We posted our 2012 forecast for online retail sales of auto parts on the Hedges & Company blog and wanted to pass along some stats to the SEMA Online Marketing group in case they're of interest. We posted these stats  following the recent Catalyst conference in Las Vegas.

We have tracked the Internet as a sales channel for several years and are putting online retail sales of auto parts at around $3.5 billion in 2012. This is excluding online auctions.

We've posted some interesting behaviors of online shoppers, too. For example, buyers of camshafts are 16% more likely to buy their other auto parts and accessories from an online store than are gasket buyers or connecting rod buyers. On the other hand, consumers who buy gaskets are 29% more likely to buy the rest of their parts from chain stores than are camshaft buyers.

Buyers of camshafts and cylinder heads are 19% more likely to buy their other auto parts from eBay than are consumers who buy gaskets. Just as an FYI, cams are one of the fastest-growing categories on eBay, and as a whole eBay Motors revenue is up well over 35% YTD.

Hopefully these stats will be helpful to someone.

Regards,
Jon Hedges
HedgesCompany.com