Only business website.. help!

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millhouse

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Aug 12, 2012
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  • #1
    Hey guys im new to this forum so sorry if i have posted in the wrong thread!.. anyway about a year ago me and my mate had a website made to sell car parts online, anyway as a year goes on we are no longer in partnership, the thing with car parts is there's so many different parts per car i.e audi a3 brake pads, there's 4 or 5 different pads so how am i supposed to know if im sending the right part etc. 1 other thing is that i wont be able to beat the prices of eurocarparts, gmf and so on. What would be the best product to sell and also does anyone have any help on trying to get it off the ground and make some money. Thanks for your time Rhys.
     
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    Latebloomer

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    Mar 3, 2012
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  • #4
    Please don't be offended but you need to do your own market research. If you think you can't compete with others in terms of prices then you have to go for quality. From the sound of your thread I feel that you are not going to make much with a business if you have not researched on it.
     
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    millhouse

    Free Member
    Aug 12, 2012
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  • #5
    Hi guy's yes i have done loads of research, worked in a motor factors for 2 years, and worked in a garage since i was 13, i know the insides and out of cars and the parts, cars are my thing also rallying ha! the problem is im struggling to start it up and i dont want to put all the hard work and effort in for it to go down the pan!.. i was just searching for a bit of help and advice, As i said above the competitiors are well established and extremely cheap but then so is the quality. would you recommend doing the car parts other than i.e tyres etcetc.. i just want to have the best selling products on my site. many thanks
     
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    B

    Bumblebuzz

  • #6
    From my understanding.

    Places like eurocarparts - supply garages anyway? Everytime I've gone to my VW/Audi garage - I see a Euro Car parts pull up delivering parts.

    Could you not contact them and see what sort of account they can give you?
     
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    millhouse

    Free Member
    Aug 12, 2012
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  • #7
    Well my main roll was to try and be like an online supplier so try to make less on the parts but sell more parts in a year, I have been in contact with eurocarparts and they will not supply me in anyway to sell online. Iv got an account with a few local suppliers but euro car parts are selling the parts for what i can get them for. Also there is so many different parts for each car, i think there's like 3 or 4 different brake pads for a Audi A3. I'm looking to keep the products in the car trade but im looking for something a little more less competitive. The website is tmcartech.co.uk please have a look and give me your opinions. Many thanks
     
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    J

    jayJay1989

  • #8
    millhouse said:
    Well my main roll was to try and be like an online supplier so try to make less on the parts but sell more parts in a year, I have been in contact with eurocarparts and they will not supply me in anyway to sell online. Iv got an account with a few local suppliers but euro car parts are selling the parts for what i can get them for. Also there is so many different parts for each car, i think there's like 3 or 4 different brake pads for a Audi A3. I'm looking to keep the products in the car trade but im looking for something a little more less competitive. The website is tmcartech.co.uk please have a look and give me your opinions. Many thanks
    Click to expand...
    Millhouse i started as a parts apprentice and worked my way up to a parts manager so i will tell u parts is a low profit high turnover game as you said i would say dont go broad for all car parts because you cannot compete but try something specialised like truck or van parts. because big hauliers are always looking to save money and only real compition would be ifs and lcp. also the taxi trade i worked in the taxi trade and there is a very good motor factors called turbo's around the country but if you could work your way into online/ van delivaries (similare to snap on ect.) you could be onto a winner depending on where you are from i could give you some customer contacts for either taxi trade or commercial vehicles.
     
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    SandyBrendel

    Free Member
    Jul 16, 2012
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  • #9
    If you are not really that interested on cars as a whole and that you don't know what really sells, what's mostly needed and whatnot, you will have to put a stop on the idea. Try delving out something new. One that you are extremely interested and knowledgeable of.
     
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    Maxwell83

    Free Member
    • Aug 4, 2012
    774
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  • #11
    The fact there are so many variations of parts per car is just part of the business.

    I do my own work on my car and I can always get the part number for the bit I need for my car on the net. I never deal with any supplier who can't be sure which part I need or doesn't list part numbers. If you're not wanting to get into all that you'll fail IMHO.

    And yes ECP and GSF are very cheap but you can sometimes get cheaper Chinese pattern parts on eBay. I won't touch em because I stick to OEM spec but part of it is knowing your market - offer what ECP can't. Perhaps you can't beat them on their OEM spec options but maybe you can cheaper Chinese junk to compete with their bottom price options...
     
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    C

    cucumber

    Free Member
    Nov 16, 2011
    119
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  • #12
    PointandStare said:
    90% of running a business is passion.
    Click to expand...

    Yeah, but there's a horrible catch 22 in that because a person starting up a business with massive amounts of passion is a person who is unlikely to look into, with real vigour ready to be humbled, what customers actually want. Their passion gives them a right to bypass research, learning, observation of customers, to change the original idea. In their mind their passion is a substitute for finding out and learning what customers want.

    Of course without passion it isn't going to work either. Hence a bit of catch 22.
     
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    paulstewart64

    paulstewart64

    Free Member
    Jul 16, 2012
    182
    31
    Appleton, Cheshire
  • #14
    You have received a lot of good advice here.

    The big issue is that there are businesses who have saturated the market and positioned themselves as the low cost provider. Additionally, they have a superb distribution department that is established.

    Recognise that trying to compete on this basis is foolish. You would also need a huge amount of capital to run this business so as direct competition you would lose.

    Whilst you cannot compete by pleasing a very broad market, why not investigate becoming a niche supplier. I don't know whether there is such a thing, but I've learnt that many people will pay more for specialists rather than generalists. Take a look and let me know.
     
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    B

    businessfunding

  • #17
    millhouse said:
    the problem is im struggling to start it up and i dont want to put all the hard work and effort in for it to go down the pan!.. i was just searching for a bit of help and advice, As i said above the competitiors are well established and extremely cheap but then so is the quality. would you recommend doing the car parts other than i.e tyres etcetc.. i just want to have the best selling products on my site. many thanks
    Click to expand...

    The hard work and effort needs to go into making a plan that exploits a niche in the market which you can do better than the established operators.

    If you aim to compete on price alone you are most likely to fail, if you add value you will have a chance of succeeding.

    It isn't easy, it doesn't just happen - Euro Car Pars have had their wobbles over the years.
     
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