Convermax: The Fitment Search Solution For Shopify, BigCommerce, And More

Today, we are speaking with Alex Sherbachev, Founder and CEO of Convermax, a company that offers on-site search solutions, including Year-Make-Model lookups for the auto parts industry. Removing the need for custom development, their solution integrates with popular platforms – like Shopify and BigCommerce. (More about Shopify and BigCommerce on the Spork blog here.)

The Convermax Year-Make-Model widget can be customized to the store needs: add extra dropdowns (submodel, engine, bed length) or reduce it to just two (e.g., year and make). Alex is a highly qualified tech entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in leading and managing software companies, and Spork recommends Convermax solutions.

Can you describe your service as if we nothing about it?

It’s not the easiest thing to explain to someone who knows nothing about the auto parts market. But imagine you own a car and it suddenly breaks down. The repair shop estimates how much it will probably cost, and you are not happy with the price. You want to go online and hopefully find a bargain. But you’re not a professional, and you have no idea what part will fit your 2014 Toyota RAV4. Luckily, the store has a year-make-model lookup where you select a vehicle and see the parts option that will fit your vehicle. And that’s what we do – help customers find the right parts and dealers to sell more and avoid costly returns.

What’s your standard ‘elevator pitch’ for your company?

We offer one of the best and most technologically advanced Year-Make-Model searches for auto parts
e-commerce stores. It helps them to improve their customers’ experience, sell more and reduce costly
returns of parts that don’t fit.

Can you tell us briefly about your experience in the auto parts industry?

For a long time, Convermax provided on-site search for any e-commerce business based on one of the
popular platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce. In 2018, we got our first client in the auto parts industry
and created a year, make, and model search extension specifically for him. After his positive feedback,
we realized that we could do well in this niche. So we focused on aftermarket parts e-commerce, and so
far it seems like the right thing to do.

Are there common misconceptions people have about your products or services?

We are often mistaken for a design agency. Probably because many theme developers sell a year-make-
model plugin, but those plugins are nowhere near what our software does. (If you are interested in auto parts e-commerce design, you might check out this blog post on sporkmarketing.com.)

Also, many people think of us as a fitment data provider. Since our product is called – Auto Parts Fitment Search – we are regularly asked about it on demo calls. Some visitors to our booth at the SEMA Show thought we could create fitment data for them. We do work with fitment data, but the data that already exists in the store or that can be connected via API. Managing a fitment database is a completely different service than what we do.

What is your favorite part of the job?

The challenge of solving complex technical problems seemed intractable but resulted in something new
and exciting.

What are the 3 most important things people need to know about your company?

First, e-commerce is a brutal and highly competitive market. The store needs some advantages to
compete with others, and fitment data is one of them. The year-make-model search is only as good as
the store’s fitment data. Our search won’t help the auto parts store much if they don’t have quality data.
We usually consult with our clients on how and where to get the data if they haven’t solved this problem
yet. Also, most stores use more or less the same fitment resources. So it can be a good idea to think
about how to improve your fitment data because it can be a big competitive advantage.

Second, we have found that niche stores perform better than stores that generally sell all aftermarket parts. The niche allows you to work better on the quality of your fitment data and understand your
customers better.

Third, your marketing play may be more important than the technology. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling
you this as someone who sells software, but that’s what I always focus on when I talk to our customers.
The technology is simple to configure, we’ll make it quick and easy for you. How to get quality traffic to
your site is a harder task.

Where do you see the market going for your product/service moving over the next 5 years?

In 5 years there will be more standardization of fitment data and more wholesalers will have their API.
There may be more e-commerce stores focused on EV parts, but I don’t think it will be a large part of the
market. Right now, Tesla and other EV companies are more focused on manufacturing than providing
resources and services to fix cars. Also, few mechanics are experienced in repairing electronic vehicles.

What do you attribute to your company’s success?

Because we were primarily an on-site search company, it was easy to evolve our software to meet the
needs of auto parts retailers. We offer features that others don’t – like syncing with data provider APIs,
using a mix of data from multiple parts sources, making YMM search work in sync with product filters,
etc.

Summing Up

Convermax offers ecommerce parts sellers a comprehensive Y-M-M fitment search. The solution is compatible with a variety of fitment/data providers and can integrate with Prestashop, Magento, Shift4Shop, and more platforms. The company also offers a specific wheel and tire fitment search solution. The Convermax team has even curated a selection of Shopify and BigCommerce themes that work best for parts sellers. Ultimately, they want to help you achieve better sales with less work. Learn more on the Convermax website here.