Automotive News Canada - August 2019 - v2 - F11

AMAZON

municate with customers through its site. A
dealership can't collect Marketplace parts
customers' email addresses and use them
continued from previous page
for its own marketing promotions. Disobeyown efforts on high-volume parts such as
ing Amazon's rules can get a Marketplace
tires, brake pads and filters while relying
account penalized or disabled.
more heavily on Marketplace partners - in"Follow the proper channels and instruccluding dealerships - for niche items and
tions," Windrow advises.
parts for lower-volume auto brands.
Jay Rankin, parts manager at Earnhardt
Toyota in Mesa, Ariz., readily enumerates
Productive partnership
the costs of his dealership's participation in
For dealerships that want to sell parts on
Amazon Marketplace.
such sites as Amazon and eBay as well as
"I don't think consumers are aware of how
their own websites, RevolutionParts says its
expensive it is to sell things on Amasoftware makes it easier to list and
zon," Rankin says. "I'm losing 12 permarket parts in multiple online
cent on the sale. Payment processors
channels. Windrow says about 1,200
like PayPal also take fees. The expensnew-vehicle dealerships use the
es seem endless."
company's software, which costs
Despite these frustrations, Rankin
$525 a month.
acknowledges, Amazon is "where
About 350 of those dealerships are
people shop."
on Amazon Marketplace. Windrow
Although the dealership sells parts
says he gets a lot of questions from
on its own website, it has had an
dealers and parts managers about Rankin: Amazon
Amazon presence since 2016 in an
how best to sell on the site.
sales limited
effort to remain competitive, Rankin
"It's easier to communicate the
says. Earnhardt Toyota sells more than $1
challenge of Amazon to dealers who have
million in parts each month. Most of that is
wholesale parts businesses," he says. The
wholesale, and about 5 to 10 percent of it is
wholesale parts business, he notes, emphasize-commerce, Rankin adds.
es volume and speed. Because its profits are
Rankin says he limits the selection of parts
slim, he adds, pricing must be realistic, and
he sells on Amazon, constantly evaluating
orders must be filled promptly and efficiently.
which items are reliably profitable.
"You can't sell at a 30 to 65 percent markup
"You tweak the pricing and the inventory
- you may literally get zero sales" on Amapiece by piece," he explains. "You don't neceszon, he says. "And you may turn on your
sarily want to be the lowest on everything. You
[Marketplace] store and suddenly have 150
still have to pay to pull the part and to ship it."
orders. If you only have two staffers, how will
you fulfill them?"
Amazon, like eBay, requires sellers to comsee AMAZON, Page 12

ven as Amazon invites franchised
dealerships to sell parts and accessories on its site - for a hefty fee -
it is working with aftermarket providers to compete with dealership fixed operations on such basic products and services
as tire sales and installation and brake repair.
Amazon announced in May 2018 that it
was partnering with Sears Auto Center on
tire-and-wheel installation. Five months later, Sears filed for bankruptcy; it has since cut
by one-third the number of auto centers it
operates, to 195. Amazon has expanded other high-profile partnerships with Pep Boys
and Monro.

Mobile mechanics blaze
trail for Amazon in service
at customer homes, offices
ALEX KWANTEN

foj@autonews.com

Adam Goetsch, Amazon's automotive director, says the e-commerce giant now has
more than 1,400 installation locations spread
across six partners.
Customers can order tires and brake components and have them shipped to and installed by local stores.
"Installation is paid for during checkout"
from Amazon along with the price of the
parts, Goetsch says.
Amazon seeks to dominate all aspects of
personal transportation, says Max Zanan,
president of Total Dealer Compliance, a consulting firm in New York. He says "dealerships
don't take the Amazon threat seriously" about
see TIRES, Page 13

see WRENCH, Page 13

Amazon partners with aftermarket on sales and repair
foj@autonews.com

HOUSE
CALLS

mong major automakers, only Tesla
- which eschews traditional dealerships - offers mobile service for its
vehicles. But Amazon customers
are familiar with mobile mechanics: They can
use the e-commerce site to order vehicle repair and maintenance at their homes and
workplaces.
New-vehicle dealerships haven't matched
Amazon's mobile service offerings. But that
could be changing as service departments
look for new ways to stay competitive and
profitable.
Amazon, which launched its on-site venture
in 2015, contracts with local businesses and
independent technicians to provide such services as oil changes, brake replacements and
belt changes at residences and offices. It partners with high-profile aftermarket chains,
such as Sears Auto Center, Pep Boys and Monro, along with independent shops to perform
heavier-duty repairs and tire-and-wheel installations at their stores (see story, at left).
The availability of Amazon's mobile services

TIRE TUSSLE
ALEX KWANTEN

Wrench Inc. is Amazon's largest provider
of mobile auto repair and maintenance.

AUGUST 2019

PAGE 11

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