the industry they’re representing.”
Fitzgerald emphasizes that active engagement with the passerby can pay dividends through old-fashioned networking. Recently NRS broadened their brake-pad assortment into the direct sales channel. "Over four days, NRS held six meetings that otherwise we would have only achieved over a half year,” says Fitzgerald.
In one generation, AAPEX evolved from a patchwork of fragmented aftermarket groups when Fitzgerald entered the industry in the 1980s. He says he could never have imagined former U.S. President George W. Bush sharing the stage with Bill Rhodes, CEO of AutoZone at the grand opening session. Hours later hundreds of selfies with “43” flooded social media sites implying that this event was an undisputed grand slam.
Manufacturer representative Steve Joyce, who introduced his college-age son to AAPEX to encourage him to consider the industry, urges the event’s board to widen active participation to college graduates. With unemployment at 3.5 percent, Joyce fears that the shrinking number of active duty repairers employed by 146,000 professional facilities won’t be replaced quickly enough to meet the demand for qualified techs. As skills in electrification and telematics are needed, AAPEX makes an ideal venue to roll out the welcome mat for future grads and high schoolers interested in vocational careers.
The sampling of folks who spoke up do agree that the sole purpose of AAPEX is to move their parts, chemicals, equipment, and information services into the vehicle repair bay. However, exclusion can undermine, or worse yet, may alienate the underserved service professional. Bolder outreach signals that AAPEX wants players, not spectators.
AAPEX admirably serves multiple purposes. Organizers continue to work to format an incentive to attract the core stakeholder.This is ever so important to ensure that their numbers grow at the same rate as the complexity inside the motor vehicle marketplace.
