Anybody been contacted from parts.com

[Chris]

I've been contacted by parts.com with a novel concept to sell parts via the internet.

I'm curious if anybody has been contacted by them and if so any thoughts concerning their program.

Thanks



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C. Bledsoe
Pts Mgr
Pulliam Ford
sysop@clynx.com

[Pat]

Chris,

I went to parts.com and tried 2 of my own vehicles in obtaining parts (actually needed em) and was unsucessful. The site really was not easily laid out, and to boot was dissapointed in my inability to locate the parts I needed.

Now that I have said that. I am sure there must be an internet parts service out there that is easier to use, and does not milk the dealership out of major web bucks. Anyone have any suggestions, I would really like to utilize a service that does not send business somewhere else, I want our digital dealership to earn as much $$$$$$$$$ as possible.

Pat Evans

[Chris]

Thanks for the reply..... Got the same reaction from here..... Not real user friendly and their database was to say "Limited".

Also checked their stock ahhhhhh, shall we say hmmmmm... drop.

Think I'll try and find another way to sell parts across the NET.

Anybody got any IDEAS?????



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Chris Bledsoe
Pts Mgr
Pulliam Ford
Columbia, SC
sysop@clynx.com

[SteveM]

ADP, CCC and Reynolds & Reynolds recently announced that they've gone in together on a completely separate venture to provide web-based parts locating, purchasing and selling. (Who would ever have guessed you'd see ADP and R&R in bed together?)

Anyway, they're the big guns so it will be interesting to see what comes out of that arrangement. Steve

[Pat]

Didn't one of those DMS companies just aquire Partsvoice.com? I have tried partsvoice before, however our Parts Manager did not seem to think it was worht it.

Anyone else?

Pat

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Pat Evans
Business Development Manager
Van Wyk's Automotive Group
pat@vanwyks.com

[Chris]

Pat,

I cut my expenses by over $2,000 per month by cutting the UCS parts locater and going with Parts Voice.

My counter staff likes Parts Voice much better as it's faster, easier to access, and more accurate.

Yup, Cobalt Group bought Parts Voice about 3 months ago.
I've got each CPD terminal accessing the internet for parts location and responding to parts quotes via email.

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Chris Bledsoe
Pts Mgr
Pulliam Ford
Columbia, SC
sysop@clynx.com

[This message has been edited by Chris (edited 03-20-2000).]

[worldparts]

Hi Chris. There are a number of sites that offer parts marketing and exposure solutions. However there is one VERY important question to keep in mind when considering their programs. WHO MAKES THE SALE? While on the surface this may not seem like a significant factor but if you stop and think about it you will see that it is a VERY significant issue. First of all, if a parts marketing web site creates a way to sell genuine parts directly to customers then they will be building THEIR customer base and eroding YOUR customer base. Even if they buy the parts from you, THEY will own the customer and if you ever sever your relationship with that company then you loose all those customers. Consider this. Lets say that web site becomes successful and starts buying thousands of dollars worth of parts from you each month at 10, 12 or 15% over cost. Then a year from now they come to you wanting to re-negotiate their discount. What would you do if they said we want to buy at 8 or 5% over cost or we take our orders to another dealer? If you cave, then the following year it will be 3% over cost! Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that , for the most part, the market has believes that the ONLY place to buy OEM parts is from the franchised dealership. If dealers allow customers the opportunity to buy parts from any other source it could lead to a situation where the factory would consider modifying the sales & service agreement in such a way that would allow them to sell parts directly to the customer! We all know how dealers responded to that idea when it involved new cars. The questions is would the dealers put up the same fight for their parts dept? Any program you consider MUST be structured in such a way that drives the customer TO the dealership or the dealerships web site and the dealership makes the sale. There are only 2 programs that I am aware of that meet that criteria. PartsVocie.com and Worldparts.com.

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Bob Van Der Ploeg
bob@worldparts.com
http://www.worldparts.com
ICQ: 7660816

[cddett]

Perhaps I can shed some light on the parts.com issue. I am a platinum dealer who is very excited with this all new venture. I will be controlling /5 of the country when it comes to internet parts sales. Parts.Com presently has 2 main goals 1. To complete their catalog for all lines and to bring up their total parts availability to 5,000,000 part numbers. All other part numbers will be available thru the parts advisor. Althought parts.com is live on the internet, they are still improving on their catalog format, prior to national advertising. As you know, parts.com has no brick and mortar, because they utilize all of their oem distributors inventories and purchase power. R & R and ADP are basically parts locators for dealers and are not reseearch sites. Parts voice is also just a locaator. One of parts.coms many goals is to eliminate the middlemen, thus reducing parts cost to dealers. Their site will be complete for a working launch in the second quarter. 2. Parts.com is an OTC BB stock. They have been approved by the CEC to be a fully reporting company. Subsequently their stock is very volitale at this time. Once the application is complete , and that should be in the very near future, they will apply to NASDAQ. I believe the company has a great future in this $600 billion industry.

[worldparts]

cddett states " One of parts.coms many goals is to eliminate the middlemen, thus reducing parts cost to dealers". Most people define a "middleman" as a person or company that postions themselves between the the buyer and the seller. By that definition parts.com IS a middleman. Parts.com's model is to buy the part from the dealer and sell it to the parts buyer. It's also my understanding that Parts.com will keep revenue from each transaction. The revenue they are keeping is part of the gross that would have gone completely to the dealer. Parts.com dealers must now share their already eroding gross. How does that "reduce" cost? Cddett also made some comments about Parts.com relationship to the stock market. How does any of those claims help the dealer sell parts? By his own admission he believes Parts.com has a "great future". I am left wondering what he believes about the dealers future? I once read that in the late 1930's franchised dealers sold more then 80% of the parts purchased in this country. Today they hold less then 20% of the market. My question is why are the manufacturers and the dealers letting everybody else (ie. Pep-Boys, AutoZone, NAPA & whatever.com) eat their "600 billion" dollar lunch?

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Bob Van Der Ploeg
bob@worldparts.com
http://www.worldparts.com
ICQ: 7660816

[ScottG]

I currently own 4 platinum sponsorships and 1 gold sponsorship under the parts.com network.

In response to the question Bob at worldparts brought up "Why are the manufacturers and dealers letting everybody else eat their $600 billion lunch?"

parts.com could potentially save manufacturers millions of dollars each year. How?

Through the parts.com website, the manufacturer will be able to track from the point of sale of its parts inventory and plan its manufacturing and inventory needs accordingly. In other words, they will know daily, actually by the second, what people are buying and in what part of the country. Why does that help them? Currently manufacturers rely on info provided by retailers and wholesalers on a DELAYED basis. These retailers/wholesalers are the middlemen that provide the product to other automotive businesses. Because of this delayed system, manufacturers and warehouse distributors must maintain certain levels of inventory at all times to meet demand. Inventory that is not used in a certain time period must be replaced with updated inventory. What happens then? Those nasty write-offs that cost millions of dollars. This is the core reason parts.com's business model will be successful in the online parts war. Retail operations just won't cut it - they don't save costs longterm. The name of the game today is speed and information, and that is the backbone of this model.

Also, manufacturers may increase their margin on products sold through parts.com since it will not have to factor in the mark-ups of various middlemen down the distribution chain. On the buyers end, the buyer will have access to additional parts (other than what is in current local inventory) and potentially better prices than it could by buying products from a warehouse distributor or retailer.

Of course parts.com is taking some revenue from each transaction, they have to make money somehow. That amount, however, is considerably less than the middlemen are charging and the part will ultimately cost less to the buyer.

Why would a dealer want to get involved in this? As a platinum dealer, I basically have first dibs at a part sale in 9 states. If the order isn't time sensitive and I have it in inventory, I will make delivery of the part. If I don't have the part, the order goes down to the Gold level, and then to the Silver level if needed. parts.com is building this "network" consisting of 170 platinum suppliers, 7000 Gold suppliers, and 14000 silver suppliers. I expect to increase my parts sales considerably under this system.

To Chris, you should definately do some additional research into parts.com I looked at several different on-line parts companies and this was head and shoulders above the rest. They have only been in business for 2 months, and are making considerable strides daily. I have been very impressed at what this company has to offer.

Hope this helps.