Please tell me what we (GPR) are doing wrong, - in other words why don't you buy from us. Options

[r_towle]

When I use you, I call you and you are super helpful and knowledgable.
pelican lost that edge a few years ago and now it feels like any other part pusher with no knowledge of my car.

I will stick with you for my porsche parts, and anything else really.

Here, try this.
Mini Cooper, 2003
Super clutch kit from PP.....if you can beat it, send me a PM and its your deal....no rush shipping needed.
Please see the list of parts on PP...I need all of them sadly.

Rich

[rhodyguy]

ahhhh…the beauty of ordering from a live body. ordered the item i need and had a nice chat with brian. i'll be cookin' with gas in no time. SUPPORT YOUR VENDORS!!!!

[Brian_Boss]

I'd look to GPR more often if you removed the 'minimum order quantity' restrictions.

This was tough to read but not unexpected. It's a bug in the site that I reported months ago. It displays the quantity per car as required when it not really required.

I know you should not have to do this but you can add the "required qty" to your cart then adjust it down to whatever you need at checkout.

[r_towle]

Sounds like you need to get the word out and do marketing.

[Krieger]

I used GPR a ton years ago on my 75. Dave was the man! I finished the car and stopped ordering parts. I knew Dave passed away and never kept up with what was going on with GPR

[earossi]

Brian,

You have to be commended for sticking your neck out in asking for feedback on your company. Good move.

I just did purchase a set of /6 Bursch headers from you. The purchase was easy to do and your pricing offered about a 10% discount over the normal pricing for this part. The parts arrived promptly and were as represented. So, I can truthfully say that I am a satisfied customer.

Having said that, I gave a little thought to your request for feedback. And, I read all of the comments offered in this thread. I think that all the comments offered can be rolled up into two areas: Publicity/advertising and customer service. Of the two areas, I think that the one that is your biggest barrier is the first: publicity/advertising.

Quite frankly, before buying my headers, I did not know who or what you were. I had seen your logo on various posts......but, there was no chatter on the forums about your company. Aggressive advertising might provide the publicity for folks to know who you are.

A vendor who exemplifies positive customer satisfaction is Pelican. I've been a customer of Pelican for over 20 years. When I call them, I get a live body,without delay, who is not only personable, but who usually owns a Porsche and can "talk" about our cars. Secondly, their website is super slick. Very easy to move around on......holds a tremendous amount of product information......has its own forums......etc. And, their email communications always tell me where my parts are and when I'll get them. In short.......they bond with the customer at all levels. At least once a month I get an email prompting me to provide feedback as you have done with your posting today. Occasionally, I get an email offering me a small discount because I am a "loyal" long time customer. I have never taken them up on one of those discount letters......but, it is the thought that counts.

In short, Pelican goes overboard. And, their prices are not discount. But, they are dependable, prompt, and never forget that the customer is "always right". On the several occasions when I returned items, there was never a delay in refunding my money. In summary, they leave the customer feeling that he is always being treated right.

There is no reason you can't be like Pelican. But, it takes constant and frequent communication.

[Elliot Cannon]

As it happens, I am at this moment wearing my GPR "T" shirt. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) If I need something, I'll check GPR first just cause I live near by, would rather spend locally and I know Jonathan. Calling and talking to a person who knows something about the car is nice. The GPR website has always been a little hard to follow.

[tornik550]

I have been buying a fairly massive amount of parts for my 914 for a while now. I have not used GPR often mainly because the website was a pain. I have always heard great things about GPR but if I can't find it, I'm not gonna buy it. I often shop on eBay. I realize that there is a lot of crap there but the reason I do is because it is easy to browse for things I just have to have. I have been buying more from PP because it is easy to browse through their selection. I would much rather buy from GPR because of their close connection with 914world.

Also- I really respect you for starting this thread and reaching out for feedback.

[Brian_Boss]

I used GPR a ton years ago on my 75. Dave was the man! I finished the car and stopped ordering parts. I new Dave passed away and never kept up with what was going on with GPR

This made me smile despite the fact we have (hopefully temporarily) lost you.

Dave was "the man". Even though I never met him face to face, despite numerous invites, I considered him a good friend. One of the Troutmans gave me his name when we met at the Pomona Fairgrounds swap meet when I lived in CA. Don't remember the year but it certainly pre-dated "e-commerce" by a decade or more. Anyway when I needed parts, I always called from the office around 6:30 Dallas time when thing were more "relaxed" at GPR and put in Dave's "secret" extension. It was usually 5 minutes of part numbers and then 20 minutes of BSing about cars, work, exes, etc. Very good times.

Brian

P.S. I have on my desk a battered, dog-eared distributor catalog (you know those paper things we had before the internet) with Dave's notes all over it.

[Brian_Boss]

Sounds like you need to get the word out and do marketing.

Not disagreeing but this, along with others' comments, suggests that my banner here isn't too effective. Is my banner creative just crap, or have people learned to ignore them??

I will be bumping getting a Google Adwords campaign going to the top of my "to-do" list.

Thanks for the feedback.

[ConeDodger]

Hard to use website. To be fair though, I hardly need parts at this point so...

[earossi]

Sounds like you need to get the word out and do marketing.

Not disagreeing but this, along with others' comments, suggests that my banner here isn't too effective. Is my banner creative just crap, or have people learned to ignore them??

I will be bumping getting a Google Adwords campaign going to the top of my "to-do" list.

Thanks for the feedback.

Brian,

I think that you are missing the point. Advertising requires way more than just a banner. There is nothing wrong with the banner......but, what you need to do is begin advertising. Put a group of parts on sale.....tout the sale. Send out fliers. In short.....over communicate to the buyer what you have to offer.

[SirAndy]

you have two basic options

Actually, you have more than two options.

There are plenty of other (free) eCommerce frameworks out there that you can use to built your parts store.

The downside of them is that they won't hook into WorldPac (unless WorldPac has a generic API you can use) and you'll have to fill in the products and prices yourself initially and then maintain that database.

However, the upside to that is that you can customize those system to look and feel and flow exactly as you want them to.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SirAndy]

Not disagreeing but this, along with others' comments, suggests that my banner here isn't too effective. Is my banner creative just crap, or have people learned to ignore them??

The banners here are less intrusive then on some of the other sites, including Pelican. IMHO that's a good thing but they are easy to miss.

Maybe we should have a vendors showcase page that is more static but allows each vendor to add a bit more info about them.

Also, i really liked the old black GPR T-Shirts and people would always come up and ask about GPR when i was wearing it.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

[ConeDodger]

You could be more proactive. Bruce Stone trolls the Classifieds and when someone says I Need - He says I've got. By changing the behavior of some, you create a wave of change. They recommend you and so on...

You're trying to change a culture. We have all kind of grown up 914 wise with the Bird. Other than Dave Darling, they aren't really proactive here. They rest on their laurels.

Be present. Be more vocal. Mark Whitesell doesn't just sell great product, he promotes it. If someone says I need - he says I've got... GPR needs to develop a 'personality' by being a part of the community.

[r_towle]

Sounds like you need to get the word out and do marketing.

Not disagreeing but this, along with others' comments, suggests that my banner here isn't too effective. Is my banner creative just crap, or have people learned to ignore them??

I will be bumping getting a Google Adwords campaign going to the top of my "to-do" list.

Thanks for the feedback.

I would suggest you do a few things, in no particular order.

1) participate in more threads and make yourself more widely known to new owners
2) Google adwords for sure
3) consider a paper catalog. While the Internet did impact marketing efforts, the power of the catalog remains, and is back in full swing. It's a bedtime read, and bathroom companion, and a dream wish list.
I have five or six vendors that still send me paper catalogs and when I need something, I immediately go to their site.
It's not cheap, but it's super effective, track able (catalog rebates)

4) direct email marketing. It works, then most of us have learned to ignore it, thus the return of the catalog.

[Bleyseng]

Yep, I used call Dave first as he always could get me parts fast and at a fair price. I hate the online catalog so when I do order from you its a pain but I do it even for my other cars...

So yeah, post more on the board so we get to know you better....

[McMark]

Is my banner creative just crap, or have people learned to ignore them??

Banner ads have a 'visual life' of a month or so. After that it's just background noise to viewers. Changing the layout/style/colors of banner ads makes them new and visually catching. As a side benefit, changing the banner ad frequently means you can try something daring or different, and if it works you can keep doing more like that, if it doesn't you can try something else.



But I'm an online-only shopper. Most of my parts orders happen after business hours. I realize the technical difficulties of the WorldPac tie-in and most shopping cart systems available. But I regularly go to Pelican just to look up part numbers because it's fast and easy. I realize it's a huge undertaking and a huge cost. But IMHO, in this day and age if you don't have an easy to use web site, you lose. The most innovative and successful sites find a way to do two things:

1. Make a complex system seem simple.
2. Present information clearly.

In regards to the second point, I went to your site just now, and I should be able to see where I want to click in a few seconds. I looked for more than a few seconds, saw ads for things I don't need and lots of buttons. Forget 'ads' for your parts on your own site. Just make the parts quick and easy to get to.

[roblav1]

If GPR = hwgunner, then I just purchased a pair of front torsion bars.

I didn't realize at the time that the two are the same. That should be fixed: Name Recognition is needed. It needs to be consistent too.

Agree with the comments about looking for parts and being stuck inputting a year/model. For my 993 conversion, I'm buying all sorts of odds and ends, some not made for Porsche. It is cumbersome trying to navigate the parts "network" to find what I need (including GPR, Pelican, and AA). Parts House AZ has the same problem. But they (and partsgeek) seem to be consistently cheaper than most sites for the common hard parts. The problem with those guys is that you have to know exactly what you are looking for. And this is where Pelican shines... with drawings and descriptions and pictures.

IMO, there is a niche market gap. More and more people are converting the 914's to 911/964/993 sixes. Patrick Motorsport does this fairly well with their specific 914 conversion page, but they are consistently expensive and seem to cater to that higher end. What is missing from the parts stores are all the necessary details of the different flat 6 conversion pieces depending on performance level and engine. For instance, a 964/993 conversion should have stiffer springs, they require different oil systems and adapters, require different flywheels, etc. If you list the likely pieces sorted through a few different desired performance levels, then list the parts for sale, you might get somewhere.

It might be helpful if you set up a network "tree" diagram for the parts searches. The first level might look something like this:

914 chassis early parts

914 chassis late parts

914-4 specific parts (just the parts applicable to only the 4 cylinder versions)

914-6 specific parts (just the parts applicable to only the 6 cylinder version)

911 based conversion parts
Sub-treed to:
- 2.0-2.4 recommended conversion parts
- 2.7S recommended conversion parts
- 3.0-3.2 recommended conversion parts
- 3.6 recommended conversion parts


All aftermarket parts can be located within each main heading (duplicated within the tree if necessary - like sway-away, etc) and sub-heading.

As a final thought, a one-stop shopping website could be made by providing the ability to order parts at the top level, but the parts would come from other vendors (not out of the norm anyway!). For instance, you want to order rubber? Order it through the top level site, but the part comes from either 914 Rubber or AA and you take a cut of the purchase.

It seems I rambled on a bit too much! But my experience in building my conversion would suggest that this sort of thing might work pretty well.

[McMark]

Here's a graphic. You have WAY too much garbage. You're important to irrelevant ratio is skewed way in the wrong direction. The stuff in grey should be smaller, the stuff in white should be bigger.