2024 Trends from SEMA and AAPEX Tradeshows
Jonathan Stotts
Senior PR & Communications Manager
Anyline recently attended both automotive shows SEMA and AAPEX in Las Vegas, Oct 31 to Nov 3, 2023. The two shows running in parallel attract hundreds of thousands of people from the automotive aftermarket industry. Manufacturers, retailers and software and service providers showcase the latest and greatest of what they have to offer, making these events great predictors for what’s to come in the next 12 months.
Let’s take a look at some of the overarching themes from the shows:
Do more with less
The labor shortage in the automotive industry is unlikely to change due to people maintaining cars longer, less competitive salaries, increasingly complex vehicles, less technical education in the US and an aging workforce. Organizations throughout the automotive aftermarket are trying to adapt to the new reality. What they have concluded is that one person needs to be able to do what three used to do – and technology and education are the only things that can help to achieve this.
Digitizing and automating tasks that are not core to your business is absolutely critical. In the automotive service centers, this can be streamlining the check in and check out process. Scanning customer and vehicle information directly into CRM and operational systems cuts down on the time a mechanic is doing data entry and frees them to spend their time actually working on cars. Some companies are even pushing those tasks to the customer as part of the appointment scheduling process. Asking customers to do too much can be a turn-off however. Either way, technologies like mobile data capture can help, making digitizing analog vehicle and customer information a breeze, whether it is done by a customer or a frontline worker.
Take aways
A lot can be learned at key tradeshows like SEMA and AAPEX. Not surprisingly, technology continues to push us in a transformational direction. It was great to see these iconic shows back to and surpassing their pre-covid attendance levels and to see how dynamic and healthy the automotive aftermarket is today. At Anyline, we look forward to helping support the next evolution of the industry in the short term and for many more years to come. See you at next year’s show!
