Improve your customers' online experience—and bring in more sales—with the help of SEMA Data.

For many racers, building their track car begins in the digital world, often scouring websites of retailers and distributors for the right parts and matching applications. To help consumers navigate this vast online marketplace, performance-parts manufacturers create extensive datasets for resellers to create product descriptions with the technical specifications and their proper applications.

But where is the standardization for this data? Where can it be housed, and is the information as detailed and accurate as it should be?

Years ago, former SEMA President Chris Kersting and other association advocates saw that aftermarket manufacturers could vastly improve their appeal to resellers and distributors through standardized product data. In 2012, with the SEMA Board of Directors' approval, the association launched the Data Co-Op, now called SEMA Data, to set the industry standard.

Today, SEMA Data (SD) is the largest industry product database for resellers, offering vital data-management services to manufacturers. But even though "SEMA" is in the name, this service is also highly beneficial to motorsports parts manufacturers and resellers.

We spoke with SEMA Vice President of Technology, Data and Strategic Initiative, Gigi Ho, to fully understand SD's services and data score system to answer the question you might be asking: "What exactly is SEMA Data, and how can I benefit?" 

A DIGITAL AGE

The digital market grows every month, and brands and manufacturers are doing everything they can to optimize their product data for an online market. "Since COVID-19, data has skyrocketed in terms of its value," said Ho. "When COVID happened, we couldn't talk to anybody. We couldn't travel outside of our houses. We couldn't gather in groups to exchange ideas. Data was it. Everyone's experience was online, and online sales just went through the roof. Businesses were growing 30% to 60%, depending on the segment that they were in."

According to the US Census Bureau, e-commerce sales increased by 43% in 2020 when lockdowns kicked in and people were often required to shop from home. E-commerce went from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020; in 2024, online sales grew to $1.19 trillion.

"They say it takes 16 weeks to form a habit, and we had 52 weeks. We not only formed a habit; it's a muscle," Ho observed. "There's no going back. We're in the digital age. So data has exponentially become more important to every business." 

SD's mission is to assist manufacturers with data cleanup and housing. The more complete their data is, the more appealing resellers and distributors find it. Neither the manufacturers nor the resellers need to be PRI or SEMA members. There are perks to being a member, however. Resellers with business memberships get a subscription discount starting at $25 per month rather than $75 for non-members to receive product data (see sidebar for more details). Access to data cataloging tools and monthly support from data experts start at $99 for manufacturers. The pricing increases with the number of parts they carry. 

SD created a standardized system and a scorecard that grades a brand's data with one of four scores: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Manufacturers and SD use the scorecard to track their data progression, while resellers rely on it to identify the best data suppliers.

Previously, SD's scorecard was measured quantitatively. There would be 10 fillable "buckets" on the scorecard, and so long as all buckets were filled, a brand would receive a data excellence score. It was more about getting the buckets filled than making the buckets complete. However, even if the individual bucket's data wasn't thorough, SD gave enough slack to allow that company to receive a score, consequently blurring the roadmap for resellers who relied on that score to distinguish between brands with adequate data and those with pristine data.

That changed with the 2024 scorecard iteration. Ho decided the scorecard needed to carry more tangible impacts, so the SD team worked on new scoring criteria. "No more leeway," said Ho. "If you're using the same description in all these other boxes, that will not score you. For resellers, it's 180 degrees from five years ago when all the scoring was almost meaningless. Now, they really are looking at what brands are gold or platinum and relying on those scores to know who they can get the best data from.

"At the bronze level, the fields are at the minimum needed to set up the part number at any business in a POS system or a WD's ERP system. Part number, price, it's the bare minimum to get the part number set," continued Ho.

Silver expands on the bronze field with more detail. Adding another digital asset and filling another description field increases the score. Ho explained, "If you go to Home Depot's website and look at a refrigerator or something similar, you'll see some listings have all kinds of information, some attributes, measurements, or whatever. And you'll see others that have a picture and a minimum description. You get some concept of what you're purchasing. That's silver."

A gold rating will tack on more product information, such as a warranty, a prop 65 flag, a tariff code for international shipping, a video asset for the product line, and more. These key criteria have little to no exceptions in SD's standards.

For a brand to receive a platinum score, it must hit 100% in select bronze and silver fields and 100% of all gold fields on the scorecard. Data segments such as digital assets, descriptions, product attributes, pricing, vehicle applications, and regulatory information gather qualitative points. These are essential fields to creating the best product description for buyers, consumers, builders, and so on. 

DATA EXCELLENCE

When a company ranks gold or platinum, they are labeled a Data Excellence brand. Through the SEMA Data Excellence Awards, SD recognizes the work and steps taken to become a gold or platinum brand and celebrates the brands and manufacturers that have gone beyond the full completion and the rigorous work it takes within one's company. 

"Achieving data excellence requires diligence and commitment. We commend the manufacturers who have achieved this significant milestone that benefits the entire industry," stated Ho.

To receive a SEMA Data Excellence Award, manufacturers must score gold or platinum by August 1 of any given year and keep that score through the end of October. 

Reaching Data Excellence comes with its perks. Brands are awarded trophies at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas and receive widespread recognition through SEMA's digital media and social media outlets. The SEMA Show Banquet Program also features their names, plus they receive carpet ads in the Featured Products Showcase area and on the Show floor near their booths for extra brand exposure and recognition. But what does that mean to the PRI audience?

AFTERMARKET VS. PERFORMANCE

Some PRI members have argued that SD's services don't fit the racing industry and are better suited for aftermarket brands and their products over performance racing companies and shops. Ho disagreed, and that's why you'll see her and the SD team posted at the PRI Show in Indianapolis, hosting Ask the Experts sessions to educate PRI members on digital product data strategies for e-commerce.

"Racers still need the same information [as consumers]. Especially if they're new builders coming into the industry," said Ho. She explained how new, up-and-coming racers, engine builders, and such have not developed brand loyalty and spend time online scouring new brands and products. They're online more frequently, and "they're more eager to learn. They want to know the differences and benefits and how it can impact what they're building or how different components together will impact their build. So content is still invaluable as these newer builders are increasingly online."

It's not just Ho making the case. Industry veterans also emphasize the importance of standardized data in racing. Mark Dorman of CSF's Racing and High-Performance division, in Rancho Cucamonga, California, oversees the brand's product data and believes quality and complete standardized datasets are as imperative to the performance industry as in the general automotive aftermarket.

"Performance guys always want that extra information," said Dorman. "They want to know the construction type. They want to know what materials you're using. They want to know why [your product] is better than what [they're currently running]. They want more pictures because they care about how things look. They'll look at all the information, all the data.... They want all those nitty-gritty details, whereas your average consumer for replacement tires just wants to know are they the right size? Are they noisy? And are they going to last? Am I going to be safe with them? Those are the basics of what they want to know." 

Those extra details are critical for racers, especially with components like tires. The right compound and the right tread are pivotal to a racer. Providing that data helps differentiate a brand's products—for general consumers and expert performance buyers.

IMPROVING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

CSF had a bronze SD rating when Dorman came aboard, meaning the brand's data met the repository's minimum standards. The unpolished data was causing an increased number of customers to return products due to listing errors or an inadequate description in the application. Understanding the link between good data and customer satisfaction from experience on the reseller side, he challenged himself to improve the score. 

"When I came on, I wanted to get our data score ranked up. It's the gamer in me who wants to get a higher score," said Dorman. "But I also knew the value of good product data, because as someone who worked for a retailer, we could share much better product descriptions from someone with good data versus someone with minimalistic data."

Simple product features and attributes go a long way toward damage control and minimizing brand dissatisfaction. Over time with help and guidance from the SD team, Dorman successfully brought CSF's data score to platinum, creating impactful significance.

"I can definitely say there are less mistakes and fewer inaccuracies on dealer websites," said Dorman. "For a while, we just had super-generic product descriptions and generic fitments, so people would get things wrong. We cleaned up a lot of that information, and now we have fewer product listing mistakes, and we have fewer customer issues."

Derale Performance in Los Angeles, California, also saw the benefits of improving its data score. Cameron Brandt noted a decline in tech-support calls after elevating the company's score from bronze to gold in just three months. 

At its bronze score, Brandt saw reoccurring calls from customers regarding clarification on part fittings, sizing, cooler BTU's, and other basic specifications. Improving the datasets could have saved the customer time by providing the reseller with better data. "A lot of these guys, especially on the PRI side, already know what they're on the lookout for and what [their application requires]. It's just being able to get that information to them in the easiest way possible," said Brandt. 

The information on Derale's website was thorough, but without quality data or standardization, it didn't always translate well across online retailers. Some manufacturers assume someone could simply search their website to confirm the part specs, compatibility, and so on. However, the data experts find the best practice is to have consistency across all platforms. In Brandt's experience, information could be skewed across multiple distributors and reseller sites when data is not standardized or complete. 

"That [product info is] on our website, and that makes it easy to get to," he explained. "But if someone's looking on Summit, JEGS, or wherever, they may not have had the same level of information. So now that it's been standardized [through SD], it's a lot more streamlined." Now, Derale's product information on reseller's websites properly reflects the data on its site. This allows tech support to focus more on customers with deeper technical questions. 

"You don't have one person answering the phone for the same question over and over anymore," said Brandt.

EASE OF USE

Companies that become SD members have an arsenal of tools at their disposal, including PartsHub, an easy-to-use data management platform ideal for smaller brands that may not have the most tech-savvy individuals overseeing their data.

"If you know how to describe your part, if you know what your part fits on, and if you know what to price your part, then you can [work the platform]," Ho noted. "It doesn't require any fancy tech or knowledge around the standards at all. You're just describing your product, and it creates standardized data."

In addition to the user-friendly platform, members can also leverage the SD data team whenever the need arises. "There are manufacturers we've signed up that are wonderful and committed, but they're also short-handed," Ho explained. "They have the information—they have it in their catalog or in their price sheets—but they don't have the manpower to put the information into the formats needed for SD to provide to resellers. That's where our data team comes in."

Brandt expressed ease of use regarding his personal experience with SD. He said, "I've worked with a few of the reps over [at SD] to walk me through everything and anything to make it more simplified so it's not an individual change for an item 500 times. Once you know the ins and outs, it's extremely easy."

He further shared that he previously would have dreaded the multi-day task of processing his company's upcoming pricing changes in the next few weeks. Knowing the database's functions, "I probably could do it in 20 minutes now," said Brandt. 

SD makes it easy to grow and succeed with a company's product data and improve digital sales. For people like Brandt, the cost-to-value ratio is unchallenging. "For what we've seen being able to improve our product information and what it saved in manhours, on phone calls, emails, and more, the tradeoff is definitely there. I would say it's well worth the investment that way," he concluded.

For more information on benefits, services, and cost, visit semadata.org to learn more and reach out to a SEMA Data expert.

Sidebar:

SEMA Data For Resellers

SEMA Data (SD) launched an updated Data Subscription program for resellers on April 1, 2025. For those who haven't yet tried SEMA Data, a 30-day free trial is available to evaluate the industry's best data. The "Launch" trial membership allows users to sample core features, including supplier data scorecarding. Preview SD's exclusive Custom Export Builder, which gives full control of export file formatting, search and request unlimited brands and activate up to 15 full file downloads, includes one live training call, and access to the video and documentation library. 

For just $25 per month for PRI and SEMA members, or $75 per month for non-members, those who use these SD tools on a low to moderate data usage can benefit from the Accelerate program. Data usage includes up to 50 instant file downloads, up to 75 file exports, up to 10,000 API calls, access to the eCommerce Plugin and API solutions, create and schedule global and AdHoc data file exports, and utilize the Custom Export Builder for unlimited field and formatting options.

The next step up is the Turbo option, which includes all Accelerate features plus filtered exporting that saves time by exporting certain makes or models, specific fuel types, and more, plus one hour API integration assistance. Data usage includes up to 200 instant file downloads, up to 1,000 file exports, and up to 100,000 API calls. This option is available to PRI and SEMA members for $75 per month, or $150 per month for non-members.

The top-of-the line option, called Mach, includes all the Accelerate and Turbo features plus the highest data usage amounts. Service providers included at Mach level include two-and-a-half more downloads, five times more exports, and five times more API calls. Data usage includes up to 500 instant file downloads, up to 5,000 file exports, and up to 500,000 API calls. This option is available for $150 per month for PRI and SEMA members, and $300 per month for non-members.

To join SEMA Data or to learn more, visit semadata.org.

To read more, sign up for a digital subscription to PRI Magazine on Zinio here.    

Once you download the Zinio mobile app or are logged into Zinio on a desktop browser, you will gain immediate access to more than a year's worth of content, including "Data Driven" here and more open wheel coverage in the May/June 2025 issue here. 

Sources
CSF
csfrace.com
Derale Performance
derale.com
SEMA Data
semadata.org