St. Louis—When line cards are only as good as delivery times, the location of a parts store can weigh heavily on its success. That is partly why Jeff Lowe, president and owner of Lowe Automotive Warehouse, merged with D&S Auto Parts in March, adding it to his aftermarket distribution group.
Located at 3132 Watson Road, D&S has been renamed South Town Auto Parts and is now part of the Lowe organization, an ACDelco and Motorcraft distributor, which operates six parts stores in the St. Louis area and five warehouses in St Louis, Cape Girardeau, Mo., Bloomington, Ill., Alsip, Ill., and Wauwatosa, Wis.
“The installer market needs to have their parts quickly,” said Deno Valenti, general manager of the aftermarket division for Lowe. “Even though we could service the area out of Crestwood, we weren’t able to do it well.”
The acquisition also made sense since Lowe was already servicing D&S through its parts warehouse, Eagle Automotive Distributors, in Crestwood, Valenti said.
Valenti said he knows the merger process well after the jobber store that he co-founded, Jefferson County Auto Parts, joined Lowe in 2007. The Lowe organization was much larger, stronger, and brought Motorcraft to the table, he said.
“The merger went well,” he said. “We tried to incorporate some of the same strategies with D&S.
“We don’t like to come in and make a lot of wholesale changes right off the bat,” Valenti said, adding that a main goal is to keep the existing staff intact. That is why Steve Stodnick and Don Niemeier continue to run the store’s operations and service the local repair shops they’ve come to know over the years, he added.
“In our experience, we’ve found out that changes need to be made gradually,” he said, especially when it comes choosing which brands to sell. “Many customers are loyal to brand.... You have to make sure they understand why you’re changing and accept it.”
Carrying the ACDelco and Motorcraft brands has distinct advantages, Valenti said. “Installers are very particular about the brand they want to purchase,” he said. “The newer the car, the more apt they are to choose the OE brand.”
For example, if the vehicle is only 3 years old and needs an ignition control part, the OE brand will most likely be installed, he said.
In addition to ACDelco and Motorcraft, Valenti said Lowe carries several well-known aftermarket brands that can be as good as or better then OE.
Many aftermarket parts manufacturers, several of which are tier-one suppliers to automakers, have the advantage of additional research and development on particular parts or components as a vehicle ages, he said, pointing to Moog Problem Solver chassis line as a perfect example of re-engineering.
Aftermarket brands that Valenti said he’s has had success with include Moog for chassis parts; Denso and NSA for rotating electric; Spectra Premium for radiators, A/C condensers, fuel pumps, and tanks; and Falcon for wheel hub bearings.
Although a few of them are secondary lines, they have been received well, he said. “Shops are looking for form, fit, and function, and want to make sure they can install it without comebacks.” Nothing turns off an installer like comebacks, he noted.
“If you put yourself in their shoes, they may have done everything right, but the part may still fail,” Valenti said, adding that reputable shops are very aware of the brands they choose for that very reason.
Whenever a new line is introduced, he said he prefers that the manufacturer rep visit their repair shops in one-week increments with their six St. Louis-area outside salesmen.
There’s a built in resistance to new product lines that a shop has never used, Valenti pointed out. Having a manufacturer rep explain a line’s design features and warranty go a long way toward making shops more comfortable, he said.
Just as Lowe makes a concerted effort to service its customers in the field, it pays equal attention when they call, Valenti said.
To better accommodate the professional installers when they call in orders, Valenti said a central phone number is routed to a wholesale call center.
“When the installer calls, it’s important for the counterman to focus on their needs,” he said, adding that this was the reason for creating the call center at the Crestwood warehouse.
Often, a counterman will be on the phone with a repair shop when a retail customer walks in, he said, adding that the call center eliminates that scenario.
The call center is staffed by six counter personnel with 150 years of combined service, Valenti said. A dedicated researcher uses manufacturer Web sites for information and has access to a library of parts catalogs, he said. “They are able to share a wealth of knowledge with each other.”
