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Automotive aftermarket guidance
Auto Care Digital Asset Best Practices
Plan automotive stills, 360 product photography, video, identifiers and catalog delivery around a shared aftermarket framework—then create the retailer-specific exports each trading partner requires.
Industry best practice—not a retailer rule
Create the complete asset record before adapting it to each destination.
The Auto Care Association Digital Asset Best Practices give automotive manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and catalog teams a common framework for acquiring, identifying and exchanging product content. They help a team build consistent source assets before the individual image sizes, names, frame counts and delivery rules of a retailer, distributor or catalog provider are applied.
Reviewed August 2026Use current Auto Care documentation and active trading-partner instructions for final delivery.
More than a primary image
Digital assets work as a connected catalog system.
Auto Care guidance addresses product-image acquisition as well as video, 360 and 3D imaging, accessibility and digital-asset delivery. The goal is not simply to create attractive photographs. It is to make useful product content repeatable, identifiable and ready to move through automotive catalog systems.
Asset types and coded values are maintained through the Product Classification database (PCdb). PIES® provides the structured method used to communicate product information and associated digital assets to trading partners. Retailer requirements still matter, but they become channel-specific derivatives of a managed source rather than separate, disconnected photography projects.
Build the useful master
Photograph every view the catalog may need.
A planned master capture gives the automotive content team more options without reshooting the same part for every destination.
- Primary and alternate stills
- Front, side, rear, three-quarter and detail views selected around the part and its customer questions.
- Interactive 360 sequences
- Ordered frames with controlled starting position, direction, crop, scale, color and background.
- Product motion
- Rotating video and other channel-ready motion derived from an approved photographic sequence.
- Packaging and documentation
- Package views, labels, warning panels, included components and identifying marks captured when required.
- Accessibility
- Useful descriptions and metadata planned so downstream teams can support accessible product experiences.
One coordinated product touch
Capture imagery and basic catalog attributes together.
When the product is already identified, unpacked and in front of the production team, it is an efficient time to collect the supporting information that keeps the imagery connected to the correct catalog record. PhotoSpherix can capture product weight, product dimensions, package dimensions, UPC, part-number verification, included components, packaging photography, label and warning-panel photography, and basic product attributes supplied in a spreadsheet or import-ready file.
Identify the productSKU and manufacturer part numberUPC / GTIN and package identityPart-number verificationIncluded-component documentation
Measure the productProduct weightProduct dimensionsPackage dimensionsCustomer-defined basic attributes
Connect the assetsConsistent filenamesSequence and view organizationSpreadsheet or import-ready outputDAM, PIM and catalog handoff
From master assets to trading partners
Keep the source consistent; tailor the delivery.
PhotoSpherix connects approved imagery to the product identifiers and delivery structure supplied for the project. From that managed source, we can prepare image sets, 360 sequences, still selections, rotating video, filenames, folders and packages for the customer’s catalog, DAM, PIM, distributor, retailer or content provider.
This approach protects useful master assets while still meeting the narrower requirements of a specific destination. It also makes future catalog additions easier: new products can follow the approved photographic, identification and export standard instead of rebuilding the workflow for every launch.
Compare retailer and marketplace specifications →
Use the controlled documentation
Auto Care standards and best practices continue to evolve.
ACES® 5.0 and PIES® 8.0 were released in April 2026 with expanded support for digital assets, packaging data, file hashing and record sequencing. Confirm the current Auto Care documentation, then send PhotoSpherix the applicable asset list, PIES® requirements and trading-partner instructions with the product list.
Review the Auto Care Digital Asset Best Practices overview ↗
Access current standards and documentation ↗
Build an automotive catalog workflow
Send the part-number list, products and channel requirements.
We will connect photography, 360s, product motion, basic attribute capture and delivery around one repeatable production standard.
Start an Automotive Project