Sparks Toyota started selling parts online seventeen years ago in 2004. They initially experienced exponential growth and quickly became the top online vendor for Toyota parts.
Unfortunately, they had trouble meaningfully increasing sales as new competitors entered the market later on. Jamie Sutherland, Service & Parts Director at Sparks Toyota, told us that “with the increased focus of having an online presence by the factory, and the amount of OEM dealers that are selling online, it has become more difficult to acquire new customers.”
Increased competition is one of the most common pain points we hear about from current and prospective clients. As more parts departments start selling products online, it becomes more difficult for both new and existing vendors to communicate a unique value to their target audience.
Sutherland first reached out to OEM Interactive in 2019. He wanted to update the department’s approach to ecommerce and differentiate their online store from the competition in a crowded landscape. As a full-service marketing agency that specializes in parts ecommerce for both OEM and aftermarket, we were in a unique position to deliver the results he was looking for.
Our team got to work and immediately overhauled their entire online store. Sparks didn’t have to wait long to notice a difference—in fact, Sutherland reports that “by working with the OEM Interactive team, we [were] able to literally double our revenue in just one year.” While some aspects of brand development take time to translate into sales, updating the ecommerce interface helped Sparks bring in more customers overnight.
Consumer expectations have changed dramatically over the last 17 years. Simply offering digital sales was enough to set Sparks apart in 2004, but OEM Interactive is what enables them to stay ahead of other online stores. We don’t just want our partners to compete—we want them to set the gold standard among parts ecommerce vendors.
Today, Sparks generates over 1,500 orders per month and an average return on ad spend of roughly 250x. Along with these incredible results, Sutherland also points to customer service as one of our core strengths: “We truly feel like they’re just as invested in our growth as we are….[Working with OEM Interactive] is the best decision that we’ve made.”
At OEM Interactive, we have always viewed our partners’ success as our success, and we know we’re doing the right thing when we see them reach their full potential and shatter their goals. We don’t provide boilerplate, one-size-fits-all services because we understand that every client is unique—whether it be in operational size, budgets or goals. With that in mind, we do everything we can to understand the client’s needs and develop comprehensive solutions through close collaboration to help them achieve their short- and long-term goals. Sparks Toyota is a shining example of how our focused parts ecommerce marketing services can quickly take a department to the cutting edge of parts ecommerce.
