If you sell automotive parts on Shopify, sooner or later you’ll bump into two acronyms: ACES and PIES. They’re the two data standards that quietly run the aftermarket parts industry. This post explains what each one is, why it exists, and what it means if your storefront lives on Shopify.
What is ACES?
ACES — short for the Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard — is the answer to the question, “Which vehicles does this part fit?” Maintained by the AutoCare Association, ACES is an XML format that ties part numbers to vehicle applications using a controlled vocabulary called the VCdb (Vehicle Component Database) and the PCdb (Parts Component Database).
When a manufacturer publishes an ACES file, every line is, in plain English, “this part fits this engine in this submodel of this model in this year.”
What is PIES?
PIES — the Product Information Exchange Standard — answers “what is this part?” Where ACES describes fitment, PIES describes the part itself: descriptions, attributes, packaging, hazardous-materials flags, digital assets, marketing copy. The two formats are designed to be used together — ACES for fits what, PIES for what is it.
Why this matters on Shopify
Shopify wasn’t built for the aftermarket. It has products, variants, and metafields. It does not natively understand “this brake pad fits the 2018–2022 F-150 with the 6.2L engine.” Bridging that gap — turning ACES fitment and PIES content into Shopify products, variants, metafields, and a fitment-aware search experience — is exactly the gap SPT closes.
If you don’t have ACES/PIES
That’s fine. Most retailers don’t. ShowMeTheParts gives you API-driven fitment without maintaining your own files, and a clean CSV will get you a working fitment search faster than most teams expect.
Closing
Whatever shape your data is in today, the path to a real parts-store experience on Shopify is shorter than it used to be. Book a demo and we’ll run a sample of your data through the toolkit so you can see what it looks like.