[trixman]

Hi guys,

I'm working on building a new website that offers car parts, and as it's being built from scratch I thought 'what better people to ask' than you folks.

The question is 'What are your favourite features of the sites you frequent when finding parts for your cars'? and/or 'What are your favourite sites'? (features such as a specific part search, or category listings, or look and feel etc)

Be great to know and I'd appreciate any feedback to help me build a better site.

Cheers
Paul

[briers]

ECP is great

Clear and concise to find everything once you have filtered down by your car. I like service packages, brake packages etc basically everything you need to do general maintenance. This all would take extra work considering you would need to cover all the big makes and models. Might be nice to offer OEM packages v 3rd party packages depending on your margins. Plus try to take the car reg / annual mileage / service date at check out. You can then do some email marketing before the service is due to sell them parts the next time round.

From a business point of view ECP have a slick operation and very aggressive pricing. It's almost worth asking them for a white label!

[trixman]

Thanks for that briers - we are actually building an aftermarket parts store (specifically just exhausts), but features and feel is important so will check that site out, cheers

[A_P]

ECP is great as is Mrauto.

Sidenote, If you are based in Crawley then I would come and buy some parts from you

[MEGA]

I think the ability to search needs to work properly. Simple as. Title or description.

Secondly, being able to put in a reg no and get a filtered list of parts that fit the car is always great. Would need access to the MID for that though I think? Which is a nasty cost. I suppose there might be free databases about but that would constantly need maintenance which could be a pain...

[mowflow]

if it's exhausts or anything else cosmetic then it's always good to be able to see them on an appropriate car.

[AWBimmer]

As mentioned, the idea of having a list of mods available by searching under REG or model of car would be really handy... bit like www.mstyle.co.uk which I find very very easy to navigate around. Something like that would be pretty good I think but ofcourse, to have your own USP to it

Maybe the ability check how a certain item might look once fitted could be a good option - just thinking loud here since I've no clue on the cost and resources behind the development of this (presumably lots!) but I'd absolutely love to see how my car could potentially look by dragging / dropping the item against said car and seeing the finished article. I think this could help boost sales since but I presume it comes at a very hefty price tag!

Certainly interested in the website

[Ste133]

Paul, I love the fact that you are looking for feedback already.

One thing that annoys me on websites is that when you search for something (lets say brake pads), they list 10 different types/sizes/makes. I would love to see the 'most commonly bought' items or maybe some statistics/feedback on them.

An example would be that once an item has been purchased, you can ask the buyer which model car they have. You can then also use this information for a search and you can see what the most common parts sold are etc.

Ideally, I would love to see:
- Brembo Brake Pads -
- Bought by 145 people -
- 97% of buyers owned 335d. 3% of buyers owned 330d.

This instantly fills me with confidence and also confirms that the item would fit my car!

I hope the above makes sense!
Cheers,
Steve

[MEGA]

EVERY performance part should come with pics of it fitted to the appropriate car, that goes without saying.

It's not as common as it should be. But if I see an exhaust on a white background I have concerns it'll fit. If I see the exhaust I want on my car - well, it's a no brainer

[trixman]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys, really appreciate it.

Certainly plan on easy sharing and feedback as a must, and luckily have plenty of images of all parts already on cars (this is going to be a distributor based site of an already well known manufacturer).

Thanks again and I will check out those recommended sites,

Paul