I own a business in the UK selling aftermarket car parts online (If you want to check it out d2pautoparts.com/) and am doing rather well in selling in the UK and certain countries in Western and Northern Europe.
I was looking into the possibility of expanding into Europe, mainly Poland and just wondered if anyone had any advice.
Currently we sell through online markets such as eBay and Amazon. Also have invested in our Website which is a work in progress.
We sell Aftermarket car parts which are common fails on cars. In the UK we have a compulsory test on every vehicle over 3 years old to ensure its safe enough to drive. Our parts are common failure parts on these tests.
I have done some research and know it is good to have some sort of partnership as the market is tough to jump straight into but in the UK we work to having the best price which I think is something attractive in the Polish Market.
If anyone could help on by saying their general thoughts on the Polish car market? What age of cars and brand of cars are common? Do people visit independent garages or OES? How do people look for car parts and what parts are common? Any other factors to consider such as shipping from UK, price, quality, where to sell online? etc..
First thing I'd say - there's no way Poles are going to pay 15 quid minimum for delivery. You'd need to set up a local base here to have any chance on the market. Normal delivery costs for small items are no more than 2 quid, so you can see the first obstacle.
To be honest where i live they steal cars from Germany chop them up and sell the parts, only last week the police busted a gang in the next village to me, to be fair i did see some statistics to say that this type of crime is declining in Poland, so the market for legitimate parts might improve.
guy that lives down the road, buys parts in germany and belgium then drives them back in his van and stores them in his barn., he then sells them on OLX, seems to be doing well at it.
Alas, I'm not very familiar with shipping costs from Germany. But quite a few big online shops are based there and ship to Poland cheaply/for free - so it should be quite possible. Furthermore, if they come from Germany, you could advertise as being a German shop and not British - which would give you more credibility on the Polish market.
My suggestion would be that in the beginning, to establish a system of sending out parts once a week (for instance, on Monday morning) on a truck and have them re-sent from within Poland. Anything sent Monday morning should be here by Wednesday morning, meaning delivery on Thursday morning, which would be quite acceptable for online delivery here.
I can well believe that dolnyslask. That area is a hot bed for car crime of all manner. What people generally know about is the tip of the iceberg what goes on there.
As for parts, garages generally take parts the day or days before on a wz (wydanie zewnetrzne) from intercars or whoever supplies the parts. If youre not sure which parts will fit (say various lengths of handbrake cable) or youre trying to convince the client to fit a better quality part (eg lemforder or febi instead of maxgear POS), you take 2 or 3 parts on a wz slip, then hand back the rest after the job is done and pay for the one you used. Either you go to the supplier directly or if its a bigger one, the daily delivery van collects the parts and you pay the bill once every week or two.
With all that in mind, parts by mail order is only going to work for people doing work on there own cars, that can afford to way a day or more for parts. As for popular makes, all VAG passenger cars while french and german vans are popular. Unless you have a TDi you havent made it. The tracksuit and hoody alone wont cut it ;)
"And we have our own manufacturer in China" Do you have your own independent QC in China, I had huge quality issues with importing products from Ningbo, the only solution was to setup a warehouse China side and have my own buyers and QC check everything before it was containerized, It used to cost us a fortune in rejections once unchecked product was landed in the uk.
" that can afford to way a day or more for parts", true i can get almost any part overnight here. plus there are loads of car parts places around , three in my small town.
Its a thriving business, big and small parts shops, one needs the other to survive. Generally the small ones in the area will order from the big one such as intercars and because they buy in bulk from intercars, they get a large discount of 50% or more on parts. They pass some of this discount on to the small garages or sole traders, who otherwise wouldnt get much of a discount at intercars due to small turnover. So its a win all round.
Yes we do have our QC in china, the supplier does make sure everything is done to standard. We rarely receive any problems tbh.
I will look further into it, from what you've said effeminately need to do more research on the different locations.
Hi polishinvestor
Thanks for your help!
I did hear it was a thriving market which i was i decided to explore and have heard of the many garage concepts and relationships between the larger and smaller brands.
The majority of our sales are from customers researching parts for the best price/quality as opposed to being ripped off by many garages in the UK. This is a growing trend where people either choose DIY methods or source the part for their mechanic to fit. Furthermore, garages purchase from us which may be the best thing to do in Poland judging by what you have said!
Maybe you could sell direct to the major distributors here in Poland, that way the parts will get to the customer within 24hrs, which is common practice here, also poles like to check a part out before they pay for it in the shop, you can't do this over the internet.
Tell you what - you could do a lot of business here with a good returns policy. A lot of Polish online shops offer the bare 14 days for refunds - but if you offered 28 days (or even longer) - you might do very very well and be able to cover up for the slightly longer delivery time.
Delph, there used to be a great auto paint shop in a little village I used to be involved in a few years ago. It was the only one in town, you had to drive 15kms to get to the nearest one in a bigger town and that one was more expensive. They did fine until they started to allow people to pay after job completetion. First a few days, then a week, then two and more. They went bust. Painters that took paint essentially na kreche then went to the paint shop in the city and paid the higher prices but avoided having to settle up with the local store. In Poland the leash has to tight as a ducks arse!
I think you may be a little disappointed if you do some more research. The top Polish buyers already buy on massive scales from the likes of China, Taiwan, Germany etc and being familiar with your company and the products you offer, I think that you would not be able to offer a price even comparable with the prices that these Polish suppliers offer.
Hello Everyone. This is Shelly from China, sales manager of the biggest wiper blade factory in mainland China fukewiper.com, we have big range of products, international quality and the best price.
This year we want to develop Poland market, we know some very big wholesalers like inter cars, but seems have no access to them, do you have any guidance that we can talk to them or some similar importers?
Hello Harry, Thank you very much, I just have the email from their website, but seems it's not the right email for right person, would you kindly offer some help?
Thank you very much.
Hi Nathans, I've never been to Poland myself, but i read from books and from movies i can see you are a great country and with amazing brilliant and talent people.
Hey Guys, Or if any introduction to the major Local car aftermarket distributors are highly appreciated, we visited many websites but the language is a problem, we can't read and get enough info.
I am new in autoparts (actually I am a domain name investor and have my Digital marketing small firm in India. I am looking for a genuine car parts supplier, mainly for BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagon, Skoda (European cars)
May I know about your business details so we may work together in coming future.
Thanks,
@OP AH1414
Hello,
May i have your contact info? I am looking for a genuine parts supplier on regular basis for india market.
