Recently, more and more OEM’s have been promoting certified website programs and data sharing agreements to help with parts and accessory stocking levels. These agreements are technical and written using confusing legal terms but signing up for some of these programs is essentially giving out full access passes to all your DMS data and access to all of the customers who visit your website.
With today’s tech, a high percentage of customers to a website can be identified and targeted (both digitally and with direct mail). This means that an OEM of one brand can target individuals looking at other brands on your website. Would you rather control the sale, or do you want to leave that up to someone else? Do you want an OEM with low margins to be able to push customers away from other products that are more reliable and offer better margins?
Due to a recent mistake by one OEM we saw that while the dealer had thought that they had only granted access to their parts inventory, the OEM was actually looking at a broad range of data in their DMS.
As dealers we all need to push back against these agreements. I can guarantee that whatever an OEM is willing to trade you for this access, it’s not worth it.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markjsheffield_dealers-website-oem-activity-6638831098354819073-KjX8
#dealers #website #OEM #access