AASA looks into parts relationships between suppliers and techs
Motor Age: AASA published a study that looks at the parts sales relationship among channel partners. Respondents said quality, availability and product knowledge rank higher than price. Has this always been the case?
Handschuh: I think in our industry for as long as I've been in the business, quality, availability and service have always been the most important factors at the repair shop level. And if you assume that the repair shop level is what drives the industry, at least on the DIFM side of things, frankly that is driven by the fact the vehicle owner today does not want to wait to have their vehicle repaired. They want to bring it in the morning and have it done by later in the day. The consumer is in an "I want it done now" mentality. If you start with that premise, the shop is no longer is willing to stock as much product as they did before; very few repair shops now have a stocking inventory. When I started in this business, most repair shops had an inventory of fast-moving SKUs. Today, most of them have very little in inventory; they want everything available on an on-demand basis. That has created a scenario where at the store level, you must have it on the shelf if you're going to get the sale.Motor Age: How do low-priced off-shore suppliers factor into the study?
Handschuh: I think if you ask anybody what are the most important characteristics when you make a decision to buy, they're going to say that it's quality, that it's coverage, that it's availability, and I agree with those things. Those are the most important things, particularly at the repair shop level. If I have several suppliers, all of whom do those things equally as well, then price can be the differentiator. Very often, even if a shop sources based primarily on price, they're not going to acknowledge that because it suggest that they buy only on price. I don't think anybody's going to say that...For (premium brands) to source from a low-cost country, I have more confidence in that product they would bring over from a low-cost country than I would from a distributor that does it long distance and may do it online.