The Association of Automotive Parts Distributors and Manufacturers together with the MotoFocus.pl portal and Santander Bank Polska have prepared the latest automotive parts market barometer summarising the three quarters of 2021. Below you can find the conclusions of the study.
Uncertainty dominates the market  
Uncertainty of the future is a feeling accompanying a large group of entities operating in the automotive industry. Companies operating on the independent market are currently in better shape, while OE manufacturers face greater problems.
Results of parts distributors 
The performance of automotive parts distributors may seem "boring" because for many years, it has been getting better every year. Despite the forecasts of early 2020 and the turmoil in the early stages of the pandemic, distributors closed 2020 in the positive, and the reports for the previous quarters prepared by SDCM together with Santander Bank Polska in cooperation with MotoFocus.pl showed that these companies are in excellent shape. So, the results after Q3 are in line with predictions. It is only worth mentioning that as much as half of the surveyed companies recorded an increase in revenue by more than 10%. Overall, 85% of respondents recorded increases.
 
 
 
 
What drives distributors' turnover growth is exports. Accustomed to strong low-margin competition in Poland, our domestic distributors can be unrivalled abroad, conquering new markets. Predicting changes in revenues in 2021, they point to both an increase in domestic sales (95.2%) and an increase in exports (85.7%).
 
 
 
 
However, distributors also have to face problems. One of them is the constantly rising costs of operation. Almost half of the respondents pointed to an increase of more than 10% compared to the same period in 2020.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Another problem for distributors is the shortage of spare parts. We have already presented the scale of the problem in our survey of garage representatives. You can read the conclusions HERE. Unfortunately, over 85% of the surveyed automotive parts distributors expect further problems with spare parts availability in the next two quarters: