I was shocked to findout tonight that AA and GPR (German Parts and Restoration, the first place I bought a 914 part from )use the same basic online store software, the fonts and colors are different, but other than that, they have the same feel as each other...

okay, i can understand using something off the shelf, it should be able to help keep costs down....

BUT, don't list crap that is irrelevant to our cars
(cooling system..radiator, WTF??) spend a few minutes going thru the database and doing the logic correctly..

end of rant

www.autoatlanta.com

and

www.gprparts.com

There websites are nothing alike unless I'm missing something.


Many of the other parts houses use the same generic parts database that is connected to some of the distributors (like Worldpac).

GPRparts, VertexAuto, Eurowebparts... they are all the same (as far as searching for parts). The pricing is sometimes different.

Okay... I found what you were looking at.

www.autoatlanta.com (this is their more comprehensive Porsche specific site)

www.automobileatlanta.com (<--- this is like GPRparts)

Stick with the autoatlanta.com site. Although it is still hard to get around.

I had a long week yesterday dealing with this very subject.

Back in 1995-96, the Automotive Industry Aftermarket Association (AIAA) defined a full schema to be used for people that wanted to put their inventory online. The intent was to add a sense of order to an otherwise undefined playing field. It took a while to catch on, but now most parts manufacturers are coding their items according to the AIAA definitions. This has enabled distributors and retailers to manage their inventories much more easily, not just the online folks.

As of yesterday, there were 163 online retailers that have systems that adhere to the AIAA schema. Of those 163 sites, 140 of them use software provided from one of four integration houses/service providers. Although, there is a fifth provider that has their system in beta that should shake things up considerably.

The two vendors in question, AA and GPR both use the CounterCat system. CounterCat is one of the more popular and can be very flexible. It can be linked to the inventories of multiple suppliers as well as your own. However, it appears that AA and GPR are using it solely for WorldPac fulfillment. The look and feel of the system is defined through the use of a web-based interface. You get to choose foreground and background colors, some behaviors but not the font. That's why these things look so similar.

I always just call GPR and ask about price and availability.

Neal

Most places will give you a lower price then their website anyways.

yeah, but who's open at midnight?

I can get George's home number for you, you can call anytime.


M

Thanks Paul,

That makes a lot of sence now !!!!

Standards????....who would of thunk it ?!?!?


By the way, I was not looking to buy anything from them, I was doing some research

Is the idea to standardize parts retaillers so that they can be linked to a future distribution network, or be connected?