Leveling The Playing Field A Little
A friend of mine was talking about competing against the big chains. He said that flexibility is one advantage that independents have over big chains. For the most part a counterman at a chain can look up parts using the chain's electronic cataloging and give potential customers price and availability. For the most part they can't change a price. My friend said that a chain that he competes against has a web site that allows potential customers to see price and availability from the chain's local store. The web site saves labor at the local store but creates a vulnerability. When a potential customer calls my friend's store for price and availability, the manager is trained to look up the part on the chain's web site for price and availability along with finding price and availability from his own auto part store software. The manager then has the option to price the item to make the sale.
Labels: Auto Part Store Software, electronic cataloging, Store POS System
Transmit Stock Orders
The Mib Store POS System transmits stock orders over the internet into Associate Jobbers Warehouse's FTP site. This saves MIB jobbers using the Auto Parts Software time and money. With this new update no longer will the auto parts store owner have dial up modems along with the problems that they cause.
Labels: Auto Part Store Software, Jobbers, Store POS System
Using Knowledge to Sell Bearing and Seals
There is a retired gentleman in our town that was locally famous for being able to find and sell parts that nobody else could find. His strength was in bearings and seals. The bearings and seals came off of no telling what and nobody was going to find the application in any catalog. He used a micrometer to measure the old bearings or seals and then looked up the bearing or seal by size in old paper catalogs. These are his instructions. We start with ball bearings. You will need to measure the inside diameter, the outside diameter and the width. The inside and outside diameter measurements need to be accurate to within .001". In most cases the width can vary some but not always. The seal is measured the same way. With seals if you are measuring an old seal you must allow for wear. On the inside the old seal may measure less than the new one. On the outside diameter the old seal may measure as much as .005" smaller than the new seal. That is because there is a press of .005". In other words, the new seal is .005" bigger than the hole it is going in. For taper bearings you must also measure the radius, that is, the taper of the inside of the bearing.
Labels: Auto Part Store Software, Bearings, Parts store, seals, Store POS System, successful automotive jobber
Making a living While Selling Parts to Repair Shops
A short while ago I was taking with a small jobber store in the Midwest. He said that he didn't want to sell to repair shops. He said that they want you to deliver and then beat you up to get the lowest price, are slow to pay and when all is said and done they go bankrupt and leave you poorer by several thousand dollars. One jobber from the past seemed to have at least part of that under control. He billed his repair shop customers every week. If they didn't pay by the time billing was run on the following week, they were cash only. In today's economy everybody should be doing business that way.
Labels: Auto Part Store Software, Parts store, Store POS System
