That e-commerce is coming to trucking is no secret. That hasn’t been a burning question to me for at least two years. Ask any of your fellow dealers, suppliers or even your aftermarket competitors. Anyone who is selling parts online will tell you that segment of their business is on the rise.
No, the big question for trucking isn’t “Will we see e-commerce?” but “How is e-commerce going to change our industry?”
On Tuesday the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released the most comprehensive report I’ve seen in our market that focused entirely on answering that question.
Identified a top research priority in 2017 by the institute’s Research Advisory Committee, ATRI’s study and corresponding report had two main objectives:
In reading the report data, I think ATRI hit both objectives on the head. Using a combination of data amassed through industry research, national consumer behavior information and distribution models, ATRI has compiled clear statistical evidence to demonstrate exactly how much e-commerce is altering our conventional parts distribution process.
Here are some of my favorites. Err, not favorites. More like some of the most eye opening. Take a look:
This is just a taste. If you download the report (found in the link above), the numbers go on and on. As such, I’m not going to prattle on here that “you need to prepare for e-commerce.” ATRI’s 49-page report makes that point abundantly clear.
