Many customers have asked, “Why can’t I find AC Delco applications in the catalog?” Here is the reason behind why AC Delco is not listed in our Positrak Pro catalog:
The Positrak “ACES Standard” catalog is the reason that Positrak Pro even exists today. Up until 2008, we were licensing expensive catalog data from a 3rd party. Multiple rate hikes on our customers in a short period of time forced us into research and development on a new solution. In 2009, we rolled out our own catalog, which became the centerpiece of Positrak Pro – the most successful Jobber Management System in the last decade.
The current list price for integrated cataloging from our competitors is nearly $300. Not only that, long-term commitments are often required. I hold in my hand a competitor contract for a 36-month commitment – just to use their catalog. This is just one portion of their monthly support. Our entire monthly support rate is only slightly higher than that on average, and requires no long-term commitment.
In 2019, General Motors made a policy change with their catalog data that limited our ability to provide their listings through our integrated catalog. They decided to start licensing their data to all data receivers (not just Positrak) at an exorbitant yearly rate with monthly revenue sharing requirements. This forced us to notify them that we would pull their data from our system by the end of 2019 unless they provided a standard agreement (which they chose not to do).
We have a long-standing policy that we do not pay for application data, nor do we charge manufacturers to list their data in our catalog. As a result, we have the lowest monthly fees in the industry and we are the fastest growing JMS provider in the aftermarket. We do not sell manufacturer’s catalog data but rather provide a service to collect, aggregate, and present it to jobbers in a way to help them sell more parts.
I want to emphasize that this is NOT standard practice. 275+ aftermarket manufacturers other than GM make their data readily available to over 400 Positrak jobbers and their installers, which total 8,000+ application lookups per day in our catalog. GM is the only parts manufacturer with this policy.
If you have made a significant investment in AC Delco products in your store, we suggest asking them why they can’t provide cataloging to their own customers.
Thanks for your understanding,
Jay Douglas
VP/IT
[email protected]