Aftersales Trends and Predictions for OEMs in 2025

The start of a new year is a moment to look ahead and assess what’s likely to shape our industry. It’s a time when we review the conversations we have been having and identify where manufacturers are looking to innovate. 

And there are some key themes emerging this year – ranging from the desire to create a digital thread to the growing adoption of predictive maintenance. To understand how these developments could transform the manufacturing landscape read on and review our five top trends.

The digital thread will continue to weave improvements 

A common area of focus for many organisations this year is data management and the creation of a digital thread. We’re seeing a growing number of manufacturers wanting to connect the flow of data that accompanies a product throughout its lifecycle in order to support different business functions. 

These benefits can be significant, extending from greater automation and efficiencies to closed-loop manufacturing and end of life recycling. This development will be clearly seen in the aftersales functionality as it will enable data produced during the initial design – CAD designs and bill of materials (BOM) – to support parts sales. 

Customer platforms are becoming more responsive and interactive 

Better data management is also helping manufacturers to overcome the traditional challenges they face when trying to service customers in the aftermarket. This includes keeping parts catalogs and work instructions up-to-date. Standard ways of doing this, PDFs or paper-based documents, quickly become outdated – making it hard for buyers to find and order the parts they need. More than half (52%) of professionals encounter difficulties here.  

When data is connected, however, it’s possible to automatically update aftersales platforms when changes are made to CAD designs or BOM data in the design or production environment. Not only does this constantly update the information the customer sees, it’s also enabling the automatic creation of interactive 3D models - making it easier for customers to identify the parts needed and see how any repairs or maintenance work should be carried out.   

The right to repair movement will continue to gain momentum

Authorities are continuing to impose regulations on manufacturers which aim to encourage greater product sustainability. This includes new EU rules, which will come into force in June this year, making it a requirement to add a repairability score to the packaging of certain products. This follows pressure from consumer groups, who want to see an end to planned obsolescence. 

The good news for manufacturers (especially those well positioned to service customers in the aftermarket) is that research, commissioned by Partful, shows that consumers are happy to pay to repair their products. In fact, a quarter say they would pay more than 50% of the full item price for a spare part, if the repairs kept the product from the scrap heap.

Greater connectivity will help OEMs capture a bigger slice of the aftermarket pie 

Manufacturers are increasingly connecting their aftersales platform to their ERP systems to enable instant purchasing online. In the past, many manufacturers have lost out on parts sales, due the fragmented process customers were required to go through. This included having to identify the right part in a catalog (hopefully the latest version), to find the associated order number, before reaching out to a sales assistant by phone or email. 

This time-consuming journey creates plenty of scope for things to go wrong and it's unsurprising that dissatisfied customers often look elsewhere. More than two-thirds (67%) of parts sales are lost by manufacturers every year to ecommerce sites like eBay or Amazon, or search engines such as Google. But, by connecting their aftersales platform, manufacturers can share live price data and encourage the end customer to buy there and then.

Predictive maintenance growth will encourage firms to consider new service models  

Another trend gaining traction in 2025 is predictive maintenance. While this technology has been talked about for a long time, more manufacturers are taking steps to enable the monitoring of products that are active in the field. This is allowing organisations to track product performance and notify customers when a part may need replacing, before it breaks. 

This will help manufacturers to improve the performance of their products by anticipating – and avoiding – unforeseen breakdowns. It will also create a new channel that businesses can use to engage with customers and encourage more sales. As adoption grows, however, it is also likely to encourage some manufacturers to consider adopting new business models, such as the ‘product-as-a-service’ model. Pioneered by companies like Rolls Royce, this could enable a ‘pay-as-you-go’ approach that will mean customers can be charged for reliability. 

To learn more about the trends shaping manufacturing aftersales in 2025, listen to our latest podcast here.