SAN FRANCISCO — Izmocars and Ask Patty announced they have teamed up to provide car dealers with training and tools to market and sell automotive accessories to women.

"We're extremely pleased to partner with AskPatty,” said Sidney Haider, izmocars AOA's vice president. “Most importantly, we want dealers to enhance their accessories sales operations across the board — from visualization tools on the front end, to a more streamlined sales process on the back-end — for women and men alike."

The partnership is designed to provide women with a better in-store purchasing experience and to help dealers capture a much larger share of the $29 billion accessories market, according to izmocars.

Citing SEMA reports that highlight the purchasing power of women when it comes to accessory sales, Haider said the time is now for dealers to make marked improvements in accessories sales to women specifically.

"It doesn't make sense that dealerships sell less than five percent of all accessories sold,” Haider said. “Since women buy nearly as many aftermarket products as men, dealers can miss out on significant revenue opportunities by failing to meet the needs of female customers."

Haider added that automotive chains, specialty shops and mail order suppliers are presently capturing the lion's share of the accessories market, capitalizing on sales opportunities best suited for dealers.

Jody DeVere, CEO of Ask Patty, said dealers have a powerful built-in advantage they simply aren't leveraging to capture that market.

"For starters, women are much more interested in 'blinging' their ride than most dealers realize,” DeVere said. “Dealers can have a significant competitive advantage in accessories sales by allowing women to visually and easily configure their cars with accessories, and then conveniently roll the cost of those accessories into their monthly payment — all within that 'sweet spot' moment of purchase."