Market saturation of AZ, AAP, O'R?

[01rangerxl]

A lot of the brick and mortar retail stores are fighting each other tooth and nail for commercial business right now, at least in my area.

I used to work for Advance, and especially at the hub store I worked at, commercial customers were everything. Retail customers were obviously welcome and the sales floor was always kept up, but the most important thing by far was making the shops happy.

Now I work at a dealer and buy parts from all of the different parts stores. Some of the places send in regional salespeople with donuts and flyers, and really, that does nothing for me. Give me the login info for the website, then leave me alone. I'll check it out when I have time. I buy from all of them a little, but mostly NAPA. Ironically, NAPA is the one that almost never sends a regional salesperson to bother me and the other shop guy. Their commercial counterman knows his stuff, things always get worked out, and they have earned being the first place I check with. It's going to vary a little from store to store, chain to chain. On the strip where my dealer and these stores are though, NAPA has been the winner.

 

[Silverado12]

I still shop mostly at NAPA because I expect consistently good quality parts and don't want to do the job twice. A lot of times I don't know what I'm getting into and what parts I need until I start working on the car, so I like to have parts right away. Rock auto is really good, though. I've never shopped there but expect to do sometime in the future. Advance used to have better prices than they have now. With the 10% discount from NAPA I get about the same price as Advance Auto with the 30% discount.

 

[SEMI_287]

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!


On top of that AA, AZ, STP, AND Supertech (depending on region) are all Warren Oils. I'll take Supertech and half the price!

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: 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.


Yep, there used to be plenty of really good indie parts stores that were staffed with knowledgeable folks, including the owner, that would always have what you needed.
They also often had things you couldn't find elsewhere, like Castrol LMA or Citroen hydraulic fluid.
They did fine until ecommerce grew beyond its infancy and there was an AZ or AAP every couple of miles or so in most urbanized areas.
One of the foreign car parts indies I bought a lot from was also done in by both declining sales revenue, because cars have needed progressively less repair and maintenance as the decades have gone by as well as by the somewhat insidious factor of having an ancient and increasing glitch-prone software suite that ran on some long-obsolete proprietary OS upon which the business relied but that would have involved huge dollars to replace.
The owner ultimately sold off his stock of parts and moved on to a new business.
AAP, O'R and AZ are engaged in a category-killing war ATM. Having forced most of the smaller chains and indies out, they're increasingly doing battle with one another, mainly in the all-important commercial shop market.
I can't see all three surviving at their current levels of B&M presence.

 

[Anduril]

I don't get the hate for Rock Auto. Yes their shipping policy leaves something to be desired but their prices plus shipping are almost always lower than the brick and mortar alternatives.

 

[eljefino]

Rockauto costs what it costs, but usually costs less shipping to a business, eg your work address.

I like how RA will have a closeout part for $3 competing with the same thing for $15, and they don't care that one is "stealing" business from another. I'm confident RA has a fairly fixed cost plus profit model, and doesn't count on those stupid .5 oz packets of overpriced brake lube grease to keep the lights on.

Amazon has slacked over the last year or two, not "building buzz" like they used to. Rotors are expensive, for example, "free" shipping my bum! Advance knows the heavy stuff is heavy and overcharges, too. Finks!

eBay is stepping up their game. I get stuff like coil-on-plugs with free shipping way cheaper there than elsewhere.

 

[Hootbro]

Some of you guys that remember the old "independent" parts stores with nostalgia and good memories, I remember them as a flip of the coin whether they got your parts order right half the time to begin with if it was a order item. Most of those old timers would fat finger a line on whatever paper catalog they were looking through and then order you the wrong part and then blame the customer when it came in and would not fit. Knowledge of what you needed, sure. But actually getting it right when they ordered, like I said, flip a coin.

Regardless of either and indie or chain store, it basically comes down to the consumer having already do the homework of what they need before walking in the door and knowing when to shut the counter jockey down regardless of what his "computer" is telling him that is contrary to what you know as fact of what you need.

 

[SHOZ]

I just got all new cooling system hose for my Accent. I've been watching RA for a couple years knowing it was a job coming up. They had clearance specials on the hoses but they all would be from different warehouses so the shipping sucked and i never got them. This summer I got the radiator hoses from AZ and the heater hoses from NAPA and the OE t-stat from RA.

I also did the ac system. AZ wanted like $15 for a can of R134a and Walmart had it for $4.50 a can.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: Anduril
I don't get the hate for Rock Auto. Yes their shipping policy leaves something to be desired but their prices plus shipping are almost always lower than the brick and mortar alternatives.


I've been ordering from Rock Auto for a little over 2 years and (just counted) just over 40 orders. I've only experienced slow shipping once with them and it took 2 days over what they predicted it would. It was the throttle body for her car and I believe came from an outlying warehouse. Usually, it's $.10 to upgrade from USPS to FedEx so I do this whenever possible. If I know I'll want it sooner, I'll upgrade to the 2 or 3 day shipping.

I find their shipping pretty fair too. Some specialty parts stores charge a flat rate of $10 for shipping. Rock Auto seems to charge by weight. Yes, they kill you with rotors because they are heavy.

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Rockauto costs what it costs, but usually costs less shipping to a business, eg your work address .


x2. I do this all the time. Sometimes I can save $3 or $4.

 

[Hootbro]

Rockauto is just one of many options when I am buying auto parts. Sometimes they win and sometimes they do not win my business. You just have to do your homework with Rockauto and if buying multiples items, sometimes have to shift parts and brands to save on getting all from one or least amount of different warehouses to make the financials make sense. Also have to factor in core charges to the equation with Rockauto.

If you are repairing a daily driver and downtime is critical, Rockauto is not always the best bet even if the price is great because one screw up, can put you just that much behind in the repair. Local brick and mortar sometimes is better since screw ups by them can be handled on the spot and not waiting on shipping to/from and online retailer like Rockauto or Amazon.

 

[L_Sludger]

I never bother with the brick and mortar stores. I'll pay to have 4 brake disks shipped to my door.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
Some of you guys that remember the old "independent" parts stores with nostalgia and good memories, I remember them as a flip of the coin whether they got your parts order right half the time to begin with if it was a order item. Most of those old timers would fat finger a line on whatever paper catalog they were looking through and then order you the wrong part and then blame the customer when it came in and would not fit. Knowledge of what you needed, sure. But actually getting it right when they ordered, like I said, flip a coin.

Regardless of either and indie or chain store, it basically comes down to the consumer having already do the homework of what they need before walking in the door and knowing when to shut the counter jockey down regardless of what his "computer" is telling him that is contrary to what you know as fact of what you need.


x2. Actually, my Napa is still like that. I've had 3 orders from them that they didn't order and blamed it on me for talking to the new guy. How am I supposed to know which employee is qualified to take my order? Now I've started using the order online, pickup in store and that seems to work better so far.

I like Rockauto as they carry lines of parts that I can't get locally...like Beck-Arnley stuff for my LR3. But if I'm getting something MOOG or another brand that is carried locally, I go with whichever is the better price.

 

[jmsjags]

I needed shocks and struts for my wife's car a few weeks ago. Rockauto parts were actually decently priced ($101.79) each, but with shipping costs included they ended up being the most expensive. Advance had the highest initial price by far ($166.29), but after 40% off coupon code ended up being a little cheaper than Rockauto ($99.60), with the benefit of free store pickup! I ultimately ended up ordering from Amazon though. Regular price on Amazon is $110.82, but I was able to get one of the 2 shock/strut combos as a warehouse deal for $71.20!! With Amazon, I didn't mind waiting for the 2 day shipping.

I don't foresee Autozone, Advance, O'Reilly, or NAPA being able to compete for retail customers with Rockauto and Amazon in the future. Their lifeblood will be commercial customers that need the quick access to parts. Eventually, these companies will probably just shut down the showrooms all together and end up taking a business model similar to Federated.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: Donald

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.


Some of the pictures here of some of the rebuilt brake calipers will make you want to see it first.