How to win: 3 ways to drive decisions with driving data for the auto aftermarket industry

PAC-MAN’s goal is to catch four ghosts. And, if you’re a serious fan of the game, you know each ghost has its own distinct behaviors and patterns. Red Ghost chases PAC-MAN, Pink and Blue attempt to get in front of him, and Orange moves randomly.

Businesses face a feat similar to PAC-MAN’s. However, instead of trying to catch four ghosts again and again, they’re trying to gain consumers’ business – and keep them coming back again and again. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a How to Win guide with tips on consumers’ distinct behaviors and patterns?

Unique driving data is a critical element of your How to Win guide. With unique driving data, auto aftermarket businesses can start to understand consumers’ traffic patterns and behaviors that can help drive informed decision-making.

Here are three use cases for driving smarter business decisions with driving data.

#1 Improve your sales forecast

Right now, many auto aftermarket businesses are relying heavily on historical sales data to forecast future consumer spend. But as we saw in 2020, the volume of driving can shift dramatically at any moment in time.

Now, as more Americans return to the office and their daily commutes commence once again, auto aftermarket businesses can’t necessarily rely on the past few years of sales data to predict what consumer spending is going to look like this year.

However, Arity’s Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) data can unveil valuable patterns for shifts in miles driven on a daily, weekly, and monthly cadence. This data can be used to form a more accurate, reliable forecast that helps auto aftermarket businesses know how much inventory, staff, and marketing spend they need at the store level.

Arity offers VMT data at the zip code level all the way up to the state level, and we can differentiate between total VMT (all traffic) and resident VMT (resident-only traffic) which can impact the accuracy of a sales forecast.

#2 Understand store performance

With traffic analytics, auto aftermarket businesses can get a deeper look into a store’s performance – or gauge the potential performance of a future location.

For current locations, retailers can measure Arity’s drive-by traffic data against their own in-store foot traffic and sales data. Is there a discrepancy with the number of people who park at a location but don’t end up entering and/or purchasing? Is there a reason behind this? These insights give retailers a chance to address these gaps and see if there are opportunities to improve.

If a retailer is scouting for future locations, they can look at daily traffic flow to see which option has the highest number of people driving by or on adjacent roads – and therefore, the potential to gain the most visibility and hopefully sales.

#3 Get to know your customers better

Location

Driving data can also give an anonymized and aggregated look into where customers are coming from with origination location data – broken out by zip code, county, and block group. Once businesses understand where their customers are coming from, they can identify their trade areas. Then, they can complement those insights with other data like household income, number of vehicles per home, and more.

Target audience segmentation

Once businesses know where their customers are coming from, they can also reach them with targeted ads based on other relevant driving behaviors that can influence even more sales. For example, an auto parts and accessories retailer may want to target the high mileage drivers who tend to put more wear and tear on their vehicles. Additionally, a gas station may want to target the daily commuters who tend to refill their tanks every week.

Customer loyalty

If businesses want to dig even deeper, they can uncover insights on customer loyalty with that same origination location data. In addition to seeing where their customers are coming from, they can also look at their traffic passing by competitors’ locations.

For example, a gas station can determine if customers are loyal, or if customers are also driving past a competing station. If the latter, this provides a chance to delve into potential reasons behind this. Could it be related to the competitor’s lower coffee prices in the morning? Or better snack options for summer road trippers?

In the auto aftermarket world, drivers = customers. So, it’s important to know what’s happening on the roads to make decisions that will gain consumers’ business – and keep them coming back again and again.

Ready to leverage driving data to uncover insights for your own How to Win guide? Contact us to find out how Arity’s data can work for you!