Trade shows continue to offer unique buying and business insights for jobbers.

Trade shows of all kinds have mostly recovered from the hammering they took during the COVID-19 era and auto parts trade shows are no exception. Whether going as attendees or hosting a trade show themselves, many auto parts distributors and jobbers continue to find trade shows a vibrant and enjoyable way to successfully augment their business.

There’s a diversity of auto parts trade shows to serve the varying interests, requirements and business priorities found in the auto parts supply sector. Major events like the AAPEX and the SEMA Show in Las Vegas each November, attract tens of thousands of visitors. A sizeable contingent of Canadian jobbers, distributors and other parts specialists also attend these massive events.

You don’t get face-to-face with webinars. – Zara Wishloff, President & CEO, Automotive Parts Distributors

Wide range
Even here at home in Canada, there are a wide range of trade shows happening across the country each year. Most major parts suppliers, like NAPA, LKQ, Bumper to Bumper, and Bestbuy Distributors Ltd., have trade shows. Lordco, a large regional parts supplier in Western Canada, with over 80 outlets across British Columbia and Alberta, has also been holding an annual trade show, in Vancouver each April.

If you’re a jobber based in the B.C. interior, Vancouver, never mind Las Vegas, might be a little out of range for a broad swath of your clientele. This year, for about six hours on March 17, Vernon B.C-based Gilbert Parts Depot, with seven outlets across the north Okanagan, Shuswap and West Kootenay districts, held its second annual trade show. The two events featured about 35 booths representing a range of manufacturers, with a focus on main brands on offer through the company’s outlets. In the second show, about 25 of the brands from the first year had booths and about 10 brands, absent last year, had booths this year. “The idea is to rotate the brands a bit each year. The feedback from last year was good and a lot of people who came said they learned things that were helpful,” explains Brennan Plante, a partner at Gilbert Parts Depot.

The trade show invites customers—repair shop technicians, construction companies, forestry people, farmers, business and government fleet operators – “any customers who support our business in a meaningful way,” Plante says. Last year about 350 attended.

Knowledgable representatives
Besides opportunities for networking, attendees have better access to knowledgeable company reps who can take the time to educate on optimizing the use of a company part or system. Reps covering half or even the whole province can sometimes be hard to pin down for detailed info or a quick training session. With Gilbert Parts Depot offering a wide range of parts and products, the company’s complement of about 50 employees also attend the trade show and can make use of the time to learn more about some of the products they sell.

Attending almost any Canadian auto parts trade show has an advantage, in that auto parts experts and manufacturers’ reps typically are familiar with the Canadian market. Also, for auto parts jobbers and distributors hosting a trade show and making some sales is typically part of the action. Furthermore, because it’s relevant to their local market and their customers, attendees have a stronger incentive to purchase. At some trade shows, including the Gilbert Parts Depot one, a bunch of booths have trade show-only prices.

For U.S.-based shows like AAPEX and the SEMA Show which take place over several days, at the Venetian Expo and the Las Vegas Convention Center, the focus for Canadians is often slightly different. These massive shows can seem overwhelming, especially for those attending them for the first time, but they offer a huge opportunity to talk to a whole range of people, including key decision makers, plus often, they are the place where many new parts and solutions are first displayed and revealed to the industry. For many, they represent a great fit and a great opportunity, with a great deal of Canadians choosing to attend year after year. Exhibitors at AAPEX include over 2,500 manufacturers and suppliers covering 1,400-plus product categories. AAPEX aims to encompass the entire automotive aftermarket supply chain and provide quality access to the industry’s key people, parts and professional training in one place. SEMA is an even bigger aftermarket trade show, and flashier, perhaps, with more emphasis on customization, performance and trends.

Unique access
These big events offer opportunities to jobbers and parts distributors that they wouldn’t get through the local channels, Zara Wishloff, President and CEO of Automotive Parts Distributors (APD), says. “The key decision-makers are at the show. People running their businesses internationally are available, not just the local reps. You get to talk to the people you can arrange (exclusive) Canadian distribution with, across the country,” says Wishloff.

Jobbers and distributors attending the show can often identify a source for a hard-to-find product after drawing a blank searching the regular market. This happened after ADP had been trying without success to find an electric component for a steering system. “AAPEX was where we learned about a company that made the critical part,” Wishloff says. He adds, “Networking here is really productive for business opportunities.”

He also notes that jobbers and distributors at AAPEX can benefit from training sessions in marketing, new technologies, staff retention, search engine optimization (SEO) and ADAS.

Good, strong relationships, Wishloff says, are a factor in the success of a parts business and getting to know the people you are dealing with on a personal, face-to-face basis supports that. Citing an example, he says a visit to a manufacturing plant that made fuel injectors and a profitable deal and relationship with the company that ran the plant would not have happened without going to AAPEX or the SEMA Show. He comments, “You don’t get face-to-face with webinars.”