Amid a changing economic and vehicle landscape, understanding customers and their needs is more important than ever to ensure the aftermarket remains successful. So what do consumers want? One company has asked and is ready to share the answers.
“Consumer Insights: Just Ask,” will be presented by David Portalatin, director of Industry Analysis with The NPD Group, who fielded an April 2009 national online survey among the company’s more than 1 million consumers, representing every demographic and geographic segment in the country.
“Consumer spending represents 70 percent of our nation's total economic output. Manufacturers, retailers, and service providers who can hear what consumers are saying and respond with a relevant value proposition will be positioned to prosper even in tough economic times,” Portalatin says.
The presentation aims to focus on consumer behavior and attitudes to help companies better position themselves with their customer bases.
“We are experiencing changes in consumer behavior that have not been seen in decades. The research we have conducted for GAAS will give us some insight into new consumer attitudes about their cars, driving, vehicle repair and maintenance and how this will affect the aftermarket? Throughout, we will highlight opportunities to connect with what consumers are saying to develop growth strategies for the future,” he says. “With new car sales declining and vehicle age increasing, we want to quantify what motorists are doing to keep vehicles in the road longer, understand attitudes about vehicle replacement, and gauge what industry sectors stand to benefit from the aging vehicle trend,” Portalatin says. “In difficult economic times, proper vehicle care can represent a long-term cost savings for consumers. We want to find out if consumers are adopting new practices such as more do-it-yourself maintenance and repair, more frequent maintenance, or if they are still deferring these activities as a short term cost-cutting measure.” The survey results will be presented in the context of NPD’s Car Care Trac, a monthly tracking of consumer purchases of automotive products and services and Aftermarket Industry Monitor, capturing SKU level sales from over 18,000 auto parts stores.
