American Parts Vendors

[Cruzer!]

Is there any demand for a vendor for American off-road accesories in Australia or is the market pretty much covered? As some of you know I'm living in CA at the moment (and have been for the last 3 yrs) and running a successful 4wd Workshop here - but sooner or later we'll be heading back to Austalia and I dont want to go back to wrenchin on cars at some dealership.

So my plan is this - with my contacts here open up an import/export business for not only 4wd parts and accessories, but other American parts as well to and from Australia. A legit one, based both here and in Aus.

My question is - is there any demand for these parts - I know that theres a good percantage of stuff available through australian vendors, but is there any room ( or want) for such a business?

Thanks guys

Ben

[want33s]

If you can provide the parts people want at a better price (and better service) than existing suppliers there is ALWAYS room for you.

[bru21]

I think there is at the right price.

Eg eagle sell an LS7 for over 22k whereas in the US from GM any day of the week they are 12k. Shipping and profit even at 40% is under 17k so someone like myself would get it direct rather than through eagle.

Rocket compared to Jegs / summit is the same problem.

I think the money would be in s/h auto's, motors as complete running units etc


But the biggest thing would be for a vendor to:
1) Actually answer the phone
2) Actually order the product when promised
3) Have an Idea when its going to arrive

Most / All of these fall down big time in 90% of similar vendors here.

That said guys like Pete (opw) and Brent (Wizzard) from my personal experiance both run great businesses.

[yamaha__308]

If you can import the product into Australia for cheaper than the individual can, then you would have a market.

I get all my stuff from Locktup, only because TG and the like will not post via USPS, and it works out cheaper to buy from Locktup.

There are plenty of local vendors such as Snake and Superior, but in my opinion, pretty overpriced.

If you went ahead, the only competition would be Locktup, as far as I know...

[crustybj60]

price and service.

it's currently MUCH cheaper to import your own goods than buying the same American made product from an Australian distributer. the strong dollar helps.

a lot of TG crap is made overseas, and they don't ship USPS (lots of other American vendors who sell TG at the same price DO ship USPS...BTW)

most American vendors will ship your preferred method.

lots of ARB gear is so much cheaper in America, it's worth while to import it back to oz. ??? WTF

i thing Aussies are getting ripped off.

having a website with CLEARLY posted prices would be good too. nothing to hide eh?

if you acted like you gave half a shit when you got an order, and your price was "close" to what it would cost for an individual to do it. make your money on volume...

i'd buy your product.

cheers
crusty

[Cruzer!]

Price and Service - I couldnt agree more. I'm in the process of cutting up my POS for a SAS and understand the frustration of having people not answer your questions about their product or unclear prices.

I sent one guy 5 emails just to give me a price on a set of rim stiffeners. And when he finally replied he said he didnt know and would have to get back to me. Doh!

[stuee]

Maybe importing some of the over sized yank drive train stuff, big dana diffs and associated aftermarket accessories etc. I'd be interested to see what something like a reconditioned nv4500 would be landed in aus. I've only done a little search but the places that do sell them that I've looked at (first 2 or 3 in google) wont ship them overseas.

Maybe you could be a source for Duramax Diesels. Dont know if you can get them here cheaper than this lot: http://www.suburbanimports.com.au/motors.htm

But those motors seem to be gaining popularity here even with the price of them.

[Auto-Craft]

One thing that seems to be common in this thread, is wanting the response and stock on shelf of a big well run company, overstaffed, with call centres taking your call within 3 rings etc, whilst wanting the overhead margins tacked on pricing of a small after hours run from the garage operation.

For those who have run or managed a business, who would know, its not worth selling the product, if you cant make the margin, because it costs money to just open the door.

Thats why we get so much cheap chinese stuff these days, as it can have a 100 or 200% or 500% margin, and still be considered cheap, were as any U.S Product by the time you ship it, invest in stock, rack and stack it, and cover warranties requires a 50% -100% mark up to make it viable.

Only once you have spent the money on marketing and promoting the product and built a decent turn over of it, can you ship quantaties and work on buy price to make it cheaper, or improve profits.

Thats providing that product ends up successful, not everything invested in returns profit as expected either.

But big turnover doesnt mean increased profit either, on small margins, as it takes more freight, more manpower, more space, more time to do big turnover.

If you sell 10 items and make 100% on each, you have to sell 100 to make the same at 10% margin, weigh up cost of 10 vs 100, shipping 100 vs 10, handling 100 instead of 10, and the money required to invest in 10 vs 100, then times this by how many product lines the business has.

Effectively, its better in Aus to be able to do half as much, and increase your margin by double, which is what many big places, that are running and making good money, I might add, like the Rockets, VPW's, etc etc, unlike the U.S where volumes speak regardless, as 1% of each market means going broke, vs making millions in the U.S.

The cost of shipping and stocking in Aus means the greenback price will always be cheaper for one off's, until our population increases to a point where turnover justifies lower margins across the board.

How many Aus businesses that started as backyard aftyer hours operations struggled, or have fallen over, once the real cost of being the money earner has become reality, instead of just paying or supplying thier own hobby, especially when sitting on stock when something like the GFC comes along.

None of the above may also apply, but lets just say the Aus business model differs from other parts of the world.

[bru21]

I agree to an extent.
We run a company and service is 100%
If we get an inquiry for a costing we develop the recipe and have the quote back within about 3 hours.

I'll mention that its piss loads harder than looking the price up on MYOB for a well run import company.

We have 1 full time in the office and 2 half time / half time lab. And run the factory 24 hours.

We move at least semi everyday, and are the biggest users of freight on the sunshine coast besides sugar.

It all comes down to answering the phone straight away and providing the answer straight away - its 1/3 the effort of calling back and is quicker long term.

[crustybj60]

One thing that seems to be common in this thread, is wanting the response and stock on shelf of a big well run company, overstaffed, with call centres taking your call within 3 rings etc, whilst wanting the overhead margins tacked on pricing of a small after hours run from the garage operation.

This is EXACTLY the attitude i'm talking about. how about a well run small company?

understandably it's different down under, costs, shipping, overhead, taxes, etc... the population base is a fraction of the US, but prices are not even close. service is mostly crap and i'm not the only one who thinks that.

i thought that Australia had more 4x4's per population than any country in the world, second only in total number to the US? that sounds like a fairly good environment to do business in.

it's not always about bottom line, but sheeesh! if i'm gonna' get fawked, a kiss would be nice.

so until that changes here, i will import my own goods and buy my aftermarket 4x4 parts mostly overseas (not china BTW that's a whole other rant).

my preference is to support Aussie vendors, but not at a 500% premium.

cheers
crusty

[Guy]

One thing that seems to be common in this thread, is wanting the response and stock on shelf of a big well run company, overstaffed, with call centres taking your call within 3 rings etc, whilst wanting the overhead margins tacked on pricing of a small after hours run from the garage operation.

I am hppy to pay for service .. I do not expect the phone to be answered in three rings .. But getting a call back within 24 hours is not to much to ask is it ?
I understand that a warehouse etc costs $$ to run.. whats wrong with drop shipping and letting the customer know exatly their order is placed etc.

Keep the customer informed .. People in general are amazingly forgiving if they know your trying to help them and let them know how your going about it (and stick to it)

[Cruzer!]

Ultimitly I'd like to offer a service for all vehcile components - from motors/trannys/diffs right down to the smaller stuff.

I have the room here and back home to stock some stuff - and the contacts here to make some things happen. I just have to do a little more research. My goal is to have something I can take over there when I head back - I dont want to get rich - I want to have fun doing what i want to do!

The phone thing is a bit of an issue - time differences etc ( I'd love to talk shop, but call me at 3am in the morning and I'm gonna tell you to fuck off )

[bogged]

i thought that Australia had more 4x4's per population than any country in the world, second only in total number to the US?

work out how many of those 4wds ever need 4wd accessories, and you have part of your answer. there maybe a 50,000 sold, but 10% are actually used for 4wding.

[supazuk]

the main thing that really p#ss me off is when the company takes the money
and then say they are out of stock and then ya have to wait for months to
receive stuff that was supposed to take a week.

[crustybj60]

i thought that Australia had more 4x4's per population than any country in the world, second only in total number to the US?

work out how many of those 4wds ever need 4wd accessories, and you have part of your answer. there maybe a 50,000 sold, but 10% are actually used for 4wding.

fair enough, but almost every 4x4 i see has at least one accessory: bar, snorkel, roof rack, lift, tires etc... or combination of the above.

far more opportunity to need/use 4wd here than in the US. really.

Aussies would seem to use 4wd far more than North Americans. but that's just from my North American perspective.

hardcore scene here is very limited. again just my perspective.

cheers
crusty