Margins are tightening, and the answer is revenue

New revenue streams matter more than they have in years. Deloitte's ProfitFocus benchmarks tell the story plainly: net profit as a share of sales has slipped from around 4 per cent to roughly 3 per cent in a year, while overheads keep climbing. New car gross per unit has come down hard. You cannot cut your way to growth, and the businesses that come through the next few years in good shape will be the ones that found new ways to earn rather than just new things to trim.

The same data points to where that growth is hiding. Parts still runs at a healthy 21 to 23 per cent gross, and fixed operations are making up a growing share of where dealerships actually earn their money. Parts ecommerce is the next frontier for high performing dealerships, and Online Retailer is where that conversation is happening.

The line between car dealer and online retailer is already gone

It went quietly, over the last few years, while everyone was busy with the day to day. Parts and accessories are moving online whether a business has built for it or not. Customers expect to message, browse and buy from automotive businesses the same way they buy everything else in their lives. The behaviour has shifted. The question is whether the business has shifted with it.

Here is the part that should give the industry pause. The tools solving those problems are not being built at automotive events. They are being built for retail first. By the time a polished, automotive specific version turns up at a dealer conference, retailers have already been using the original for years. Online Retailer is where you see it early, before it has been repackaged and marked up for automotive.

It goes deeper than the tools. Retail is not just building the technology first, it is the single biggest influence on what customers now expect from every online experience, automotive included. A customer does not compare an automotive website to the dealership down the road. They compare it to the last great online experience they had, full stop. If a small online boutique can deliver something seamless and effortless, that quietly becomes the standard every business is measured against, whether you sell candles or car parts. The bar is being set by retail, and customers are bringing those expectations to automotive whether the industry has met them or not.

What is actually waiting on the floor

For an automotive business willing to look, here is what makes the trip worth it.

1. Parts and accessories ecommerce specialists who understand automotive:

   This is the one we would point dealers to first. Generic ecommerce and marketing agencies treat a brake pad the same way they treat a t-shirt, but anyone who has sold parts online knows it is a different game. Fitment and vehicle compatibility, deep SKU counts, the way a customer needs to be certain a part suits their car before they will buy. The specialists who have built for that complexity are the ones who turn a parts catalogue into a channel that actually performs, rather than a generic store bolted onto a business it was never designed for. We will be at Online Retailer with Zellis, who do exactly this, and it is the conversation we are most looking forward to having on the floor this year.

2. The platforms that can connect to your DMS for stock management:

   If you are going to sell parts online, the platform has to talk to your DMS so stock, pricing and availability stay in sync rather than living in two places. For a parts catalogue, the two worth looking at are Shopify and Neto, the ANZ-native platform built for merchants with large product catalogues that lets automotive sellers import tens of thousands of SKUs and keep inventory synced across channels. The catch worth understanding before signing anything is that neither talks to a DMS out of the box. Shopify connects through APIs and partner apps, and the DMS sync usually runs through a specialist integration layer. Getting that connection right is the whole game.

3. eBay: the ultimate platform to be found by parts and accessories buyers:

   Do not overlook it. eBay is one of the biggest channels for parts and accessories in Australia, with millions of listings across car and truck parts alone and a buyer base already actively searching for the exact parts you stock. For a parts and accessories business it is one of the simplest ways to put your catalogue in front of demand you are not already reaching, and a low risk way to test new ranges before committing to anything bigger.

4. Conversion and customer experience tools: Tools retailers have been quietly using for years while a lot of automotive businesses are still relying on a contact form and hoping. Live messaging, smart product imagery, the small things that turn a browser into a buyer. None of it is exotic. It has just been living in retail rather than in our world.

5. Shipping and logistics providers worth meeting face to face:

   Freight quietly eats more margin than most businesses realise, and an event like this is the one time you can sit across from new providers and platforms instead of chasing quotes over email. For any business already selling parts online, this alone can justify the trip.

It comes down to profitability, not technology

None of this means becoming an ecommerce business overnight. It means understanding what is out there well enough to make sharp decisions about your own business. With margins where they are, profitability now comes down to the calls you make on exactly this. Not chasing every new tool, but knowing what exists, where the gaps are, and which ideas are worth bringing home and turning into a return. The businesses protecting their margins are the ones treating this as a revenue question, not an IT one.

The businesses that come out ahead are not waiting for these ideas to arrive at an automotive conference. They are in the room where retail is being figured out, taking what works and applying it before their competitors have even heard of it.

Come and find us

We will be at Online Retailer with Zellis at stand G110, talking parts ecommerce and exactly how it fits into an automotive business, from the platform and the DMS integration through to the customer experience that actually converts.

Online Retailer, ICC Sydney, 22 to 23 July 2026.

If parts ecommerce is on your radar, or you suspect your catalogue could be working harder online, come and find us. Let's talk about it.