As Halloween approaches, so does the peak sales season.

With the sales event sales rush underway, you need to dial in your management strategies to keep every aspect of your sales process moving smoothly. This includes the scariest beast of all: shipping and fulfillment.

Just as trick-or-treaters take great care in choosing the perfect costume, we must be equally meticulous in packaging our goods for a ghostly smooth delivery.

Shipping parts to online customers is fraught with challenges. In the shadowy corridors of shipping, let’s unravel the mummy’s secrets for a curse-free delivery. 

A poor shipping experience can negatively impact customer expectations, making it more likely for your customers to go straight to your competitors. 

In the vast desert of shipping options, let’s take a leaf (or a bandage) out of the mummy’s book for the safest passage.

Understanding those challenges and implementing strategies to help combat them before they happen are essential to taming the shipping and fulfillment beast. 

But what are the biggest obstacles to overcome in your shipping processes? The sands of time have shown us that what’s wrapped well, lasts. Let’s apply the mummy’s age-old wisdom to our modern shipping practices.

Using Safe Packaging Materials

With the variety of auto parts available on the online market, it’s important to have the right packaging materials to properly ship them and protect them from any potential damages. Not all auto parts have the same weights and dimensions or are made of the same material components. 

Mummies have stood the test of time, and with the right wrapping techniques, so can your shipments.

Windshield wipers and fluid will require different packaging materials compared to fenders, brake pads, and air filters. Using the right materials can help you minimize potential damage and keep material costs low. 

It’s important to have the right packaging materials, but it’s also important to have the right packaging techniques. Drawing inspiration from ancient tombs and Halloween tales, let’s ensure our packages are wrapped tighter than a mummy’s grip.

Avoid making errors like under-filling, over-filling, or failing to secure items within their packaging. This increases the risk of potential damage to the product and to the customer. 

To avoid these issues, invest in high-quality packaging materials, quality control your processes to ensure that items are not incorrectly packaged, and outsource your shipping and fulfillment to reliable partners if you can.

Goods Damaged or Lost in Transit

Every mummy tells a story of a time long past. Similarly, the way we package and ship tells a story of our commitment to quality and care.

Let’s say despite your best efforts to ensure shipped parts are packaged well, items still break in transit by the shipping carrier. Alternatively, what if an order never makes it to a customer and goes missing? What then? The key here is not to panic. 

More than 42 million packages are stolen or go missing across the U.S. within the average year. As many as 10% of shipped packages are also damaged in transit each year, resulting in a high rate of refunds and replacements among online retailers. 

While only so much can be done once orders are out of your hands and in transit, you can take a few preemptive measures to ensure a better customer experience if and when these issues arise. 

Covering Returns and Replacements

Of course, the most notable challenge for online parts sellers in the shipping and handling department is cost. It costs money to refund orders, replace orders, and process returns. All of these cut into your profitability and can lead to overhead costs that could have been avoided. Additionally, they can lead to negative customer reviews and a loss of brand trust, leading to lost sales potential in the future. 

To help reduce the negative impact of returns, replacements, and refunds, you can implement a few procedural strategies.

Ship Better with RP Shipping

As the Halloween season approaches, the challenges of shipping can seem as daunting as navigating a haunted mansion. But fear not, for RP Shipping is here to light the way and ensure your order fulfillment is as smooth as a phantom’s glide.

Shipping Protection:

Just as ancient mummies were protected by their tombs, RP Shipping ensures your shipments are safeguarded from the modern-day perils of damage, loss, and theft. Say goodbye to the ghoulish task of handling tedious carrier claims, restocking items, issuing refunds, and managing customer escalations. With RP Shipping’s automatic protection, your team can focus on what they do best, leaving the worries of shipment safety in the past.

Shipping Labels:

Why pay monstrous rates when you can access competitive shipping rates directly from the RevolutionParts platform? With RP Shipping, printing labels becomes easy. Now that’s some powerful potion! Plus, you can easily share tracking information with your customers.

Same-Day Fulfillment:

In the spirit of Halloween, think of this feature as your very own magic broomstick. Need to send or receive local parts swiftly? RP Shipping’s suite of hotshot providers ensures your parts are on the move within an hour. It’s so fast; it’s almost supernatural!

With its trio of powerful features, dealers can rest easy, knowing their order fulfillment is in the best of hands—or should we say, the best of claws?

Don’t Let Shipping Scares Spook You

While shipping and handling horror stories exist, there’s no reason to be afraid of it. You can deliver a great customer experience with fewer roadblocks. With the right processes in place, transparent customer communication, and offers designed for returns and replacements, you can effectively profit from shipping parts orders and expand your business. 

Interested in learning more about RP Shipping and its available features? Click below to learn more from a RevolutionParts eCommerce expert!

The eCommerce industry depends on convenient shipping options, quick turnaround times, and in-tact packages. However, things can go wrong when shipping automotive parts. Once the transaction is complete, shipment damage, lost items, and package theft can occur. 

Protecting your shipments is essential to the customer experience when shipping car parts.

What is Shipping Protection? 

Shipping protection, also called shipping insurance or package insurance, is a way to help ensure purchased products get to the end consumer after transport. During transport of car parts, damages to items can occur easily. Items may get lost during transport or stolen after delivery. Shipping protection helps cover the costs these incidents incur and resolve issues to help get auto parts to the buyer.

Shipping Protection for the Parts Department

Providing shipping protection in your parts department can greatly benefit the dealership. The online auto parts market is rapidly expanding, meaning more and more vehicle owners are purchasing car parts online. As a result, auto parts sales are becoming the number one source of revenue at the dealership. 

This means that parts buyers will be one of the most important customer segments for the dealership. Securing their business and turning them into repeat customers is essential. One way to do that is to provide protection for shipped car parts and accessories. 

As vehicle owners continue to keep their older cars for longer, buying older vehicle parts is more important to them than ever. These older vehicle parts are more difficult to find, meaning that the delivery of these parts is essential to online auto parts buyers. When parts orders are damaged, get lost in transport, or result in theft, it negatively impacts these customers on a much deeper level. Shipping protection helps to alleviate this problem.

Benefits of Providing Parts Buyers Shipping Protection

While it may seem like the cost of shipping protection would cut into profitability at the parts department, it has various benefits.

• Protect packages from theft, loss, and damage: Provide protection for shipments to cut down on replacement costs.  

• Boost buyer confidence: Give parts buyers confidence that they’ll receive their orders one way or another.

• Positive customer experience: Provide customers with a positive shopping experience that builds loyalty.

• Save time and money resolving issues: Cut down on costs and time it takes for re-shipments and shipment tracking on your end.

• Protect dealership reputation: Maintain a strong brand image and reputation for your dealership that’s practically free advertising.

Is Auto Parts Shipping Protection Worth It? 

Many dealers worry that the potential benefits of shipping protection for car parts don’t outweigh the costs. However, losses generated from unprotected shipments can end up crippling a dealership’s sales. As eCommerce transactions have increased over the past few years, so has the number of packages that have been reported lost or damaged in transit. 

In fact, according to the 2022 Package Theft Annual Report, last year saw more than $2.4 billion in losses due to theft, affecting more than 49 million Americans. On the other hand, 10.7% of returned items in 2022 were found to be fraudulent, costing retailers $22.8 billion. Why were these losses so high? 

When packages are damaged, lost, or stolen, the ultimate decision-making power is left to the parts buyer. They can either decide to re-order the part directly from your dealership and hope for the best, get refunded, or go directly to a competitor to get the exact part for a lower price. Consumers with a lousy shipping and delivery experience are more likely to leave bad reviews and go to a competing auto parts seller. 

More than 60% of businesses cite experiencing increased customer effort as a top factor leading to poor customer satisfaction rates. If claims and support processes are not frictionless for the end buyer, they will quickly pivot to making purchases from another business. 

Shipping incidents like these impact the buyer experience and result in low customer satisfaction, poor brand loyalty, and high customer churn rates that send them straight to your competitors.

How Auto Parts Shipping Protection Enhances Buyer Experience 

To be truly competitive in selling parts online, retailers must invest time and money into making the buyer experience as frictionless as possible. Shipping protection helps achieve this by reducing the impact of making a second purchasing decision after a shipment incident. 

Suppose a customer knows before making a purchase that their order will be eligible for a refund, a discounted shipping price, or be easily replaced. In that case, they’re more likely to go through with the purchase than without those assurances. It gives them confidence that they’ll still get their part order if any issues arise. 

Building buyer confidence is an essential part of the customer shopping experience. It helps establish trust and loyalty to your dealership. By offering shipping protection for parts buyers, you help build a trustworthy brand image. This can help secure repeat business for your parts department and profitability for the future, driving down your overall losses in the long run.

Additional Ways to Protect Parts Packages

While offering shipping protection to your customers can help ensure your products arrive safely, there are additional things you can do to further reduce the risk of damage during shipping. Here are a few examples:

• Choose the right packaging material: Select sturdy boxes or crates that are appropriately sized for the parts being shipped. This will provide sufficient protection and prevent damage during transit.

• Use proper cushioning materials: Use materials such as bubble wrap, foam padding, or packing peanuts to provide ample cushioning for the auto parts. This will help absorb shocks and vibrations during transportation.

• Secure the parts: Prevent parts from shifting or moving within the package by securing them with zip ties, straps, or other fasteners. This can help avoid damage from parts colliding with one another.

• Seal the package securely: Use strong packing tape or other sealing materials to close the package securely. This will help protect the contents from external elements, such as moisture or dirt.

• Label the package clearly: Provide clear and accurate labels on the package, including the sender’s and recipient’s addresses, contact information, and any special handling instructions. Use labels or markers to indicate “Fragile” or “Handle with Care” if necessary.

• Provide clear communication: Keep your customer informed about the shipping process and provide them with tracking information so they can monitor the progress of their order. This helps build trust and ensures a positive customer experience.

• Properly document the shipment: Keep a record of the shipping details, including the tracking number, insurance information, and photos of the packaged parts. This documentation can be helpful in case of any disputes or claims related to the shipment.

Protecting auto parts during shipping is crucial for ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining a strong business reputation. By selecting the appropriate packaging materials, providing adequate cushioning, securing the parts, sealing the package securely, labeling it clearly, maintaining transparent communication with customers, and documenting the shipping process, you can significantly reduce the risk of damage to your products during transit. Implementing these best practices helps maintain the quality of your auto parts and fosters a positive relationship with your customers, leading to repeat business and long-term success.

RevolutionParts + Extend Shipping Protection

RevolutionParts has partnered with Extend, a leading shipping insurance carrier, to provide dealers with shipping protection for online auto parts orders. Through Extend, dealers can cover insurance costs, decrease the time it takes to process claims, and stay on top of customer communications when handling order issues. 

Extend Shipping Protection covers items from the second they leave the parts department until they reach the buyer’s front door. Should issues arise when you ship auto parts to your customers, they can initiate the claims process with no hassle and get in touch with someone to handle the problem right away. It also eliminates the need for your parts business to absorb the cost of replacement parts and accessories when claims are approved. 

Extend Shipping Protection is just one of the ways RevolutionParts dealers can lower shipping costs and increase overall profitability from online auto parts sales. There are many ways in which dealers can help turn a profit from their shipping and handling processes. 

Get our free guide, “How to Profit Off Shipping OEM Parts,” for full insights into how your dealership can generate revenue from parts shipments and maintain quality customer service online. 

For more information on RP + Extend Shipping Protection, get the full details here or call one of our experts for a one-on-one walkthrough of the claims process.

Certain car parts, such as batteries, airbags, and seatbelt pretensioners need to be shipped with special care in order to ensure that they arrive safely—they require something called “hazmat shipping.”

Hazmat shipping is not something your dealership should take lightly. If you fail to meet hazmat standards, you could face serious financial and legal risks, not to mention putting someone’s health at stake. It’s your responsibility to inform your customers and ship these items properly.

That said, it’s no surprise that many dealerships choose to avoid selling these parts online completely to avoid extra complications. However, there are customers looking to buy these parts online, which means you can still drive major revenue from them if you don’t mind dealing with an extra step.

Step #1. Get Certified

Without the proper certification, your dealership could be fined up to $75,000! Even minor errors in your paperwork or packaging can delay shipments and upset your customers (not to mention that mistakes could cause public safety issues).

Before you start shipping hazmat items, you need to go through special training with your shipping carrier. You can attend a public seminar or arrange for an in-house seminar, depending on what your carrier offers.

The seminar will cover all the information you’ll need to know about paperwork, packing materials, labels, and more. You are required to have this certification renewed every three years.

FedEx’s guide for how to ship hazardous materials is the most straightforward and can give you a basic idea of the steps. You can read more about UPS’s rules for hazmat shipping here and USPS shipping standards here.

Don’t be afraid to talk with your shipping carrier before you start fulfilling online parts orders if you forgot something covered during the seminar. Not adhering to these rules can lead to huge fines and legal trouble for your dealership, so calling your shipping provider is a good way to ensure you don’t miss any steps.

Step #2. Set Your Pricing Strategy

There’s an added cost for hazmat shipping. Each carrier will have different fees for different types of hazmat items. You can decide how much of this fee to pass on to your customers and how much you’ll pay yourself.

Remember, a lower price will attract more customers, so you will want to take this into consideration when pricing your part. At the same time, waiving the fee altogether will cut into your profits. 

Test different pricing options to see what sells best. Once you’ve found the sweet spot for corresponding hazmat items, you can better structure your pricing model moving forward.

Step #3. Be Upfront with Your Customers

Hazmat shipping is not necessary for in-store shopping, so many customers won’t understand why they have to pay an extra charge—especially something as hefty as a $40 fee. This might make you hesitant to tell your customers and instead bake it into the normal shipping price.

Hiding the fee isn’t the answer. Be open with your customers and inform them why hazmat shipping is necessary. Once they see the potential risks of unprotected shipping for hazardous items, they’ll appreciate your commitment to safety.

Step #4. Work With Your eCommerce Provider

Dealerships using RevolutionParts don’t have to worry. We’ve marked all the hazmat items in your catalog so you know what they are. All you have to do is go to the “Product” tab at the top of your RevolutionParts dashboard and then click on “HAZMAT.”

If your eCommerce provider doesn’t flag hazmat parts, you run the risk of shipping a hazmat item in normal packaging, which puts your dealership at legal risk. Familiarize yourself with which auto parts are considered hazardous materials so you aren’t caught off guard.

Common Hazmat Items Found In Vehicles

9 Classes of Hazmat Materials

​​Determine the correct classification of the hazardous material you are shipping. Hazmat materials are classified into different categories based on their properties, and each category has specific shipping requirements. Below are the 9 classifications of hazmat materials.

Bottom Line

Your shipping provider may be able to provide relevant information specific to auto parts during your required certification training, so don’t hesitate to ask.

Safety comes first, but it shouldn’t put limits on your profitability. With the right knowledge, proper communication, and an eCommerce provider you can count on, hazmat shipping can be a selling point of security that your customers can count on.

Whether you are shipping hazmat parts or non-hazardous parts, you can implement strategies that will allow you to profit from shipping. Download the free guide, How to Profit Off Shipping OEM Parts, to learn more ways you can turn a profit from a high-quality shipping and fulfillment strategy.

Packaging Auto Parts 

With the variety of sizes and shapes in the average dealer’s auto parts inventory, it’s important to know what size containers you need and what additional packing materials you need to ensure products don’t break during transit. 

Remember to use packing materials designed to help fill the space between the item and the container when shipping breakable items. Use enough to reduce the risk of parts breaking or cracking. When shipping multiple items in one package, wrap individual items to prevent them from breaking or getting stuck together. 

Security isn’t the factor that should impact your packaging. You should also use your packaging to reinforce your dealership’s or OEM’s brand image. Make your packaging easily recognizable to your customers. Use packaging inserts, pamphlets, and even standard thank-you cards to reinforce your brand image in your customers’ minds.

Good Packaging Matters

Good packaging helps you keep your brand image consistent across all stages of the customer buying experience. 

The right packaging in your shipping strategy can help:

• Reduce returns and refunds
• Improve the customer experience
• Increase brand awareness
• Increase repeat sales

Shipping Specialty Auto Parts

Not all auto parts meet the same shipping criteria. Some require additional steps, specific transportation methods, and unique packaging. This is especially true for larger, heavier parts like engines and transmissions. Larger auto parts are more expensive to ship, so you need to have an air-tight shipping system to ensure that they get delivered on time and without damage. 

Engines & Transmissions

Engines and transmissions can be shipped in one of two ways: on a pallet or in a crate. Both options can be costly, so you must determine which shipping method fits your budget. 

Depending on the part’s classification, one option will be slightly cheaper. Crates are often less expensive than pallets, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best option for you, depending on the dimensions and weight of the engine or transmission you’re shipping. Always compare both options and consider the pros and cons carefully. 

*It’s important to note that not all shipping companies will ship an engine or transmission that isn’t packaged in a crate due to liability policies.

Offering Convenient Shipping Options

Fast and easy shipping is one of the biggest contributors to buying decisions among today’s consumers. Offering convenient delivery options is a crucial component of your shipping strategy. Overnight and same-day delivery are two consumers’ most popular options. 

Same-Day Delivery for Local Orders

Same-day delivery is an excellent way to grow your parts business at the local level. With same-day delivery, like RP’s Same-Day Delivery, you can deliver parts to customers in your area in as little as an hour when you take advantage of crowdsourced drivers. This can be a great option for your wholesale customers. The faster they can get the parts they need for repairs, the more likely they will become repeat buyers at your dealership.

Profiting Off Shipping

Many dealers hesitate to ship parts and accessories because they’re concerned about the overhead costs of shipping. Selling parts online at lower prices might make it difficult to turn a profit, especially with high shipping costs. However, with the right strategy, you can actually profit from shipping auto parts. 

Price parts and accessories accordingly. Find the best shipping rates among different carriers (especially when selling through additional online marketplaces). Sell parts at higher volumes to help improve your gross profits, and offer the right promos and discounts on parts during high sales cycles. Once you determine these things, you’ll start to reap the benefits.  

Utilizing Free Shipping

Within any business, there are certain pricing thresholds where offering free shipping yields the most results. If you offer free shipping on parts priced at $25-$100, chances are those parts will be more likely to sell. However, these thresholds may not work specifically for your parts department. It’s important to determine what parts you can offer free shipping on. 

Offering free shipping on smaller, cheaper parts won’t cover the cost of shipping them, so it doesn’t make sense to offer free shipping for those parts. Find the threshold where your parts department feels most comfortable with offering free shipping on parts that will still turn a profit for you and cover overhead costs.

Providing Tracking Information for Shipped Parts

When customers are on a time crunch, it’s important to let them know whether their orders are on schedule. Tracking information on orders is essential to maintaining quality customer service and ensuring that there isn’t an issue with your shipments in transit. 

When you decide to ship parts with a shipping carrier, it’s important to select the option to track your shipments (some offer this automatically, and some require that you opt-in). Set up your tracking information to sync up with your email automation and send reminders as to when orders are shipped, on track for delivery, and delivered. 

Providing tracking information helps you grow your parts business by:

• Promoting professionalism 
• Giving customers a great experience
• Encouraging customers to return
• Setting clear expectations
• Building trust through transparency
• Minimizing customer complaints
• Allowing you to engage with your customers
• Helping you recover lost packages

Defining Your Auto Parts Return Policy

Returns are inevitable. Even with the most accurate parts order system, you can’t stop human error, especially on the part of your customers. Customers can still order the wrong parts, order the wrong-sized parts, or simply be dissatisfied with their order and decide to return it. 

Returned parts are one of the biggest contributors to high obsolescence. Once they get back on the shelves, it can be difficult to get rid of them. Having a well-defined return policy is the key to dealing with online returns effectively and reducing parts obsolescence. 

How should you structure a return policy to work in your parts department’s favor while still catering to your customer’s needs? 

Take Advantage of RevolutionParts’ Shipping Solution

RevolutionParts’ Shipping Solution can help you ship auto parts with ease. It’s designed to be easy to use and offers a variety of tools to help you stay on course with all your shipments. 

The RevolutionParts Shipping Solution offers you:

• Competitive industry shipping rates
• Print shipping labels directly from the PR Platform
• Share tracking information with parts buyers
• Improve listed shipping prices for maximum profit

Ship Parts With Confidence

Stay on top of this growing trend in the automotive industry and see your parts department skyrocket. With the right tools and the right strategy, you can easily make a profit off of shipping OEM parts and accessories. Interested in learning more about shipping specifics and, more importantly, how much you can profit from it? Download our free guide, “How to Profit Off Shipping OEM Parts,” and get expert insight into the processes you can implement to maximize your potential profits when shipping auto parts.

Success! A customer visited your parts website, liked what they saw, and made a purchase. You’ll soon fulfill their order, package it, and ship it out. All that’s left is to hope they’re happy enough to shop with you the next time they need to buy.

But will they even remember you or your brand? By adding a little flare to your packaging, you can remind customers about your parts website when their ordered part arrives on their doorstep.

Does it actually work, though? Look at some of these stats surrounding how important your packaging is:

• 72% of Americans claim that product packaging influences their buying decisions. (IPSOS)

• 30% of businesses report an increase in revenue after updating their packaging. (Packaging of the World)

• Sellers who use premier or branded packing see 30% of their customers return to make another purchase. (Dotcom Distribution)

Introduce Your Brand

Isn’t the entire end goal about helping customers remember your brand? The straightforward and professional approach to this is to do just that—show off your parts website.

#1. Business cards – Do you have business cards for your parts website? This is one of the easiest things you can do to show your customer that there’s a person behind the computer screen. It also makes it easy for them to contact you in case they have questions or concerns and, as a result, helps you build trust with your customers. You can even write something personal like “thank you!” or “Questions? Call me!” on the back of the card.

#2. Professional packing slip – It’s standard to include a packing slip with your shipments, and 63% of people want one. Instead of a plain version with barebones order details, you can create a version with your logo in the corner. By the way, shipping is really easy to do if you have shipping management software like the USPS shipping feature on the RevolutionParts platform. It gives your parts website some authority as a professional parts seller.

Slip in a Little Gift

What’s more exciting than free things? Your customers will remember the thrill of excitement when they realize they’d gotten a little freebie. Of course, this can add cost to your sale, so you must be careful about implementing your strategy.

#3. A coupon – How about a promo code for a discount on their next order? We all know that customers like saving money, and 37% of people say they would like to see a coupon included in their package. Including a discount encourages them to shop with you again next time. Click here to get some coupon ideas!

#4. Something small – Perhaps you want to try tossing something small, like a pen or bumper sticker, into each shipment. You can order these things in bulk for fairly cheap but can remind customers about their purchase. They may just think about your parts website every time they use that pen! It’s a fantastic way to stay at the forefront of their mind.

#5. Something special – You can reward customers with something a little more substantial for high-value orders. How about a T-shirt or license plate frame? This can also encourage a word-of-mouth promotion if your customer wears that T-shirt around… which can be a powerful way to let others know that you’re online and ready to sell them the parts they need.

WOW Them With The Packaging

How about making an impression before they even open the box? Even though the customer has already completed a purchase with you, the arrival of their package cements the deal and leaves a final impression on them.

#6. Professional shipping label – Similar to a nice-looking packing slip, you can also make your label stand out. It doesn’t have to be anything extreme. Something as straightforward as your logo can add a nice touch. Again, this is easy to set up when you have shipping management software like ShipStation or ShipRush.

#7. Slap on a sticker – Spice up that plain brown box with a splash of color. You can order stickers with your logo for fairly cheap. They’re fast to apply, so you don’t need to worry about adding time to your shipping process, but they’re an easy and effective way to stand out. Check out Uline.com to see some options.

#8. Colored tape – How often have you ordered from Amazon.com? If you’ve noticed, they get fancy with the tape and don’t just use a standard packaging tape. It’s their way of instantly standing out from other types of packaging. While you don’t need to go as far as custom-branded tape, there are plenty of places to buy colored tape (again, like Uline), at least. Tape your packages with your brand colors, or change it up to match the season. (Like red/white/blue for the 4th of July and red/green for Christmas).

#9. Custom-designed box – Although it can be a pricier option, you can order custom-branded boxes to make your shipment instantly recognizable. You can always use custom boxes for high-order shipments but stick to standard packaging when a customer is only spending a few dollars.

Add a Touch of Personality

#10. “Thank you!” – A handwritten note adds a special touch to your packaging. Customers see you as a human being who took the time to write out a note. Whether you write it on a business card, on the packing slip, or straight on the box itself, a quick “thanks!” can bring a smile to your customer’s face.

#11. A short note – How about adding an additional slip of paper with a special thank you to your customer? This doesn’t have to be handwritten, and you don’t have to create a new one each time. Type it up once, print out a stack, and add one to the box along with the packing slip. Just write a few sentences thanking the customer for choosing you, inviting them to contact you with questions or give some feedback about their experience.

Bottom Line

Customer loyalty and repeat customers can hugely influence your business’s success, so this is an easy way to remind customers that it was YOU who sold them that part. It was YOU who gave them a smooth and enjoyable customer experience.

Of course, many of these options involve a little cost, whether money or time. But loyal and repeat customers can become the core of your customer base and a reliable source for sales.

You can also make a profit by shipping OEM parts. Download our free guide How to Profit Off of Shipping OEM Parts to learn how!

Having a fast, reliable delivery service for your customers is essential for your local parts business. When it comes to parts delivery, delivery time matters. While many dealers may already have a designated driver to deliver parts, they may need more help with meeting consumer demand and fulfilling expectations. It’s not just wholesale customers who rely on parts delivery, but also individual DIY-ers and even your own dealerships who may need to source parts from other dealers in their area. 

To meet the needs of customers, whether local retail, wholesale, or customers coming through your service late, RevolutionParts’ Same-Day Delivery is the perfect solution.

Quickly Source Parts to Your Service Lane

Imagine this: Your service lane has a car on the lift and puts in a request for a part, but your department is out of stock. The dealership across town has the part you need, but your driver is out making deliveries and won’t be back until the end of the day. What do you do? 

You could have that part delivered to your dealership within an hour so that your service can get that vehicle off the lift and back to the customer, or you can wait until tomorrow for your driver to pick it up, causing the customer to have to wait for their car. 

With RevolutionParts’ Same-Day Delivery, you can have that part picked up and delivered to your dealership in as little as an hour.

Everyone wins! 

Click Here to See How This Dealer Uses Same-Day Delivery to Save Almost $4K a Month!

Deliver Parts to Your Local Wholesale Customers

How many times have you lost a wholesale customer to a competing dealership with more than one parts delivery driver? Speed is of the essence when it comes to keeping your wholesale customers happy. In fact, most wholesale customers are willing to pay more money to get the parts they need in as little time as possible. 

For your wholesale customers, time is money, and when your driver is busy (or when you lack a driver), your wholesale customer may be left waiting for their part. This means that their customers are also waiting, limiting the number of repairs they can do. 

Imagine if you could provide a part to your local repair shops when they needed it. By providing fast delivery, you could easily become a preferred parts supplier for that shop. 

Here’s how it works.

• Your wholesale customer purchases a part. 
• You book a driver through the Same-Day Delivery dashboard.
• The driver closest to your dealership picks it up, drops it off at your wholesale customer’s shop, and you get instantly notified when the delivery has been made.

You and your customer get notifications on an estimated arrival time and when the delivery has been completed. It’s that easy!

Let Your DIY Customers Schedule Convenient Delivery

Even if most of your local business is with your wholesale customers, every dealership deals with DIY-ers. If you can offer them a quick and convenient way to get the parts they need, they will come back to your dealership again and again. After all, 65% of people are willing to pay more for a product if they can get it delivered quicker, and 88% of people are willing to pay more for same-day delivery. 

Your wholesale customers are only a fraction of the parts business you can generate in your local market. To make a strong impact in your local market, you need to grow your DIY customer base. 

Did you know that in 2020, 32% of maintenance and repairs on vehicles were completed by the vehicle’s owner? More vehicle owners opt to keep older vehicles for longer and maintain them independently, and many of them are turning to digital retailers to find what they need. 

The best part about this customer base is that when they get a good product and great service, they’ll recommend your dealership to other DIY-ers! The DIY automotive care community is a tight-knit network of buyers, and they can be your greatest marketing source. More satisfied customers mean more potential parts business. 

See How Easy Same-Day Delivery Is to Use

 Curious to learn how Same-Day Delivery (formerly called Local Delivery) works in real-time? Take a look at this short video to learn how it works and how easy it is to use.

Grow Local Business With Confidence

Finding ways to grow your local market can be a challenge, but you can gain and keep their business more easily with the right tools. With a strong, fast, reliable delivery service, you can grow your local parts business more effectively. To learn more about how to win local business, download “The Roadmap to Winning More Local Parts Sales.”

Whether you have a healthy wholesale business or are looking to build it from the ground up, offering Same-Day Delivery can give you an advantage over your competitors.

One of the things your wholesale businesses care about the most is how quickly they can source parts. 

Suppose you are already selling online with RevolutionParts. In that case, your wholesale customers can quickly source parts from your web store using a designated customer view, meaning they get to see your online inventory at the wholesale price you’ve set for them. Your wholesale customer can even order these parts online to save time by not having to call your parts department. 

For your wholesale customers, time is money. Once they place that order, they often need that part as quickly as possible. Same-Day Delivery can help you get that part to your wholesale customer in as little as an hour.

How many times has this happened to you? 

A repair shop you’ve done business with calls up your parts department and says they need a part today. You have the part in your inventory, but you have no way of delivering it because your driver is unavailable. The best you can do is wait to deliver the part tomorrow, hopefully. Your wholesale customer isn’t happy. Their repair customers aren’t happy. You’re not happy because you know that you could potentially lose that wholesale customer to another dealership or an aftermarket competitor that can provide that part quicker. 

Having local, same-day delivery at your fingertips is crucial to keeping your wholesale customers happy. Why? Same-day delivery is fast and convenient, the two major things your wholesale customers look for.

Same-Day Delivery With RevolutionParts

Same-Day Delivery Can Help You In Other Ways

The ease and convenience of same-day Same-Day Delivery is a selling point for your wholesale customers because it can help you ensure the shop will receive their part in as little as an hour of them submitting their order. 

For mechanical shops, time is money, and getting parts as quickly as possible is a major selling point. There are other ways same-day delivery can help you. Same-day delivery enables you to keep better track of your parts sales. 

Most part deliveries can either be delivered by a driver working for your parts department or by a shipping carrier. Most carriers can provide same-day local deliveries, but these costs can be pretty high. And, if you use a shipping carrier, waiting on updates from shipping carriers is stressful. Delays happen, package locations don’t get updated, and time frames vary (i.e., delivery expected from 9 AM – 9 PM), making it hard to track what parts get delivered and when. Same-Day Delivery updates you on parts deliveries within minutes. You’ll be able to track how far it is away from your wholesale customer’s address with the click of a button and get live updates. 

You can update your wholesale customer on their expected delivery and strengthen that relationship. The better you can communicate with your wholesale customers, the more likely they will continue doing business with you in the future.

Dealers taking advantage of Same-Day Delivery also experience:

• Easy order scheduling
• Increased CSI at the service level
• Don’t have to leave the shop
• Better communication with customers
• Decreased fleet and shipping costs
• Beat out the competition

Nick Mendoza and the parts department at Crest Volvo have felt the impact of same-day Same-Day Delivery with RevolutionParts. “It was pretty straightforward. We did a couple test runs to see how Same-Day Delivery worked,” says Nick, “After the first few days, it was easy to get the hang of.”

Not only has it helped them cater to the needs of their wholesale customers, which make up close to 64% of their deliveries, but it’s also helped their own day-to-day operations. Up to 36% of their deliveries are made to their service department. 

“If a car’s down and they need to get it out, they don’t have to wait for one of our drivers to come back,” says Nick, “With Same-Day Delivery, we can get a part from another dealer just 30 minutes away and bring it back as soon as possible.”

⭐ Read about Nick Mendoza and how his parts department takes advantage of Same-Day Delivery to save $4K a month!

Get Same-Day Delivery Hassle-Free with RevolutionParts

RevolutionParts has partnered with companies like DoorDash and FedEx to help deliver parts to your local wholesale customers. Our Same-Day Delivery program is easy-to-use, comes with live tracking, and is cost-effective. If you are a RevolutionParts customer and would like to learn more about Same-Day Delivery, contact your account manager.

And, if you are not yet selling online with RevolutionParts, schedule a demo today with one of our parts eCommerce experts to learn how easy parts eCommerce can be with the RevolutionParts platform and how you can take advantage of Same-Day Delivery.

Your team can bring your inventory back to life by unloading aging parts on eBay, marketing your parts business to the right audience, and making an extra profit on shipping.

Using eCommerce tools and solutions can help you revive your parts business and grow it exponentially.

We’ve taken a look at the most successful dealers and found their shared secrets to success. Here are the things you need to do to help bring your parts department back from the dead!

The big takeaway for parts departments this season is to use the right online marketplaces for your parts department, use parts marketing tools to your advantage to come up with a streamlined strategy, AND to find ways to profit off of shipping your obsolete parts. Changing these three things is guaranteed to help you keep your parts department alive and thriving. 

Don’t let parts obsolescence kill your parts business. Schedule a free demo to talk to one of our parts eCommerce experts and learn how to revive your parts department with RevolutionParts!

If you’re a parts manager thinking about selling OEM parts and accessories online, one of your biggest concerns might be how you will deal with the logistics of shipping and order fulfillment. Many dealerships don’t have the processes in place to handle the volume of opening up their inventory to a national or even global market.

There can be a lot to manage when you look to expand your customer base by taking your business online. From accurately estimating shipping costs to printing labels for packaging, deciding how you’ll balance it without growing your staff may seem overwhelming.  However, don’t let these concerns scare you away from selling online!

Getting your shipping strategies right can increase your chances of making a strong profit from your online parts sales. So how can you ensure that your shipping strategies are solid? Here are five keys to generating the most revenue from your online parts sales without high shipping costs.

Keys to Set Profitable Shipping Rates

Key #1: Have a Baseline Shipping Strategy Set

Depending on how your OEM program operates, determining your baseline strategy is crucial when selling online. There are overhead costs to consider, competitive pricing offers to take into account, and online buying habits that your customers stick to. Remember to compare conversion rates on parts with free shipping vs. parts that don’t offer free shipping when determining your baseline. Split-test your most popular products to gather enough data from your customer base. Once you’ve determined which option is more appealing to your customers, you can determine your pricing strategy. 

Key #2: Test Your Thresholds

If you’re offering free shipping on parts, you need to determine the pricing threshold that still yields a profit. What’s the absolute highest and lowest you can price a part, offer free shipping and still make some money off it? How many conversions do you need to generate enough revenue? 

Let’s look at an example. You test offering free shipping on parts at two different threshold prices, $100 or higher vs. $150 or higher. You notice that the conversion rate on the $100 orders is 20%, compared to the conversion rate on the $150 orders at 7%. The higher conversion rate on $100 parts orders with free shipping yields a higher profit for the parts department, so your team can assume that the $100 priced parts/parts orders should be the threshold for free shipping. 

Key #3: Direct Attention Away From Cheaper/Smaller Parts

Don’t waste free shipping on smaller, cheaper parts. Ultimately, they don’t have much of an impact on the bottom line. Even with hundreds of sales for more affordable parts, they won’t cover the cost of offering free shipping most of the time. Instead, offer a lower shipping rate on those parts. If your shipping rates are decent enough, it’ll still encourage customers to purchase from you. If you work with specific carriers to get the best shipping rate on cheaper parts, find the best fit for your parts department’s needs.

Key #4: Add Money-Saving Shipping Features

Take the guesswork out of deciding the best shipping options for your parts. A great eCommerce software provides weights and dimensions within your complete parts & accessories catalog. These measurements help assure profitable shipping estimates every time. In fact, you’ll use the same strategy as shipping carriers to calculate pricing.

In addition to accurate measurements, exceptional eCommerce software alerts you to oversized or hazmat parts that may be costly. With the knowledge of potentially problematic parts, you can easily assess their profitability. Other shipping tools include the automatic calculation of shipping taxes for your orders, as well as the ability to add promotions on shipping costs that will generate more traffic to your store.

Key $5: Simplify Order Fulfillment

The RevolutionParts shipping feature allows you to review orders, collect money, create shipments, and complete orders all from a single page.

As you prepare to review and complete an order, you can choose options and print a shipping label directly from the site. Further, if you’ve shipped the same part in the past, you’ll be asked if you want to use the same packages as before. This is a handy timesaver as you begin to fulfill multiple orders.

After you decide on packaging for the part, shipping options will automatically generate for you. These options are based on the buyer’s delivery expectations and the profit you’d earn.

Get Additional Benefits with RevolutionParts

Upon order completion, the buyer will receive an email with their receipt and tracking information. Additionally, a label will be generated for you to print.

Although the process of fulfilling an order might seem complicated, our solutions save you time and provide money-saving options.

Earn a Higher Profit with The Right Shipping Strategy

Getting your shipping rates right is an important aspect of your online sales. Focus on setting the best prices for your customer base, establish an order threshold for free shipping offers, and use digital tools to help you keep track of order conversions. Just these three things can help you significantly increase your profits.

Want to learn tips for profiting from OEM parts sales with certain shipping carriers? Download our free guide, “How to Profit off of Shipping OEM Parts,” and get the inside scoop now!

Partnering with RevolutionParts will give you access to a streamlined solution for selling parts, helping you to expand the fixed operations department.