FRANKLIN, Tenn. — More than to 77% of independent repair shops expect to increase their private-label parts purchasing in the next year, up from 75.4% last year, according to IMR Inc., an automotive market research firm.
As of August, over half of vehicle repair shop decision-makers (53.5%) surveyed said inflation pressure is the foremost reason for a projected increase in private-label/store-brand parts purchasing over the next year, according to a new IMR survey.
Inflation was not cited as a factor in either January 2021 or August 2020, IMR said, indicating how much the landscape has changed for aftermarket customers.
The second most common response from shop decision-makers regarding private-label/store-brand parts purchasing was customers' asking for less expensive parts (47.9%), followed by private label/store brand parts' being less expensive/more affordable for the shop (42.2%).
Thus far in 2022, only 0.2% of independent repair shops reported decreasing their private-label parts purchasing, while 75.8% of those surveyed reported that they expect to increase their purchasing of store-brand/private-label parts over the next year.
About 24% of shops projected that over the next year, their private-label/store-brand parts purchasing will stay the same.
This year, shops' purchasing of private-label parts has been steady at an average of 36.2%, according to IMR.
Additionally, smaller shops reported purchasing more private-label brands (39.5%), while larger shops purchased less (35.9%) of those parts.
