Market saturation of AZ, AAP, O'R?

[Peter_480]

Earnings reports came in the past week and both AZ and AAP were down quite a bit, 9% if memory serves. It's not uncommon to stand at the curb in front of any one of those stores, and see one or both of the other two within eye shot.

Internet sales are really taking a bite out of their sales and I think this most recent earnings report showed that.

 

[skyactiv]

If you look at the retail square footage per person for the United States vs the rest of the first world countries, we have far more brick & mortars.
Online shopping is taking it's tole on them. I work for UPS and we are benefiting from this.

 

[Donald]

Retail in general is in a period of great change. Some brick and mortar stores will stay and others leave.

I might want to touch and sit in a recliner before purchase. But no need to touch a brake caliper before purchase. Thus one better suited to online than the other.

However when a mechanic has a car on a lift and needs a caliper, he wants it quickly, like 30 min.

RockAuto has a great selection, yet I hate their shipping policy and charges.

 

[JHZR2]

I dont have an OR within 200+ miles of me. AAP and AZ all over though... Plus Pep Boys and Napa. A few other chains have gone out of business/sold out in the last 10 years which I liked better.

 

[Peter_480]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Retail in general is in a period of great change. Some brick and mortar stores will stay and others leave.

I might want to touch and sit in a recliner before purchase. But no need to touch a brake caliper before purchase. Thus one better suited to online than the other.

However when a mechanic has a car on a lift and needs a caliper, he wants it quickly, like 30 min.

RockAuto has a great selection, yet I hate their shipping policy and charges.


Yes, the shipping of RA is their primary weakness, it's both slow and expensive. I've found it's often cheaper just to find what I need on ebay and it's shipped more quickly than RA. I'm not an amazon user.

 

[Peter_480]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I dont have an OR within 200+ miles of me. AAP and AZ all over though... Plus Pep Boys and Napa. A few other chains have gone out of business/sold out in the last 10 years which I liked better.


I forgot about NAPA and Pep Boys. We also have a local chain which got bought out by Federated a few years ago, and a handful of small independents, but most of them have closed. There's no shortage of brick and mortar auto parts stores around here.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Retail in general is in a period of great change. Some brick and mortar stores will stay and others leave.


A lot of us older than about 55 remember the days of small independent automotive, hardware, and building construction retail outlets. Often they were staffed by knowledgeable people.

Then, we moved to the big box model of operation and often (not always) they are staffed with low wage people trained to look up parts on their computer.

Now we have Amazon, Zoro, Jet, Rock Auto, and similar places. Advance Auto is attempting to fill both the big box and mail order style.

It is fascinating to witness the changes. The decline of after market parts quality is depressing, though. MOOG, Timken, TRW, etc. used to be something one could count on.

Carry on gents! Have a nice weekend as we come to mid summer.

 

[NHGUY]

I think the growing influx of Oreilly is hurting a lot of chains.They keep buying small chains out and increasing their market coverage.They aren't perfect though,many employees that take the job as just a job and low wages mean the customer will suffer.That would benefit the better serving independent NAPAs and locally owned non affiliated stores.I think AZ and AA will suffer the most,with Pep Boys,Oreilly and Auto Plus less damaged.

 

[Linctex]

Autozone has so much "fluff" ... floormats, steering wheel covers, wheel cleaner, junk like that.

Napa and O'reillys have very small floor sales area - but a huge parts storage "in the back"

PepBoys has 4X (!!!!) the showroom easily, but lots of big stuff like Truck bed tool boxes, slide-in bedliners, big LED lightbars, lots of automotive clothing & signs, electric scooters......... but no customers. I'm often the only one in there.

Advance wouldn't get any of my business if it weren't for their mega sales & promotions

 

[aquariuscsm]

I'm my opinion it's their sky high prices.

 

[Peter_480]

I said it in the other thread but Auto Zone is the Big Lots of auto parts. I'm completely disgusted whenever I go in there.

 

[Peter_480]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I'm my opinion it's their sky high prices.


Absolutely. Walmart absolutely destroys them on oil and filter prices. House brand AAP, AZ, PB, O'R oil is 4.29 a quart, ST at WM is $2.44. Never mind the difference in price on the name brands!

 

[Tdbo]

Part of the issue is that there is an over saturation of B&M stores across the board.
I used to buy almost everything from AAP prior to their acquisition of Carquest. They were convenient, had decent prices, good service, plus there they have a major distribution center close by.
Since the merger: noticably higher prices, remarkably substandard service, and they generally never have what I need. Example: Needed some polishing compound: Turtle Wax $5.99 at AAP, exact same product $2.29 @ Kroger.
Just ordered new NGK plugs for the Accord. Four (with shipping) were less than two at the local AZ.
Even though I hate the on-line hassle/wait plus paying for shipping, I'll deal with it for that kind of savings.

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: Linctex
Advance wouldn't get any of my business if it weren't for their mega sales & promotions

True that. I usually get all my brakes from there since they carry Akebono. The $40 off $100+ coupon FTW! But many things are expensive even with coupons.

I just ordered some tie rods from RockAuto for half the discounted price at AAP.

 

[3800Series]

Two types of consumers.

Those who can wait and those who pay more. As others have already said there is a need for parts in real time and those who plan forward maintenance and order in advance. They save a decent chunk of coin.

Parts in real time can be expensive but it's mostly the crowd who plan repairs in advance that spends a decent amount of money. It can go either way but more often then not the "we need it now" consumer tries to put off a repair for as long as they can and as such generally spend less on proper maintenance.

Beyond the typical repair shop the ones who can part ways with their money sooner tend to be the ones who are willing to buy higher end and better quality parts. Most part stores are losing them as customers.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: Peter_480
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I'm my opinion it's their sky high prices.


Absolutely. Walmart absolutely destroys them on oil and filter prices. House brand AAP, AZ, PB, O'R oil is 4.29 a quart, ST at WM is $2.44. Never mind the difference in price on the name brands!


Yep. I only buy oil at Auto Zone , PepBoys or AAP if it's on clearance.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I'm my opinion it's their sky high prices.


That and Subpar selection....

Replaced the plugs in the Taurus and ripped a COP boot at 7pm. Checked online and they were $3 at Rock Auto, $5 at the Ford Dealer (closed), so I hit up Advance (or AZ, forget which). Guy looked it up and said "we only have the whole coil assembly". I said, "How much?" $79.something. Uh, yeah no. Drove the truck in to work and sent the wife to the Ford dealer in the AM. They had plenty. Mind you this is the same coil boot that is used on every Ford 3.5 and 3.7L engine out there since 2007, so not a unique part by any stretch of the imagination. I do see now that Advance has the boot @ $18. Rock Auto is $3.37 for OE Motorcraft.

Tore the rear boot on the caliper on said Taurus while doing the brakes. Looked up a new caliper - Advance rear right with bracket - $92.99 with $70 core charge, in stock NOWHERE in the area. Rock Auto: Motorcraft $76.99 with $50 core charge. Range was $60-89. I ended up not replacing it and will wait for it to stick. Will be 2 years in November. Again, I believe this caliper is used on all 2010+ Taurus and Explorer vehicles, so not a unique part.

So what value are they if their prices are sky high and they don't have what you need and need to order it in?

 

[9050lx]

Originally Posted By: Peter_480
I said it in the other thread but Auto Zone is the Big Lots of auto parts. I'm completely disgusted whenever I go in there.

i enjoy the condescending parts guys and gals.

 

[CT8]

Yes and I remember that any NAPA part was about as good of a quality part that you could get. A great parts guy is a blessing

 

[GMBoy]

I use RockAuto as much as possible. The shipping, to me, is not bad when you try to purchase parts from same warehouses andI always get my orders in 1-3 days. I had 4 struts and 2 rotors delivered for $18 shipping and 2 days they were here. Even with shipping I saved $223 over what Autozone had.

I buy all my oil from Walmart, but will buy a filter/oil special at times from Autozone when the price is good.

Basically, when I can wait for parts, its RA. If I need it same day, then AZ or dealer with the higher costs of course.