Aftermarket Businesses - Hows it work?

[tak-]

I see all these import performance companies popping up out of no where, carrying every line of every manufacturers product. How does this work? Do they have to invest in the product before hand, or do the retailers supply them and they are allowed to return unsold merchandise? How do they offer such good deals on some items, are there not MSRP's and legal contracts stating they cannot drop the price on an item so much. When / If a manufacturer decides to let you re-distribute thier parts, dont they want to usually be the #1 sold product and make you sign a contract saying you will not sell products of the same sort by competitor companies?

Just curious, as I see the name HKS and Apex`i and everything being thrown around so much. Thanks.
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[psychedelicbeats]

this should go in off-topic

[HyperTek]

im not gonna say, becuase it sounds like you want to be one yourself.. haha..

[nightwalker]

Sales skills. Spend about 5 years in the hardcore sales (retail/cars) and you'll soon figure it out.

[bing]

you can simply set up jobber accounts with major suppliers.

in southern ontario if you want to carry all that stuff you simply set up a jobber account with JRP. it takes a nominal buy-in, some guys do that buy-in just buying parts for their own cars.

when you do your buy in you can basically market yourself as a retailer for whatever brand

since e-tailers have little to no physical presence they have little to no over head as far as storefronts, storage, employees etc.

alot of them started out as or still are 2-4 guys with a computer and an account with a major distributor who cares X number of brands.

because of the low overhead they can apply lower margins to the prodcuts. a physical store, or at least the ones i workled for, applied a 30% mark-up across the board.

an e-tailer can mark up like 5% and still make some extra dough.

it may work differently in the states, but i know several people who try and do this thing small-time and have accounts with Enjuku, HT, and PDM

in fact, some of the e-shops you buy from are just buying the stuff from places like enjuku and HT etc. etc.

i wont say who.

all they really do is take orders and send that order to the supplier and they ship it out to you themselves.

kind of like all the people on ebay that do the same thing. they have buy-it-nows with basically 5% off retail, you buy it now, they take your cash, send it (minus their margin) to the supplier and the supllier ships to you.

it's proliferation, you think you are flooded with choices that are different, when it's really the same couple of people getting your $crilla.

that is just one of many ways of doing business on-line.

many shops do it differently

[MakotoS13]

dude, just like any business. you gotta want to do it bad enough or just know how to do it. after that you just make it work

[tak-]

i just wanted cheap parts ;]

[driftfactory]

Bing you are very right in many respects. That is the way that most e-tailers do business. However, in my experience that is how you end up with unhappy customers. By selling things that are not in stock you run into issues with backorders and discontinued products. Most e-business are unable to handle their customers when this happens. It costs little or nothing to start an aftermarket company. But starting one right takes a considerable investment. The cold reality is that in order to keep customers happy you need to stock your own products. One of the things to look for when purchasing is a company that is an authorized dealer for the vendors that you are purchasing from. By being an authorized dealer they are required to invest quite a bit for a buy in with each company and as a result they tend to stock products. Take us for example, we are an authorized dealer for 99% of the manufacturers that we carry and 100% of the performance products we also warehouse most of what we offer and the special order items are all labeled as such before you order. This is more than just a signal that we are invested in our customers. Most people don’t realize it but a manufacturer warranty is ONLY valid when you purchase the product from an authorized dealer! So basically if you buy from joe e-tailer and it breaks you don’t have a leg to stand on. Dealers can also offer tech assistance and manufacturer support that non-dealers cannot. So, as easy as it is to start an aftermarket business, it’s a lot of work to start a good one. You can go with no overhead e-tailing but 99% of the time you will end up screwing your customers “whether you mean to or not” Just thought I'd elaborate lol.

[bing]

Originally Posted by driftfactory

Bing you are very right in many respects. That is the way that most e-tailers do business. However, in my experience that is how you end up with unhappy customers. By selling things that are not in stock you run into issues with backorders and discontinued products. Most e-business are unable to handle their customers when this happens. It costs little or nothing to start an aftermarket company. But starting one right takes a considerable investment. The cold reality is that in order to keep customers happy you need to stock your own products. One of the things to look for when purchasing is a company that is an authorized dealer for the vendors that you are purchasing from. By being an authorized dealer they are required to invest quite a bit for a buy in with each company and as a result they tend to stock products. Take us for example, we are an authorized dealer for 99% of the manufacturers that we carry and 100% of the performance products we also warehouse most of what we offer and the special order items are all labeled as such before you order. This is more than just a signal that we are invested in our customers. Most people don’t realize it but a manufacturer warranty is ONLY valid when you purchase the product from an authorized dealer! So basically if you buy from joe e-tailer and it breaks you don’t have a leg to stand on. Dealers can also offer tech assistance and manufacturer support that non-dealers cannot. So, as easy as it is to start an aftermarket business, it’s a lot of work to start a good one. You can go with no overhead e-tailing but 99% of the time you will end up screwing your customers “whether you mean to or not” Just thought I'd elaborate lol.

yup yup,

although i am sure if you buy a product from a place like JGY, that bought it from HT, you could still get some support on it.

what i like (hate) most about some of these operations are the ones that "drop-ship" (correct term??). basically they throw a listing up on ebay for something like D2's or even JIC's when all they have is an account with a supplier and no actual inventory.

what makes these guys even worse is when they are palcing orders with the company over seas and then ship right to your door.

we did that for an express shipment of D2's that we didnt have in stock and man was it a mistake.

first off the guy was my buddy so i gave him a break on account of him having bought several items before.. but the problem with that stuff is that UPS RAPES you on customs and brokerage.

i bet it is the same thing in the US too, if they know you spent $1000 on an item and havent paid any taxes yet... up the bum they go...

there are all kinds of little nuances that make is a better idea to only sell what you have in stock. if only it didnt cost to much to do.

[slappythehomelessclown]

tak- is the virus

[Phlip]

I would like to know what you were searching for to find an almost 3-year old thread, and what the reason for the worthless post to revive it was.
Wait, no, I don't care so much after all.