“You’re not going to use Whole Foods to deliver auto parts to a garage. “There’s a huge need for inventory availability and quick delivery out there,” said Seth Basham, who covers the industry at Wedbush Securities.Īlthough Amazon is looking to find retail partners, it would need to acquire an auto parts seller with similar distribution capabilities to be able to match Advance’s same-day network. Rapid delivery is critical.Īdvance Auto Parts has bult out a rapid logistics network to meet customers' parts needs. The company makes around 58% of its sales to technicians at garages, service stations and auto dealers, who often don’t know what parts they’ll need until the day begins. It has also built larger “hub” stores in higher-traffic markets that keep more items in stock. “These categories have historically been challenging for the typical consumer to shop online for, but this task is getting easier,” NPD analyst Nathan Shipley said in a report.īut those hard parts sales remain in Advance’s wheelhouse.Īdvance may seem like an unlikely company to thrive in the digital era, but the old-school car shop has taken steps to prepare for Amazon’s encroachment.Īdvance has close to 6,400 stores - some of them under banners like Carquest and Worldpac - and 54 distribution centers that put them close enough to its customers to make same-day or next-day delivery a snap. Online sales of components like brakes and fuel systems grew 29% in the past year, according to data from NPD Group and Rakuten Intelligence. That makes sense because more DIY customers are shopping online for components and accessories that they don’t immediately need to repair their cars.Īmazon may want to sell more hard parts, like engines, crankshafts and flywheels. Goetsch said the most popular automotive products among Amazon customers this holiday season included jump starters, wiper blades, cleanings kits, and RV accessories. During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday stretch Amazon promoted car battery jump starters and wiper blades for the first time. Why Amazon could win the battle for holiday toy salesĪmazon is adding more brands to its website and trying to get customers familiar with buying parts online. With the holiday season imminent a large portion of the store will be devoted to toys and gifts. The inventory on the 4000 square-foot space will be rotated weekly depending on how popular the items are on the website. The store sells a potpourri of goods from toys, to kitchen gadgets, to books, to electronics with all of them receiving at least a four star rating on Amazon. “We’re pleased with the customer response to our Ship-To-Store offering,” Amazon’s director of automotive Adam Goetsch told CNN Business.Ĭustomers shop and browse in the new Amazon 4-star store in the Soho shopping district in New York on opening day, Thursday, September 27, 2018. Amazon also has an agreement with Monro Muffler Brake. The company struck a partnership with Sears that allows customers to buy Sears tires from Amazon and get them shipped to Sears Auto Centers around the country for installation.Īmazon expanded a tie-up with Pep Boys earlier this month for a similar service at 1,000 of Pep Boys’ stores. It has recently accelerated efforts to sell car tires, batteries and accessories. “Amazon’s auto-part retail business is becoming too big to ignore,” MoffettNathanson analyst Greg Melich said in a report last month. The company started the Amazon Automotive store in 2006 and has been adding services ever since. Wall Street believes in the companies’ long-term durability: Advance and O’Reilly’s stocks have outpaced Amazon’s this year.īut Amazon looms. These companies have sharpened their focus on service, helping guide customers through repairs and the technical auto parts market. Speed isn’t the only factor separating Advance ( AAP), AutoZone ( AZO) and O’Reilly ( ORLY) from Amazon ( AMZN). “They measure delivery times in hours and minutes, not days.” “Independent garages have got to get that car fixed as fast as possible, or you’re not going to them again,” said Charlie O’Shea, lead retail analyst at Moody’s. Advance has designed a vast logistics network to deliver parts to auto mechanics and do-it-yourself car owners right away. But it will run up against fierce resistance from a small army of firmly established companies already doing just that. Amazon is gunning to sell more car parts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |