In this interview, we spoke with Matt Sturtz, the Internet Manager for Page Auto Group.
The Page Auto team originally sold auto parts online with RevolutionParts, but switched to SimplePart in 2014. In 2017, they switched back to RevolutionParts. We asked Matt about his experience with both platforms.
1. Why did you choose SimplePart originally? What did you like about SimplePart?
Matt Sturtz: “We chose SimplePart originally due to the fact that they did paid advertising for us. We didn’t have to mess with going into Google, setting up accounts, and all that. All we had to do was provide them a budget. RevolutionParts was basically just a website at the time.
What I did enjoy about SimplePart was their customer service. Regardless of if it was a major or minor issue, they were always there to either answer the phone or reply to an email and were always friendly.
The first time I ran promo codes using their platform, they set everything up with what I asked, as well as sending a mass email to the email addresses that we had on file.”
2. What didn’t you like about SimplePart?
Matt Sturtz: “Due to SimpleParts’ pricing, it really ate into our profit margin. They would take 10% of every sale regardless of how it came in. When we put that on top of all our other bills, we weren’t really making any profit.
All in all, it was a good experience for the most part, we just could not stay with them as we could not afford the prices.”
3. Why did you choose to switch eCommerce solutions?
Matt Sturtz: “Me and the other heads of the dealership were kind of getting annoyed with SimplePart taking all of our cut. So it was up to me to find a solution, one of them being to negotiate terms with SimplePart, but they didn’t want to move.
The other option was to look into other people, but RevolutionParts was the only one that really showed promise. The other ones were really small and it was hit or miss if they even got back to me or not.
I was looking into how we could increase profitability without sacrificing advertising. A RevolutionParts sales rep walked me through what the platform can do now, which really impressed me.”
4. What was the process like signing up and getting started with RevolutionParts?
Matt Sturtz: “Getting started with RevolutionParts was pretty straightforward and simple.
I probably made it look more challenging because I’m new to the whole thing, but the RevolutionParts team made it pretty simple. They were very helpful with clearing up any questions that I had, integrating our other software, setting up the website.”
5. What have been the biggest gamechangers about the RevolutionParts platform?
Matt Sturtz: “The big thing that really drew me in was that RevolutionParts ties in the USPS and FedEx systems so we don’t have to spitball the shipping estimate, which is what we had to do with SimplePart, based on the price of the part.
Using this method, sometimes the estimate would end up skewed. We were constantly having to ask the customers for additional shipping cost, which sounds really sketchy.
Plus, the websites that RevolutionParts provide are a lot more streamlined and easier to use and navigate than SimplePart’s. I looked into a few other SimpleParts websites, and they all seemed to have a generic copy and paste format that they use for everybody.
And it can be kind of broken in the sense that they’ll have options, like a VIN decoder, but it won’t always work. It’s just more complex to navigate for your daily internet user trying to find a part.
Some stuff in the SimplePart catalog isn’t labeled. I had a few times where an item would be labeled as one thing but the part is actually something completely different than what the customer wants. It leads to huge confusion for everyone trying to figure out what they actually need.”
6. How did RevolutionParts Marketing Services play a role in your decision to switch?
Matt Sturtz: “What appealed to me with RevolutionParts Marketing Services is the fact that I can monitor what people are searching for and can see how it is affecting the traffic flow on the site, i.e. being able to see how people come in whether that be via direct, paid traffic, referral, or organic, as well as being able to see reporting like how long people are spending on the site, and so on.
The RevolutionParts agency’s 3% charge appealed to me a lot more than SimplePart’s 10%.”
Page Auto’s parts website, HondaParts2Go.
7. Has RevolutionParts saved you any time? How so?
Matt Sturtz: “It’s too early to really say for sure. I’d be able to say definitively in a few weeks.
But as of right now, it’s looking good. I’m enjoying going into the back end and navigating everything. All the customer information is right there to see during packing. You don’t really have to tab in and out of other screens to find all of that.
It’s very modern and streamlined. Easy to navigate. All you have to do is type in a keyword to search, and the tool you need will pop up.”
