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The Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation

Automechanika’s auto:resource platform successfully connects automotive aftermarket

Date: Thursday 04 February 2021

Since launching in December 2020, auto:resource has gone from strength to strength with 9,000 unique users and close to 100 suppliers from across the aftermarket industry signing up, including key OEMs and brands such as BM Catalysts, Bilstein, Continental, Denso, Delphi, Hella, NGK, Sealey, Valeo, WD40,and ZF.

Training is the most visited page, followed closely by Promotions, Products and then Advice and Insights, showing there is a clear desire from the industry to upskill and futureproof their businesses.

Users have been spending an average of three minutes and thirty seconds each session on the website, which is almost double the time spent on other websites and shows just how relevant and engaging the content is.

Messe Frankfurt UK, organisers of Automechanika Birmingham, successfully launched the auto:resource digital resources platform at the end of 2020 to connect, inform and train the UK automotive aftermarket.

The new website was launched following extensive research conducted to over 12,000 automotive professionals. It became clear that the automotive community wanted to access products, training, promotions and news all year round instead of just at the live face to face event, Automechanika Birmingham.

The resource platform attributes strong, regular content from industry leaders and suppliers to its success. With supplier content also promoted through weekly newsletters and the auto:resource and Automechanika Birmingham social channels, suppliers are able to maximise engagement by working to simple but effective content plans in coordination with the auto:resource team.

The launch has been supported by key partners and ambassadors including IAAF, IMI autotechnician, Frost & Sullivan, GiPA UK, Tom Denton, Hayley Pells and Andy Savva – The Garage Inspector.

Industry reports and webinars have also been a significant part of auto:resource’s triumph. In December 2020 the ‘State of the Aftermarket’ Industry Report was released and a panel discussion followed, providing businesses with an insight into the opportunities and challenges that face the sector.

This attracted over 400 registrations to the session, which explored how events over the past 12 months have impacted the UK aftermarket, the ongoing challenges that the industry faces, and importantly, where the opportunities are for businesses to succeed in what remains a crucially important sector for the UK economy. The full report can be accessed here.

auto:resource is more than just a website and all resources are shared with the automotive community via weekly bulletins and newsletters directly to member’s inboxes. ‘auto:resource’s bulletins and newsletters are already exceeding the industry benchmarks on key KPIs, reflecting the quality of auto:resource data, and providing suppliers the benefit of targeted email campaigns to an engaged audience’.

With social media more important than ever, having a presence across multiple platforms has been a huge part of auto:resource’s success. With 400,000 impressions across all channels, the industry is actively joining the conversation across the auto:resource social media groups to stay abreast of the latest news and resources.

Messe Frankfurt has big plans for auto:resource in 2021, including quarterly webinars, technical briefings, industry reports, streaming training from key ambassadors. There will also be more content focused resources from leading suppliers on training, promotions, products, advice and insights, to help secure its future success.

Simon Albert, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt UK, organisers of Automechanika Birmingham, said:

“Messe Frankfurt UK has a proven track record of connecting the automotive industry under one umbrella, and auto:resource fully complements our longstanding commitment to supporting the automotive industry.
“In a year of such change, we reacted positively to meet the needs of every business in the automotive aftermarket and auto:resource brings the market closer together through the effective provision of a plethora of information and data. It’s great to see the platform thriving as we head into another uncertain and difficult year.”

Sign up to auto:resource here.