Auto hard parts cataloger signs on with CompuServe; J.C. Whitney joins Goodyear in selling supplies on line

Discount Store News, April 3, 1995 by Richard Halverson

J.C. Whitney joins Goodyear in selling supplies on line

Nationwide DSN report - In a test of how well auto parts and accessories can sell on line, J.C. Whitney, Chicago, is about to offer a tiny sampling of its best selling products with CompuServe, one of the "big three" in on-line services.

Do-it-yourself automotives customers long have been able to order Craftsman hand tools both on CompuServe and Prodigy, another one of the big three on-line services that Sears owns with IBM. Last December, Goodyear started with CompuServe, owned by H&R Block, an on-line service that refers interested tire customers to the nearest Goodyear tire dealer.

But the J.C. Whitney catalog venture marks the first attempt to sell hard parts over the computer network, instead of over the counter.

In a one-year test that should begin by the end of April, J.C. Whitney will offer 100 of the best selling skus out of a catalog that offers 55,000 items, director of marketing Bob Sebastian said.

In mailings every month, J.C. Whitney sends out at least 20 million catalogs per year, he said. CompuServe subscribers will be able to send for the complete catalog.

"We're testing it simply to keep up with the times," Sebastian said. "It may be the way of the future."

CompuServe charges an upfront fee of $22,000 to $99,000 per year for a chain or service to go on line, plus 2% of sales.

Sebastian said CompuServe has given him no projections on how many extra customers Whitney can expect to sign up. And he said he has no estimate of how many sales the on-line program would have to generate to break even.

Goodyear takes a different tack in what it calls its Goodyear Tire Store.

For starters, it snubs the two mass market outlets for Goodyear tires, Wal-Mart and Sears, when it refers on-line customers to the nearest Goodyear dealer.

Although it includes 3,900 company-owned and franchised dealers in its data bank, Goodyear claims it would have no way of keeping track of which Wal-Mart stores offer tires (about 600) or which of the 800 or so Sears stores carry tires.

Accordingly, if a CompuServe user asks to find out the nearest outlet in Bentonville, Ark., the answer comes back zero. Nor does the program offer the location of any Goodyear tire dealer in a nearby town, as the service promises.

Or if a Little Rock, Ark., user asks for the nearest Goodyear dealer, the on-line service spits back the names, addresses and phone numbers of 16 Goodyear dealers - but no Wal-Mart stores.

Similarly, the Goodyear Tire Store omits Sears, even in its Chicago home territory.

Furthermore, the on-line service includes no prices for the various types of tires it carries. A company marketing spokesman said the reason is that Goodyear dealers set their own prices, which can and do vary from any manufacturer's suggested prices.

Goodyear did say that customers would find unspecified but "spectacular" savings if they bought two tires during its "Two For" sale through April 15.

And it said that starting in April, customers will be able to buy from its on-line tire store jackets, shirts, racing caps and a toy blimp that bears the Goodyear logo.

Would-be Goodyear customers may also try to find the nearest dealer by entering their zip codes, if they can't find one in their home towns.

But the CompuServe program suffers from a bug by refusing to recognize as valid any zip code that begins with a zero. Yet all zip codes in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts and Puerto Rico begin with zero. So would-be customers in those areas are stymied if they try to find nearby Goodyear dealers through their zip codes.

What potential Goodyear customers can do is find the correct size of tire for their cars and find out which of the various tire models will suit their needs as to price, long-evity and driving conditions.

The Goodyear program also includes a schedule of motor racing events for the month, as well as a schedule of appearances for the ever popular Goodyear blimp.

Regardless of how many - or how few - extra tires Goodyear sells, it will be building a customer data base by inviting customers to join its mailing list for important announcements.

Goodyear is paying $50,000 per year for the on-line service, or about mid-range, said Keith Arnold, general manager of the Electronic Mall (what CompuServe calls its electronic shopping).

Arnold declined to disclose how many CompuServe subscribers access the Goodyear "store" every day or every week. But he said that out of every 100 subscribers, who access an electronic mall retailer, three or four buy something. While seemingly low, a 3% to 4% conversion rate is actually quite good, compared to a 1% conversion rate for direct marketing, Arnold said.

The average ticket on the Electronic Mall is running close to $70, Arnold said. In general, retailers charge the same prices on line as they do in either their usual catalogs or retail stores.

On-line retail sales for the big three total about $100 million, Arnold "guesstimates," a tiny fraction of total retail sales.