Think you've exhausted your electronic business options? Think again.

If you work for a small- to medium-size distributor or manufacturer or an independent jobber, odds are your Internet sales efforts are fairly modest. Your Web site is simple, perhaps listing only an address, some business information and a phone number. Maybe it's a bit more interactive and includes an online catalog and some ordering capabilities. If you're able to generate 10 percent or 15 percent of your sales through this medium, you consider yourself lucky and quite satisfied.

It's time to reexamine your expectations. Perhaps prematurely written off as an over-hyped high potential/low results sales portal, the Internet is going through what some would call a second-stage revolution. Sellers are leveraging new tools and philosophies to help bump up electronic sales. The parts industry is sharing in this boom. Why should this matter to you, especially if you're running a successful business and rely very little on the Internet? A lack of e-sales parts efforts ultimately could drive a nice portion of your business to competitors who are getting into the Internet act. Still not convinced? Read on.

A brief history of e-business

Much of the success sellers currently are seeing on the Internet grew out of hard lessons learned from early failures. Consider the Internet's transition from a boom to bust to boom selling medium.

Go back to 1997. High-speed Internet access was available almost everywhere for the first time. With it came access to growing numbers of electronic businesses, many of which heralded the Internet as the sales gateway of the future. Consumers could buy virtually anything they wanted online from the comfort of their homes or offices, while researching products and comparing prices. It was the ultimate market where consumers would benefit from worldwide competition in which anyone with a product and a business plan could play. Why, many business analysts asked, would anyone do business any other way?

By 2000, these predictions and expectations all came crumbling down. Dot-com companies that once recorded gasp-inducing initial public offerings (IPOs) in the millions went belly-up. Traditional companies scaled back investments in their Internet sales.

The moral of this sad chapter in e-commerce: Far more is involved in a sales transaction than can be accomplished via the Internet. For many and perhaps most purchases, consumers want more than a competitive price. They want to be able to actually see and touch the things they buy. They also want the personal interaction that comes with dealing with a warm-blooded salesperson. They want the reassurance of a handshake and the ability to take possession of their purchases immediately.

Of course, these early failures didn't doom every Internet business. Sites like eBay and Amazon.com did extraordinarily well, as did hundreds of others tied to traditional brick and mortar companies. These examples provided a model for how the Internet could best be leveraged for sales success. Basically, Internet sales work best for products that offer "known" factors — ones consumers already are familiar with, ones consumers already are prepared to buy or ones that provide a need. These include books, DVDs, CDs, airline tickets, vacation packages and items like computer and automotive parts. For these products, the Internet gives buyers the opportunity to shop for the best prices along with best rates and shipping schedules.

This is especially true in the realm of business-to-business sales, where buyers and sellers have made agreements. In these cases, the Internet offers additional advantages such as speed and efficiency. Businesses can quickly search inventories and tie production, purchasing, acquisition and delivery into one highly effective e-business model. Just such a model currently is driving Internet auto parts sales.

Shops opt for high-speed, accurate parts solutions

Judging from the reaction of shop owners we queried, repairers aren't merely positive about Internet parts acquisition. They're openly enthusiastic.

"If you had told me five years ago that the Internet would be a regular part of my business, I would have said you were crazy," says Doug Kirchdorfer, owner of the Downing Street Garage in Denver. Kirchdorfer and a number of his contemporaries are fans of the WORLDPAC product speedDIAL, which ties into the Mitchell 1 shop management system.

"When you use Mitchell to write the estimate, WORLDPAC automatically lists the parts numbers and prices," says Kirchdorfer. "With the press of a button, you send in an order. WORLDPAC, or one of its partners, handles the order and shipment. There's no need to make a phone call or perform a parts search. It's all done automatically."

It's also done with very few problems. "One of the best parts of WORLDPAC is its accuracy," says Larry Moore, owner of Larry's Autoworks, "It's been a real benefit for us since we let our techs do their own part ordering. Because WORLDPAC brings up the right parts and numbers...the techs don't need to worry about errors."

He adds, "Ordering errors cost us in three ways. One, the tech loses time performing that particular job. Two, the tech has to reorder the right parts. Three, because he's spending extra time working on the first two problems, he can't be doing other work."

Brian Walker, owner of Peak Automotive, with locations in Apex and Raleigh, N.C., says the system also saves shops time spent on the phone to parts suppliers. He and other operators say shops often lose valuable time dealing with inexperienced counterpeople.

The system saves shops time by automatically generating the part information on the invoice. Tim White, owner of Redding, Calif.-based California Auto Repair and Smog (CARS), uses a similar product called ACL, also available with Mitchell shop management systems. He praises the system for the time saved on data processing.

"Data entry can be a real problem for shops. When it comes to parts, you have to type in numerous digits. It's easy to make a mistake. It's easy to misspell part names. The system is accurate and eliminates this type of problem," he says.

These products also include one other feature important to repairers: clear photos of parts. These photos can be enlarged with a simple click of a mouse. These features help ensure shops get the parts they want. But repairers note that even with the accuracy these systems provide, getting the correct part still can be a problem. Important components such as gaskets might not be included or might have to be ordered separately. In other cases, notably for some imports, there might be confusion over the correct part application.

"This can be a real problem with some European parts," says Kirchdorfer. "A repair might call for an oxygen sensor. That's fine until you realize there are actually two different kinds of these sensors. One is square, and the other is octagonal. If you don't have a picture, there's an excellent chance you'll order the wrong one."

Along with the cost of lost time, an incorrect order carries with it another expense that has long driven business away from the Internet. "Ordering the wrong part can be expensive due to shipping costs alone," says White. "We're always going to prefer an Internet site where we can actually see what we're getting. The less mystery the better."

Other sites, other options

A number of e-commerce platforms are available for all links in the supply chain. For example, the OpenWebs system from Aftersoft NA is an in-house system that supports the established protocols and is customizable per customer.

WHI's Nexpart is a Web-based solution requiring minimum training that also offers customization, as well as portable integration and multiple languages.

But it's known that not every solution covers every make and model.

This leaves repairers and distributors to search for alternatives. For the ones we spoke to, that means using an Internet search engine like Google to locate a supplier. The good news is, repairers can look worldwide for the parts they want. The bad news is, too often this is a trial and error process. Repairers many times are left hoping the supplier will be both reliable and able to ship the correct, quality part promptly.

Shops that use the Internet typically also utilize four or five other parts sites. Favorites include nationwide jobbers such as CARQUEST (which was praised for its intuitive, ease of use) and sites that give access to OEM parts, which are particularly popular due to their search abilities.

"Generally, you just have to enter the part number. The site lists nearby dealerships who have the part in stock," says Kirchdorfer. "You still have to call the order in, but you have the option to select the closest dealership or one you're already familiar with."

Operators would like to see a similar functionality available on sites that sell aftermarket alternatives. They'd also like a tool or site that would allow them to access numerous sites at the same time.

"It would be great if we could enter the year, make and model of a vehicle, select the part and then see what a number of companies can offer in the way of price and shipping," says Kirchdorfer. "Right now we don't have that."

Operators also complain that a number of parts sites are difficult to use, especially with search errors they say are relatively common, like typing in a search for filters and getting information on a part such as a frame. Lack of part photos is another complaint, and many sites are increasingly removing phone contact information, replacing it with e-mail connections. The lack of a phone number has shops looking elsewhere.

"You need to use a credit card to do a purchase. There's a lot of fraud out there. I want to know who I'm dealing with," says Kirchdorfer.

Winners and losers

Moore's shop in Mountainview, Calif., generates $2.4 million a year. He says WORLDPAC accounts for two thirds of his parts purchases. That's a nice chunk of money for WORLDPAC and its suppliers. It's also a significant bit of money other jobbers are losing out on. Considering the growing popularity of shop management systems and the business WORLDPAC is attracting, the question arises over the ability of independent jobbers (along with distributors and manufacturers) to survive. Jobbers say they can envision such a problem.

Stephen Lutz, owner of Spirit Autoparts and Exhaust Specialties in Los Angeles, says he's not worried, for now. "I'm fortunate in that I'm in California, where there's plenty of car business," he says. "I deal with at least two dozen regular shop customers just in a five-mile radius. We have a really good relationship. I can't see most of them going elsewhere for their parts.

"I'm also not going to wait around to see what happens," he continues. "I've begun exploring ways for us to automate our business. Ultimately, I think we'll have to, like any other store."

Other jobbers see Internet purchasing, especially when it is done through large nationwide outlets, as a threat that could shut them down. The general manager of a Syracuse, N.Y., jobber notes, "We're all aware of WORLDPAC. You can bet other companies are going to tie in their service with shop systems. It's an upgrade and it's efficient. That's how business works. I have to wonder what folks like us are going to do."

Where this process could go remains something of a mystery. Many in the parts industry, particularly in distribution, are gearing up for the changes the Internet is bringing. Joe Lieske, vice president of H&H Wheel Service in Detroit, says his company has started paying more attention to its Internet business.

Harry Feitelson, program manager for Big City in Corona, N.Y., says major changes could be coming. "We're right at the precipice where the Internet is going to be affecting much of what we do," he offers.

Moore suggests there still could be plenty of work for small jobbers and suppliers. He says that his shop, like most businesses, isn't going to limit itself to one or just a few suppliers.

"We look for a lot of different things from the businesses we buy from. I think I've had every salesman in the world in here claiming to sell parts at the cheapest price. That doesn't interest us since we use a matrix to mark up prices," Moore explains. "We're going to make the same profit off of any part we use regardless of what we pay. We look at things such as quality and trust. For example, we buy almost all of our brake parts from the same supplier, even though we can get them from our other suppliers. Why? We've worked with this company for years and always received excellent service. We can trust them."

In the near future, that kind of trust might continue generating business, especially when coupled with some serious Internet functionality.

Time for an upgrade

If you haven't talked to your Web developer for a while, it's probably a good idea to set up an appointment. Better yet, talk to a developer who has experience working on sites for the parts industry. When you walk into that appointment, keep a few facts in mind. The Internet isn't a cure-all or a door to quick riches. It's a tool. Like any other part of your operation, it must be part of a larger, all-encompassing business plan. That business plan will take time to restructure as you modernize and integrate e-business capabilities.

Above all, don't fall into the same mistake many companies made after their first e-commerce forays returned less than spectacular returns. Don't give up on a revolutionary sales medium that is revolutionizing your industry. Your professional customers are taking a new road you also need to ride. As Walker notes, "I couldn't see doing business any other way."