From Almond Water to $200M+ Car Part Empire | Carparts.com
发布时间 2023-12-26 10:00:38 来源
摘要
In this episode, I'm speaking with David Meniane, CEO of Carparts.com This episode is brought to you by: Car Dealership Guy ...
GPT-4正在为你翻译摘要中......
中英文字稿 
From almond water to 200 million dollar car part empire. Today I'm speaking with David Minyan, the CEO of CarParts.com, a publicly traded e-commerce company that has moved the dealership parts department entirely online. We discuss solving the auto repair crisis, his billion dollar vision, the most profitable car parts, 3D printing, AI and much more.
从杏仁水到2亿美元的汽车零部件帝国。今天我和David Minyan进行了对话，他是CarParts.com的首席执行官，这是一家公开交易的电子商务公司，已将汽车经销商的零部件部门完全搬到了线上。我们讨论了解决汽车维修危机、他的十亿美元愿景、最有利可图的汽车零部件、3D打印、人工智能等诸多话题。
What's up everyone? This is Car dealership guy. You're listening to the Car dealership guide podcast, which is my effort to give you access to the most unbiased and transparent insights into the car market. Before we get into the show, don't forget to subscribe to my very own car dealership guide newsletter for the latest insights into automotive. Emails go out weekly and contain my most transparent insights into the market. And the best part? It's 100% free. Some of the recent topics I've written about include the state of dealership by sales, Amazon's online car sales announcement, Ford's challenges with its dealer body and much more. Be the first to know where the market is moving, join 53,000 others and subscribe to the Car dealership guide newsletter at dealership guide.com or visit the link in the show notes below. Again, that's dealership guide.com.
大家好！我是汽车经销商。你正在收听汽车经销指南播客，这是我努力提供给你最公正和透明的汽车市场见解的努力。在开始节目之前，请不要忘记订阅我的专属汽车经销指南通讯，获取最新的汽车行业见解。每周都会发送邮件，包含我对市场最透明的见解。最好的部分是什么？它完全免费。我最近写过的一些话题包括销售商业状态，亚马逊在线汽车销售公告，福特与其经销商团队的挑战等等。成为第一个了解市场走向的人，加入其他53,000人，订阅汽车经销指南通讯，网址是 dealership guide.com，或访问下方节目说明中的链接。再次强调，网址是 dealership guide.com。
This episode is brought to you by Auto-Fi. Auto-Fi helps progressive dealers like you sell smarter, not harder on your dealership website and now in your showroom too. Auto-Fi solves the everyday problems dealers actually face like bottlenecks at the sales desk, customer distrust and decision overload. And their all new showroom solution includes deal estimation, desking, lender routing and an F&I menu. All of this in one powerful platform that bridges the gap between CRM and the DMS. Dealerships with Auto-Fi can manage the floor more efficiently, fast track the yes and make better lender decisions, enabling them to sell cars faster with higher satisfaction and more profit. In fact, deals with Auto-Fi take an average of 28 minutes from customer check into loan approval and dealers are making $411 more backend PVR per deal. Go to Auto-Fi.com slash CDG to learn more. That's Auto-Fi.com slash CDG and start selling smarter today.
这一集由Auto-Fi赞助呈现。Auto-Fi帮助像您这样的进步型经销商在您的经销商网站上更加智能地销售，不再费力。Auto-Fi解决了经销商们真正面临的日常问题，如销售台的阻塞、客户的不信任和决策过载。他们全新的展厅解决方案包括交易估算、台桌、贷款方案和F&I菜单。所有这些功能集中到一个强大的平台上，弥合了客户关系管理系统和经销商管理系统之间的差距。使用Auto-Fi的经销商可以更高效地管理现场，加快交易速度，并做出更好的贷款决策，以更高的满意度和更多的利润销售汽车。事实上，使用Auto-Fi进行交易的平均时间从客户确认到贷款批准只需要28分钟，每笔交易的后端PVR（每车利润）增加了411美元。访问Auto-Fi.com/CDG了解更多信息。这是Auto-Fi.com/CDG，立即开始更智能地销售吧。
When I was 18, my family and I, we decided to move to the United States and live the American dream. And so, you know, learned the language, got my first car, went to college, did a couple of different jobs, started a couple of different companies, some more successful than other. And, you know, five years ago, I had an opportunity to join one of the most exciting companies I've ever heard of. And I've ever been a part of it's at the time was called US Auto Parts Network. And today, we renamed the company and it's called CarPars.com. We own a brand called JC Whitney that's been around for over a hundred years. And, you know, so I've been living the American dream for the last five years. And, you know, 18 year old French guy who didn't speak the language is now a parts guy selling, selling parts for F-150s and Dodge Rams. Couldn't could have they come up a better story than that.
当我18岁的时候，我和我的家人决定移民到美国，追求美国梦。于是，我学习了英语，买了我的第一辆车，上了大学，做了几份不同的工作，创办了几家不同的公司，有些更加成功。五年前，我有机会加入了一家我听说过最激动人心的公司之一。当时它被称为US Auto Parts Network，而现在我们将公司改名为CarPars.com。我们拥有一个品牌叫JC Whitney，已经存在了100多年。所以，过去五年来，我一直在追逐美国梦。一个不会说英语的18岁的法国小伙子如今成为了销售F-150和Dodge Rams零部件的部件销售人员。比这更好的故事还能有吗？
So it's pretty easy to Google your name. I mean, you pitch stuff on Shark Tank. I mean, you really went all in on this American dream. So how did you go? First of all, what led you to going on Shark Tank, pitching some CPG products? Tell us about that.
所以在谷歌上搜索你的名字很容易。我的意思是，你在《鲨鱼池》上推销产品。我的意思是，你真的全身心投入这个美国梦。那么你是怎么做到的？首先，是什么促使你参加《鲨鱼池》并推销消费品？请告诉我们。
You know, like you said, I have a lot of energy. I have a lot of passion. I think in 2013 or 14, I launched a company with my wife in the consumer packaged goods. And I was making a pitch in one of the biggest trade shows of the industry. And then one of the casting producers, she's now the executive producer for the show. You know, she saw me from the corner of her eye and I was pitching and selling and, you know, trying to tell my story and my vision and ultimately, I was trying to move some product. And she said, hey, you have good energy. Would you like to come on the show? And so, you know, we went through the casting process.
你知道的，就像你说的那样，我有很多精力。我有很多热情。我想在2013或2014年，我和我的妻子一起在消费品行业创办了一家公司。当时我正在业界最大的贸易展销会上进行推销。然后其中一个节目制片人，现在已经成为该节目的执行制片人，她从眼角看到了我在推销和销售产品，试图讲述我的故事和展望，并最终试图推销产品。她说，嘿，你的能量很不错。你想参加节目吗？所以，我们经历了选拔过程。
What was the product?
这个产品是什么？
What was the product? It was called Victoria's Kitchen, almond water. So, you know, all natural gluten free beverage at the time was very trendy. And so, you know, we ended up, you know, building the business, getting national distribution. The company was acquired. It was a good, good experience.
这个产品是什么？它被称为维多利亚的厨房，杏仁水。所以，你知道，在当时，全天然无麸质的饮料非常时尚。因此，我们最终构建了这个业务，并获得了全国范围的分销。该公司被收购了。这是一次很好的经历。
You know, I realized the importance of vertical integration and margin. You know, what's interesting about consumer packaged goods is that the brand owner or the manufacturer is the last person to get paid. So, you know, you got brokers, you got advertising, you got distribution, you got manufacturer. So, you know, I have an accounting and finance background, but you know, when you run the math, consumer packaged goods is not as interesting as directly sourcing quality parts from overseas, bringing them directly to our distribution centers and shipping them directly to our customers. So, the less people in the middle, the better products we can offer our customers for the lowest price and still have some really good margins.
你知道，我意识到了垂直整合和利润的重要性。你知道，关于消费品牌，有趣的是，品牌所有者或制造商是最后一个得到付款的人。所以，你知道，有经纪人，广告商，分销商，制造商等等。我有会计和金融背景，但是你知道，当你运算一番后，与直接从海外采购优质零件，将其直接运送到我们的分销中心，并直接发送给我们的客户相比，消费品的经营并不那么有趣。所以，中间环节越少，我们就能以最低的价格向客户提供更好的产品，并且仍能保持较高的利润。
Well, dig into vertical integration. I love that you brought that up because that's a hot topic nowadays. Okay. So, what led you to CarParts.com? How did this happen? I like to say it's luck, which is, you know, preparation meets opportunity, you know, right, place and right time. I think it's also the willingness and the ability to do things that are uncomfortable. When I got the call from CarParts and the opportunity to join, at the time the company was going through a very difficult time. You know, the sales have been flat for about 10 years. The company had limited cash, plenty of debt, the growth had stopped. And, you know, the company was facing some very, very difficult challenges. And so, you know, I asked around to some of my friends and said, you know, I have this opportunity to join this company, huge total addressable market, huge opportunity to disrupt the space, but the company is going through a tough time. And everyone said, you're crazy, you shouldn't do it. And so, that's exactly why I said yes. That's a hell of a way to live.
嗯，深入了解垂直整合。我很喜欢你提到这个，因为这是现在的热门话题。好的。那么，是什么让你加入CarParts.com呢？这是怎么发生的？我想说这是幸运的，你知道，准备遇到了机会，对吧，对的地方和对的时间。我认为这也是愿意和能够做一些不舒服的事情。当我接到CarParts的电话并有机会加入时，当时该公司正经历着非常困难的时期。你知道，销售额已经停滞了大约10年。公司现金有限，负债累累，增长停滞不前。而且，你知道，公司面临着一些非常，非常困难的挑战。所以，你知道，我向一些朋友打听了一下，说我有机会加入这家公司，非常巨大的总地址市场，巨大的颠覆空间的机会，但公司正经历艰难时期。每个人都说，你疯了，不应该这么做。所以，这正是我说“是”的原因。这种生活方式真是那样。
So, you get to CarParts.com. I think, give us just a table set for obviously the name is self-explanatory, but I do want to go through just the intricacies of your business. What do you do? Just give us the fundamental problem that you're solving.
所以，你来到了CarParts.com。我想，给我们提供一张明显说明名称的表格，但我确实想要了解一下你们的业务的复杂之处。你们做什么？简单地给我们解释一下你们解决的基本问题。
The fundamental problem that we're solving is that we think that car repair and maintenance is a painful and full of friction process. And so, what we're trying to do is remove the friction, remove and create a much better experience all through mobile, all through digital. And so, the way we do that is we have a unique digital experience that has a full catalog of auto parts, where we give customers all the information they need to pick the parts that fits their car. But on top of that, we have a whole data play and a whole supply chain and logistics infrastructure behind it. So, Ford-facing, we're an e-commerce company with an app and a website that gets 100 million uniques. But in the background, we have 1 million square feet of supply chain space that we operate. We have 1,000 people, we operate 24-7. We bring in 100,000 products, 100,000 individual SKUs in our warehouses that we source directly from manufacturers, and we ship them directly to the customer.
我们解决的根本问题是，我们认为汽车维修和保养是一项痛苦且充满摩擦的过程。因此，我们所努力做的就是消除摩擦，通过移动设备和数字化技术创造更好的体验。我们做到这一点的方式是，提供独特的数字化体验，拥有完整的汽车零件目录，为客户提供选择适合他们车辆的零件所需的所有信息。除此之外，我们还有完整的数据服务和供应链物流基础设施。从用户界面上看，我们是一家拥有应用程序和网站、每月拥有1亿独立用户的电商公司。而在背后，我们拥有100万平方英尺的供应链空间，并且全天候运营，拥有1000名员工。我们从制造商直接采购并将100,000个产品（100,000个不同的SKU）直接发运给客户。
So, you have the data piece, the catalog piece, the fitment piece. Walk me through that. When I think of a dealership, they stock some parts, they don't stock all the parts necessarily. So, in your business model, why do you need these massive warehouses or what advantages that give you? Great question. So, the advantage is that the customer wants the part that fits their car as quickly as possible. They want the best quality, but they also want the lowest price. And so, what we found is that by having that vertical integration, which we talked about, we go straight to the manufacturers overseas or in Mexico or in Taiwan, we stock everything in our warehouses and we have five of them nationwide. And so, when the customer places an order, we try to ship it as quickly as possible so that they get it within two days or less. Now, how does that differ from the brick and mortar retailers? By cutting out the middleman, we can offer the same quality parts at 40 or 50% cheaper. So, controlling our own destiny, stocking all the inventory close to the customer, that allows us to offer the same product at a much lower price. That's why we do it.
所以，你有数据部分、目录部分、配件部分。给我解释一下。当我想到汽车经销商时，他们库存一些零件，不一定全部都有。那么，在你们的业务模式中，为什么需要这样大规模的仓库，或者说它给你们带来了哪些优势呢？好问题。优势在于客户希望尽快找到适合自己汽车的零件。他们希望获得最优质的产品，但也希望以最低的价格购买。因此，我们发现通过拥有垂直整合，我们直接与海外或墨西哥或台湾的制造商打交道，将所有货物储存在我们全国五个仓库中。因此，当客户下订单时，我们尽可能快地发货，以便他们在两天内收到。那么，这与实体零售商有什么不同呢？通过去掉中间商，我们可以以40%或50%更低的价格提供同样质量的零件。掌控自己的命运，将所有库存靠近客户，这使我们能够以更低的价格提供相同的产品。这就是我们这样做的原因。
You know, I think the whole parts and service part of the business, car business has been very interesting last couple of years because as car prices have gone up, I would assume that's a massive talent for you. But also, we've seen that people are holding their cars on longer. The average age of vehicle in the road has eclipsed 14 years, which is an all-time record. In the last two weeks, I actually posted that dealers were doing a little bit less service business. I don't remember the exact percentage. I think the point is that it seems like there's an interesting trend of consumers going to maybe smaller service centers, local shops or, let's just say, exploring other options than doing a traditional dealer, mostly due to cost. So, I'm curious to know how that's impacted your business. These just movements in the economy and affordability being so tight. What are you seeing? What's the insight that you're seeing in your end?
你知道，我觉得过去几年汽车业的配件和服务部分非常有趣，因为随着汽车价格的上涨，我想这对你来说是一个巨大的机遇。而且我们也看到，人们对自己的车辆的保留时间更长了。道路上的汽车平均使用年限已经超过了14年，创下了历史新纪录。在过去的两周里，我实际发布了一篇关于经销商服务业务有所下降的帖子，具体百分比我记不清了。我想重点是，消费者似乎正在转向可能更小的服务中心，本地店铺或者说是探索其他选择，而不是去传统的经销商，主要是因为成本问题。所以，我很想知道这对你们的业务产生了什么影响。在经济情况不景气，购买力非常有限的情况下，你们看到了什么？你们那边有什么见解？
Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there. So, what's interesting is there's 300 million vehicles on the road in the United States. Those cars are lasting longer and longer. You mentioned 14 years for the average age of a car on the road. That's our sweet spot, somewhere between 8 to 10 years to 20 years. That's where we see the biggest opportunity. So, if you have a brand new car, chances are, the first three to five years, you're under warranty, you're going to go to the dealer to do the service, you're not going to have a lot of stuff to do on your car. Past five years, you want to keep that car going longer, obviously, because of interest rates, cost of new cars, cost of used cars. There's an opportunity to do basic maintenance, basic upgrades, basic fixes to your car, and we do all the stuff outside of the car, and then under the hood. So, we do both. A lot of times, you can go to YouTube and do very basic maintenance and become that DIY guy. Our customer tends to be 80% of our customers. They go to our website, they buy the part, and they do the work themselves. Now, 20% of those, they take the part, and then they go to a shop, or a friend, or an uncle, and do the basics. There's a lot of jobs on a car that you can do for both maintenance and upgrade that are relatively simple.
是的，这里有很多要解释的。有趣的是，美国有3亿辆汽车在道路上行驶。这些汽车的使用寿命越来越长。你提到了平均车龄14年，这是我们的黄金时机，从8到10年到20年之间。这是我们看到的最大机会。因此，如果你有一辆全新的车，很有可能在头三到五年内仍处于保修期，你会去经销商那里进行维修，你的车上不会有太多要做的事情。过了五年，你想让车子保持更长时间的使用寿命，这显而易见，因为利率、新车和二手车的成本。我们有机会对车子进行基本维护、升级和修理，我们在车外和引擎舱里都做。所以，我们两者都做。很多时候，你可以去YouTube上学习非常基础的维护知识，成为那个自己动手的人。我们的顾客中，80%的人会去我们的网站购买零件，然后自己安装。而另外20%的人则会买零件，然后去店里、找朋友或亲戚来进行基本操作。车上有很多维护和升级工作是相对简单的。
Do you sell to dealers? I mean, do you only sell to consumers? Like you said, the DIY customer, is that who buys parts online? The majority of our customers are DIY. There is a subset of customers that buy direct from us dealers. I think that's actually a huge opportunity. I think dealers and shops, regional shops, are looking for options. And so, you have the brick and mortar retailers. If you need the part extremely fast, if you're willing to wait a day or two, you can get the same part, the same brand, for 40 or 50% cheaper and get more margin. So, it's just the shop where the dealer has to run the math. If you need a bumper within the next hour, we're not the option for you. If you're willing to wait two to three days, we'll get you the exact same bumper made in the exact same factory, but it'll be 50% of the cost.
你们销售给经销商吗？我的意思是，你们只销售给消费者吗？就像你说的，DIY客户，是那些在线购买零件的人吗？我们大部分的客户都是DIY的。还有一部分的客户会直接从经销商那里购买。我认为这实际上是一个巨大的机会。我认为经销商和区域门店在寻找选择。所以，你们有实体店零售商。如果你需要零件非常快，如果你愿意等一两天，你可以以40%或50%更便宜的价格获得相同品牌的同样零件，并获得更高的利润。因此，这只是经销商需要计算利益的店铺。如果你需要一个保险杠在接下来的一个小时内，我们不是你的选择。如果你愿意等待两到三天，我们将为你提供完全相同的、在完全相同的工厂里制造的保险杠，但价格只有原价的50%。
Interesting. So, how do you compete with dealers? Is that your way to compete with dealers on price? No, we're not trying to compete with the dealers. We're just trying to be an option in terms of sourcing the parts. And so, what I think is really interesting about our business is that you look at the big four, they're very centered around mechanical parts. There's some big players out there that do body parts and collision parts. Our supply chain is actually built to handle odd-shaped items and very large items. So, we can sell a door handle or a brake pad or a set of shocks, but we can sell you a grill, a hood, a bumper cover, a tailgate, and we can handle that. We can source. We have 5,000 unique bumper covers in stock today in all regions, which means if you have a 2004 F-150 and you get into a little fender bender, if you don't want to go to a collision shop, you can buy that bumper from us and you can install it yourself in 15 minutes or less. So, either you go to the dealer, you'll probably call it a thousand dollars. And if you have a relationship with a dealer that you trust, that's a good option. You can go to a collision shop, which will source that part from a distributor, which will be more expensive than us, and then we'll have labor on top of it. Or if you're DIY inclined, go to YouTube, check out some of the videos out there, how to change my bumper cover for F-150, 2008. You buy it from us, you'll have it in two days, and you'll spend maybe $250. So, we're just offering an additional option for someone who's a little more DIY inclined.
有趣。那么，你是如何与经销商竞争的？你是通过价格与经销商竞争的方式吗？不，我们并不试图与经销商竞争。我们只是希望在零部件采购方面成为一个选择。所以，我觉得我们公司非常有趣的一点是，你看看那些大型公司，它们非常注重机械零部件。市场上也有一些主打车身和碰撞零部件的大型参与者。而我们的供应链实际上是建立在处理异形物品和非常庞大物品的基础上的。我们可以销售车门把手、刹车片或一套减震器，但我们还可以销售给你格栅、车罩、保险杠、车尾门之类的物品，并且我们能够处理这些物品。我们可以采购。我们现在在各个地区拥有5000个独特的保险杠覆盖库存，这意味着如果你的2004年 F-150 车子发生轻微事故，如果你不想去碰撞维修店，你可以从我们这里购买那个保险杠，并在15分钟内自己安装它。所以，选择你可以去经销商那里，你可能得付1000美元。如果你与一个值得信赖的经销商有合作关系，那也是一个好选择。你也可以去碰撞维修店，他们会从分销商那里采购那个零部件，比我们的价格更贵，另外还需要加上人工费用。或者，如果你对自己动手能力较强，你可以上YouTube，看看那里有一些视频，教你如何更换我的F-150 2008车型的保险杠覆盖。你从我们这里购买，两天之内就能拿到，并且只需要花费大约250美元。所以，我们只是为那些更愿意自己动手的人提供了一个额外的选择。
What's it been like for you building this company? Such a difference from how you started your professional career. It's been awesome. It's been literally the best five years of my life. Extremely lucky, I get to work with exceptional people. We went through a big transformation. We brought in a lot of technical experts. We're very big on corporate culture. We're very big on discipline, operational excellence. We try to get the best of the best that we can get, regardless of their background, regardless of college degrees, regardless of nationality. We got a lot of immigrants. We got a lot of people that were born here. It's just we've built such a great culture that's focused around the customer. How do we solve the customer's problem? How do we build an exceptional business? And then layer on to that, the finance, the economics, the scale. Start with the customer, build an exceptional business with great positive economics. And then we're a publicly traded company. So, we do have advantages in terms of access to capital and the ability to recruit some senior people. But it's been awesome. I'm having a blast. I can't wait to see where we take this company over the next five years.
你在建立这个公司的过程中感觉如何？与你职业生涯的起点相比，这有很大的不同。
真是太棒了。这绝对是我人生中最美好的五年。非常幸运，我有机会与出色的人一起工作。我们经历了一次巨大的变革。我们吸纳了许多技术专家。我们非常注重企业文化。我们非常注重纪律和运营卓越。我们尽量争取最好的，不论他们的背景、学历或国籍如何。我们拥有许多移民。我们也有很多本地出生的人。我们构建了一种以客户为中心的伟大文化。我们如何解决客户的问题？我们如何打造一个卓越的企业？然后再加上财务、经济和规模的层面。以客户为出发点，建立一个具有良好的经济效益的优秀企业。而且我们是一家上市公司。所以，我们在获得资本和招聘一些高级人才方面有一定优势。这真是太棒了。我享受其中。我迫不及待地想看看未来五年我们将带领这家公司走向何方。
I'm sure it sounds like it. What's been your biggest challenge, would you say? Clearly, the last couple of years have been overall a boon for just to use parts, service, because of the prices and cars and affordability. But what has been your biggest challenge you've been grappling with? You know, there's a lot of education that needs to be done in terms of buying parts online. You know, I think if you look at the big four, obviously, you know, it's $60 billion of sales out there. And there's still this opportunity to go into a brick and mortar shop and say, hey, this is my car. This is my problem. What's the solution? And then the counterman who's usually, you know, a former mechanic or really good with parts, will type into a computer and say, hey, this is the part that you need. How do you replicate that experience while keeping that customer connection, while being a destination for that customer, offer the same part, but online.
我敢肯定听起来是这样的。你可以说你所面临的最大挑战是什么？显然，过去几年整体上对于使用零部件和服务来说都是一个福音，因为价格合理，汽车易于购买。但是你所面临的最大挑战是什么呢？你知道，在网上购买零部件方面还需要进行大量的教育。我认为，如果你看一下四大公司，显然，它们总共销售了600亿美元。而且，仍然有机会进入实体店，告诉店员，“这是我的车子。这是我的问题。解决方案是什么？”然后通常是店员，他们通常是前任机械师或者对零部件非常熟悉，他们会在电脑上输入信息，告诉你需要哪个零部件。如何在保持客户联系的同时复制这种体验，同时成为顾客的目的地，并提供同样的零部件，在网上呢？
So we do have the ability for customers to order over the phone. That's a huge channel for us. So, you know, we have 150 people. We operate 24 seven Paul Center. It's our own call center. So customers can call in and say, this is my car. This is my problem. What part should I buy? So we still have that human connection, but you know, the education online, trying to become a destination for buying parts where, you know, 80% of our traffic is mobile. So we have to give the customer all the information on a little screen. And that's the piece of the puzzle that we're always trying to solve.
所以我们确实有能力让客户通过电话下订单。这对我们来说是一个巨大的渠道。所以，你知道，我们有150人。我们24小时、七天都在运营波尔中心。这是我们自己的呼叫中心。所以客户可以打电话进来，告诉我们这是我的车，这是我的问题，我应该买哪个零件？所以我们仍然保持着人与人之间的联系，但是你知道，在线教育，尝试成为购买零件的目的地，在我们的流量中有80%来自移动设备。所以我们必须在一个小屏幕上向客户提供所有的信息。这就是我们一直努力解决的难题。
Yeah, what percentage of business would you say is through phone? Oh, it's about eight to 10%. Now, is that eight to 10% that buy through the phone or call in for customer service? Both. Usually people who call, we have actually a very, very good conversion rate. So by the time people call, we're able to solve their problem. And we're actually very good at closing the transaction and giving them, you know, the parts that they need and the information that they need.
是的，你认为通过电话的业务占多少百分比？大约是8%到10%。那这8%到10%是通过电话购买的还是来电咨询客户服务的？两者都有。通常来电的人，我们实际上有一个非常非常好的转化率。因此在人们打电话来时，我们能够解决他们的问题。而且我们实际上在完成交易和提供他们所需的零件和信息方面非常出色。
Yeah, because I think about like in the car business that people that, even if they buy online consumers, most of them will call to, you know, to speak with someone at some point, which is interesting because it's a bit misleading when you think of the facade of like online car buying or in this case, online parts buying. But really, you know, people, people still do call maybe to ease that apprehension or whatever may be just to, you know, confirm what you're seeing is correct. But it's interesting how digital has exploded so much, you know, especially in automotive yet, you know, people still do call.
是的，因为我认为在汽车行业，即使是购买在线消费者，大多数人都会在某个时候打电话，与某个人交流，这是有趣的，因为当你考虑到在线购车或在线零件购买的外观时，这有点误导人。但实际上，你知，人们仍然会打电话，也许是为了缓解不安，或者确认你所看到的是否正确。但有趣的是，数字化发展得如此之快，特别是在汽车行业，然而，人们仍然打电话。
I agree. I think, especially in the car buying world, a lot of a lot of potential customers will browse, will spend hours on different sites, different dealers, they'll look at YouTube videos, they'll do reviews, and they'll be, you know, 10% away from making the decision. They still need that human connection for that confirmation. Hey, I've done all my research. I came back and this is the car that I want. This is the trim level. This is the sub model. This is the engine size. Is that the right choice? And usually the dealer will confirm that choice. But I think that extra 10% that last mile is actually critical. And it has to be a lot of time it has to be face to face or over the phone.
我同意。我认为，在购车领域，很多潜在顾客会浏览，花费数小时在不同的网站、不同的经销商上，他们会看YouTube视频，查看评论，他们离做出决定只差10%。他们仍然需要人与人之间的联系来确认。嘿，我已经做了所有的研究。我回来了，这就是我想要的车。这是我要的配置级别。这是我要的副型号。这是引擎的大小。这是正确的选择吗？通常经销商会确认这个选择。但我认为那最后的10%其实至关重要。而且通常需要面对面或电话沟通。
Yeah. You know, as you were speaking, I thought about something funny, which is like a massive, massive opportunity here. Any person in the car business that has ever done any reconditioning will attest to what I'm about to say. But, you know, sometimes you need a little molding for a car. And the aftermarket parts of eyes just don't have it. And you call the dealer, right, or, you know, whatever, the, you, you call basically the franchise to where you can get it directly from the many factory. And it's like a small piece of plastic, like $350. How do we fix that? I mean, that's where I want to know, like, if you can tap into that market, I'm not talking about like the generic bumper that you can get anywhere nowadays.
是的。你知道，当你说话的时候，我想到了一件有趣的事情，这是一个巨大的巨大机遇。所有曾经做过任何汽车改装的汽车业从业者都会证实我接下来要说的。但是，你知道，有时候你需要一点车子的修整。但是售后市场的零部件就是没有。你给经销商打电话，是吧，或者你给，你，你基本上是直接从工厂里获得它的特许经营权。就是一个小塑料件，要价350美元。我们怎么解决这个问题？我的意思是，我想知道，如果你能进入那个市场，我不是说现在随处可得的通用保险杠。
But I'm talking about that, like little piece of molding that is marked up like 3500%. If you can tap into that market, I think you're going to expose yourself to lots of dealers because we've all dealt with this. And it boggles our mind when we have to buy this trim piece, like 500 bucks. But hey, you don't buy it, you can't sell the car.
但是，我指的是那种被标价高达3500%的小模具。如果你能打入这个市场，我觉得你会接触到很多经销商，因为我们都曾经面对过这个问题。当我们不得不花500美元购买这个装饰件时，我们都感到非常困惑。但是嘿，如果你不买它，就不能卖掉车子。
Yeah, the way we solve that, and it's not as scientific as you think, but, you know, you have to look at vehicles in operation and failure rates for each individual component. So, you know, if it's a Ford F-150 and there's 50 million of them on the road out there, you know, chances are there's going to be an aftermarket option for every single little, you know, little trim or mold. Now, that's probably 95 to 98%. So, if it fails, or if customers are complaining about something, chances are, you know, we'll go out and we'll make it.
是的，我们解决这个问题的方式并不像你想象的那么科学，但你知道，我们必须观察车辆在使用中和每个单独组件的故障率。所以，你知道，如果是一辆福特F-150，路上有5000万辆这样的车，你知道，每一个小的装饰或模具都可能有后市场选择。现在，这可能是95%到98%。所以，如果出现故障，或者如果客户对某些事情抱怨，很有可能，你知道，我们会进行改进。
You know, the difficult part is if it's a car that doesn't sell as much as a Dodge Ram or a Tundra, and it's a part that doesn't fail as much, you know, you have to think about, you know, the cost of the mold, the cost of product development, the cost of quality control, and then the working capital requirements to buy that part in store.
你知道的，困难之处在于，如果这是一辆销量不及道奇Ram或Tundra这么高的车，而且这个零件的故障率也不高，你得考虑到模具的成本，产品研发成本，质量控制成本，以及购买存放该零件所需的营运资金。
So, for us, and you mentioned that, you know, we have a million square feet of space and we're trying to stock inventory, and we're trying to stock a lot of different parts for a lot of different cars, but we can't have those parts sitting in for years. So, we want our inventory to turn, call it three to four times a year. So, there's a balance between we manufacture it and we stock it versus it's not going to move fast enough, and it just doesn't justify the holding cost. So, you know, in the dealer space, you want the cars that are going to turn on the lot. You know, you don't want that inventory to age. It's the same thing for us. We want to have the parts that the customer want, but that inventory has to turn because holding it is extremely expensive. And then the larger the part, the more commitment it requires. So, imagine a door handle for, you know, Toyota Corolla, that's going to turn, imagine a bumper cover for, you know, a Ford F-250, but it's a model that hasn't been made in 25 years. That takes a lot of space. I get an inventory business, baby. That's what it's all about. We got to keep paying $500 for that little piece of plastic, huh?
所以，对于我们来说，你提到了，我们有一百万平方英尺的空间，我们正在努力备货，为了各种不同的汽车备货许多不同的零件，但是我们不能让这些零件堆积多年。所以，我们希望我们的库存能够有三到四次的周转率。因此，我们在制造和备货之间需要平衡，如果周转率不够快，就无法合理地持有库存成本。所以，你知道，在经销商领域，你希望车辆能够快速销售。你知道，你不希望库存过时。对我们来说也是一样的。我们希望拥有客户想要的零件，但库存必须保持周转，因为持有库存是非常昂贵的。而且零件越大，所需要的承诺越多。所以，想象一下丰田Corolla的车门把手，可以保持周转，想象一下福特F-250的保险杠，但这是25年前停产的车型。这需要很大的空间。我对库存业务很了解，宝贝。这正是一切的关键。我们得为那小块塑料付500美元，是吧？
For now. Until you can introduce some 3D printing. For molds, actually, we're starting to do that, actually.
暂时来说，直到你们能够引入一些3D打印技术。实际上，对于模具的制作，我们正在开始使用3D打印技术。
Yeah. So, actually, while we're talking about, you know, crazy ideas, are you guys doing anything crazy, anything with AI, anything just kind of out there to make this whole parts acquisition process better?
是的。所以实际上，当我们谈论疯狂的想法时，你们有没有做什么疯狂的事情，比如使用人工智能，或者其他一些能够改进整个零部件采购过程的方法？
Yeah. I don't know if it's crazy. I think we're seeing generative AI and language models as a huge opportunity. You know, I think a year ago when chat GPT became really hot, companies had a decision to make. Either you embrace it and you leverage it and you deliver a solution that customers will use, or you just say, you know what, this is one of the newest things and we're going to wait, but we didn't wait. We went all in.
是的，我不知道这是否是疯狂的。我认为我们将生成式人工智能和语言模型视为巨大的机遇。你知道，我觉得一年前当Chat GPT变得非常火的时候，公司们需要做出决策。要么你接受它并利用它，提供顾客会使用的解决方案，要么你就说，你知道吗，这是最新的东西之一，我们会等待，但我们没有等待。我们全力以赴了。
So, we're looking at a lot of our data, product reviews, fitment data, customer feedback, and we're trying to create an experience that just makes the experience better and smoother. Again, fixing your car is not a pleasant experience. Sometimes, I like to think about it as going to the dentist. I don't know how much it's going to cost and I know it's going to be painful. So, if there's a weird noise with my car, I'm like, you know what, I don't know how much it's going to cost. I don't know if I'm going to be out of commission. And I know if I'm not a car expert, it's not a pleasant experience. So, how do we remove that? How do we make it a little less painful and maybe more pleasant?
因此，我们正在研究我们的很多数据，包括产品评论、配件数据和客户反馈，我们试图创造一种能够改善和顺利进行的体验。再次强调，修车并不是一种愉快的经历。有时候，我喜欢将其比作去看牙医。我不知道会花费多少，但我知道会很痛苦。所以，如果我的车发出奇怪的声音，我会想，你知道吗，我不知道会花多少钱。我不知道是否会让我停驶。而且如果我不是专家，那会是一种不愉快的经历。那么，我们如何解决这个问题呢？如何让这个过程变得稍微少痛苦一些，或者更加愉快呢？
So, I think the chat GPT and generative AI, that's an opportunity to make that process a little bit better.
所以，我认为聊天GPT和生成型人工智能是改善这个过程的机会。
How do you think that actually practically helps me replace a bumper?
你认为这实际上如何帮助我更换保险杠呢？
So, replacing physically, I don't know, but just making sure that you have all the little brackets that go with it, making sure that you're asking the right questions so that you don't have to go through the process multiple times.
所以，我不知道如何进行物理替换，但请确保你有所有与之配套的小插座，确保你提出正确的问题，以免必须多次进行这个过程。
So, think of a bumper cover. Some of them have fog lights, some of them don't, some of them have sensors, some of them don't. Certain trim levels have a different shape, right? So, if you have a Ford F-150 or a Dodge Ram or there's so many different trims and engine size, every bumper cover is different. So, we need to make sure that we're asking you the right question.
所以，想象一下保险杠罩。其中一些有雾灯，其中一些没有，还有一些有传感器，而另一些则没有。特定的装饰款式也有不同的形状，对吧？那么，如果你拥有一辆福特F-150或道奇Ram，或者有很多不同的装饰款式和发动机尺寸，每个保险杠罩都是不同的。因此，我们需要确保我们向您提出正确的问题。
Now, ideally, over time, if you could take a picture, upload it, and then we'll make sure that we match the exact same bumper cover for your car. So, I think image recognition and then built, if built on that is all the catalog and fitment data, I think that makes the process a little bit smoother.
在理想情况下，如果您能随时间拍照并上传照片，我们将确保为您的汽车匹配完全相同的保险杠罩。因此，我认为使用图像识别技术，结合完整的目录和安装数据，可以使整个过程更加顺利。
How have interest rates impacted your business? Interest rates impact the American consumer and they impact car prices, home prices, insurance prices, and every business out there. Any business that tells you, I'm completely immune to changes and interest rates, it's probably not close to reality.
利率对你的业务产生了哪些影响？利率影响着美国消费者，也影响汽车价格、房价、保险价格以及所有企业。任何告诉你说自己对利率变动完全免疫的企业，很可能与现实相去甚远。
So, when you're seeing car prices go up exponentially and interest rates go up exponentially and the car payments, average car payment is what? $775 or $779 these days. What it does is it makes you rethink the decision to get a new car. That's number one. If you have a variable rate mortgage and your disposable income goes down, what do you think happens to your demand?
因此，当您看到汽车价格呈指数增长，利率也呈指数增长，而目前的平均汽车付款是多少？$775或$779。这会让您重新考虑购买新车的决定，这是第一点。如果您有一笔利率可变的抵押贷款，而可支配收入减少，您认为需求会发生什么变化呢？
So, what we're seeing is interest rates have a direct impact on demand generation. We're seeing consumers still spend. Everyone is still spending. They're just a lot more disciplined as to where they spend and when they spend. So, that means we have to tighten our belts. We have to figure out opportunities for efficiencies in that vertical integration. We got to get the same parts at slightly lower prices. We got to get our transportation costs down, our packaging costs down, but we still have to make it faster, better experience and offer a lower price. So, this year actually, our prices become more competitive. We saw transportation costs, especially from overseas come down and we passed on the savings to the customers because we are seeing some American consumers are struggling. I think interest rates is a direct link to that.
因此，我们看到利率直接影响需求的产生。我们看到消费者仍然在消费，每个人都在消费。他们只是在选择花费的地方和时间上更加谨慎。所以，这意味着我们必须节约开支。我们必须在纵向整合中寻找效益的机会。我们必须以稍低的价格获取相同的零部件。我们必须降低运输成本、包装成本，但仍然要提供更快、更好的体验和更低的价格。因此，今年我们的价格变得更有竞争力。我们看到运输成本，特别是海外运输成本的降低，并将节省下来的费用传递给了顾客，因为我们看到一些美国消费者正在艰难地度日。我认为利率与此直接相关。
Well, speaking of savings in your clearly public company, but I think for the audience it would be helpful. Can you walk us through your margins? What's your average margin? Then I'd love to know what's the lowest margin products, highest margin products?
嗯，说到您这家明显是公开公司的节省方式，我认为这对于观众来说会很有帮助。您能为我们解释一下您的利润率吗？您的平均利润率是多少？然后我想知道哪些产品的利润率最低，哪些产品的利润率最高？
So, in terms of product margin, we're very similar to the brick and mortars. So, product margin is somewhere between 50 and 55%. Now, because we're direct to consumer business, we send it, we ship it individual part at a time. So, you're looking at freight costs somewhere between 15 and 20%. So, that leaves a gross margin after freight, after outbound transportation, somewhere between 30 and 35%, depending on the channel. So, that's on the gross side. And then, on the variable cost side, you have customer acquisition costs and we want to be free cash flow positive and variable contribution margin. We want to be positive on the first transaction after customer acquisition costs, fulfillment costs, credit card fees. Then, we have a little bit of fixed operating expenses and then all of that trickles through to the bottom line.
所以，就产品利润率而言，我们与传统零售商非常相似。因此，产品利润率在50%到55%之间。由于我们是直接面向消费者的业务，我们会逐个部分发货。所以，你需要考虑运输成本，大约在15%到20%之间。这样，在运费、出站运输后，净利润率大约在30%到35%之间，具体取决于渠道。这是从毛利润方面来看的。然后，在可变成本方面，我们还需要考虑客户获取成本，我们希望在客户获取成本、订单履约成本和信用卡费用之后的首次交易上实现正向自由现金流和变动贡献率。接下来，我们还有一些固定运营费用，然后所有这些都影响到最终的利润。
So, now, what's interesting about our business is as we scale and as we get bigger, we're able to get better costs, so better product margin, lower transportation costs because we get closer to customers. And as we develop kind of that destination for customers, our customer acquisition cost is going to come down. And over time, that makes the net margin more attractive.
现在，我们企业有趣的地方在于随着规模的扩大和业务的发展，我们能够获得更好的成本优势，因此产品利润更高，运输成本更低，因为我们离顾客更近。随着我们为顾客打造一个目的地的不断发展，我们客户获取成本也将逐渐降低。随着时间的推移，这使得净利润更具吸引力。
What are your highest margin products? What are your lowest margin products? I have some thoughts here, but I want to see what you're saying.
你最高利润的产品是什么？你最低利润的产品是什么？我有一些想法，但我想听听你们的意见。
Okay. Highest margin products are the products where we're one of the few players to offer those products. So, large body parts, non-convable items. If you're going to start a parts business tomorrow, you're not going to go into very large items and sheet metal. I'm definitely not thinking about it. If you do, let's do it together. So, on large items, there's more work, more working capital. So, it requires a bigger investment and more space. So, we require a better margin. So, it's not that we have less competition, so we charge more. It requires more investment. And we need a higher return on invested capital. So, we need a slightly higher margin.
好的。最高利润产品是那些我们是少数几家提供这些产品的企业之一的产品。所以，大型零部件、非常规商品。如果你明天要开一家零部件经营店，你不会去销售非常大的物品和钣金制品。我绝对没有考虑过这个。如果你要做，我们可以一起做。所以，在大型物品上，需要更多的工作和更多的运营资金。所以，它需要更大的投资和更多的空间。所以，我们需要更好的利润率。并不是说我们有更少的竞争对手，所以我们要收更高的价格。它需要更大的投资，并且我们需要更高的资本回报率。所以，我们需要稍微更高的毛利润。
Now, on consumables, we have a lower margin, wiper blades, brake pads, because obviously, you can go anywhere and get those parts. Yeah, definitely. I mean, breaks, like wiper blades, that's the table stakes of the car business. So, that doesn't surprise me that that's the lowest margin products.
现在，谈到耗材，例如雨刷和刹车片，我们的利润率较低，因为很明显，你可以在任何地方买到这些零件。是的，毫无疑问。我的意思是，像雨刷和刹车片这样的东西，是汽车行业的基本配置。所以，这些产品的利润率最低并不让我感到意外。
I guess compare that, compare your prices to a dealership parts department. I know you mentioned that you're looking to work with the dealers, but who really are you competing with? Is it other online parts websites or junkyards? Who is that competitor for you?
我猜一下，将你的价格与经销商的零件部门进行比较。我知道你提到你想要与经销商合作，但你真正要竞争的是谁呢？是其他在线零件网站还是废品回收场？对于你来说，究竞是谁的竞争对手呢？
What's interesting is, and every business has competition out there, obviously, but after market auto parts is a $300 billion business. It's a $300 billion addressable market. And less than 5-6 percent actually happens online. So, I actually think there's opportunities for us, some of our competitors, to capture that market share. You look at the other industries. Most industries have been disrupted by either online or some type of digital experience, right? Pet foods or clothing or travel. But if you look at auto parts, the majority of auto parts purchases still happen either at the dealer, at the shop, or in a brick and mortar retailer. So, we're playing in that 5 percent addressable market, but that market is getting bigger.
有趣的是，每个企业都会面临竞争，这是显而易见的事实，但汽车售后零部件是一个规模为3000亿美元的市场。这是一个巨大的可寻址市场。在线销售只占整个市场的5-6%。因此，我认为我们和一些竞争对手还有机会占领市场份额。看看其他行业，大多数行业要么被在线销售，要么被某种数字化体验所颠覆，对吧？例如宠物食品、服装或者旅行。但是，如果你看看汽车零部件行业，大多数购买行为仍然发生在经销商、修理店或者实体零售商。因此，我们仅仅参与了这5%的可寻址市场，但这个市场正在扩大。
And the way we're competing is we want to have a better experience. We want to have a better brand. We want to have that direct connection with our customers, and we want to have a full breadth of products. So, mechanical, collision, accessories, consumables, fluids. So, we want to be kind of a destination.
我们的竞争方式是为了提供更好的体验。我们希望拥有更好的品牌。我们希望与顾客建立直接联系，并提供全方位的产品。因此，我们希望成为一种目的地，提供机械、碰撞、配件、消耗品和液体产品等。
What about tires? What about tires? At some point, probably, I think there's an opportunity. We're seeing a subset of our customers that actually want to buy the parts and the tires. We're not built for it yet, but I think there's opportunities, but there's also opportunities to partner with some of the breaks folks out there. We don't have to build it from scratch. I'm big on strategic partnerships, and there's opportunities for us to go faster with that.
轮胎怎么样？轮胎怎么样？在某个时候，可能，我认为有机会。我们看到我们的一部分客户实际上想要购买零部件和轮胎。尽管我们还没有为此做好准备，但我认为有机会，同时也有与某些车辆制动专家合作的机会。我们不必从零开始建造。我非常看重战略合作伙伴关系，这样我们就可以更快地前进。
Tell me about parts. I think growing up in this business, it feels like tires was always a segregated thing. When I worked to shop at some point, tires were ordering from always different vendors, shopping prices and stuff like that. But why is tires always sort of its own thing relative to other parts?
告诉我关于汽车零件的事情。我觉得在这个行业里长大，轮胎似乎总是一个独立于其他零件的存在。当我在车店工作时，轮胎总是从不同的供应商那里订购，进行价格比较等等。但为什么轮胎总是相对于其他零件独立存在呢？
I don't know if tires is its own thing, and it's everything else. I see, you got your mechanics, your transmission and engine guys, your body shops, your tire shops, your brick and mortar for fluids, consumables and batteries. I actually think all of these are separate segments. I don't know why all of it is so separate, but my guess is it's the expertise. The other thing is it's time on the lift. If you're a mechanic, you're going to lift the car up, that bay is completely tied. You got to get that turning. Again, we're going back to inventory turns. The same way a dealer has to turn the inventory, a mechanic or a tire shop has to fix it and keep turning.
我不知道轮胎是否是一个单独的事物，剩下的都是其他的东西。我知道你们有你们的机械师、传动装置和发动机师傅，你们的维修店，轮胎店，实体店卖润滑剂、消耗品和电池。我认为所有这些都是分开的领域。我不知道为什么这一切都分得如此之清楚，但我猜想可能是因为专业知识的关系。另一件事是抬车的时间。如果你是个机械师，你要抬起车子，那个区域就被完全占用了。你必须保证它的运转。我们再次回到了库存周转的问题上。就像经销商需要周转库存一样，机械师或者轮胎店需要修理车辆并不断维持运转。
What do you think about EVs? Is it good for a business, bad for a business? I think, listen, the numbers and you publish all the numbers all the time, I think it's a big opportunity long, long, long term. We'll be a player in that space when EVs become the biggest part of the car park. Today, it's 2% to 3% of cars in the United States, if not less. For us, it's about 2% to 3% of our sales. Long term, it's an opportunity, short term. I think we got a lot of stuff to do as a country to build an infrastructure, to change the way consumers are subsidized to buy an EV. The reality is there's a lot of customers that wouldn't buy an EV if it weren't for the subsidy. There's a lot of customers that don't want to buy an EV. You saw the announcement about Ford and the Ford Lightning. On paper, it looks good, but if customers are not buying it, then maybe it's not an opportunity. There's a lot of things that need to happen for EVs to become the biggest share of the car park. We're not there yet.
你怎么看待电动汽车？它对企业来说是好事还是坏事？我认为，听听数据，你一直都在发布所有的数据，我认为这是一个很大的长期机遇。当电动汽车成为停车场里最多的车辆时，我们将在这个领域跻身一员。如今，在美国，电动汽车大概只占到汽车总数的2%到3%，甚至更少。对我们来说，它占销售额的2%到3%。从长远来看，这是一个机遇，但短期内我们需要做很多事情，比如建设基础设施，改变消费者购买电动汽车的补贴方式。事实上，很多顾客如果没有补贴的话是不愿购买电动汽车的。也有很多顾客不想购买电动汽车。你看到了关于福特和福特闪电的公告。从理论上讲，它看起来不错，但如果顾客不购买，那可能就不是一个机遇。要实现电动汽车在汽车领域占据最大份额，还有很多事情需要发生。我们还没有达到那个目标。
You know what goes through my mind? I can only imagine as a parts guy, when you see the cyber truck, do you get crazy anxiety? No, I don't have anxiety. From the parts perspective, because I remember I was looking at the cyber truck and I'm saying, oh my god, I cannot imagine having to order parts for this thing or replace parts on it. Let alone send this thing to the body shop. I can only imagine. It would just throw them into a spin. I'm like, what do I do? I'm trying to figure out how do we make it an opportunity, right? There's door handles, there's shocks, there's brakes, interior, interior, interior, right?
你知道我脑海里在想什么吗？作为一个零部件销售员，当你看到Cyber Truck时，你是否感到非常焦虑？不，我没有焦虑。从零部件的角度来看，我记得当我看着Cyber Truck时，我说，天啊，我无法想象为这个东西订购零部件或更换零部件。更不用说把这个东西送去修车厂了。我只能想象到会让他们疯狂。我想，我该怎么办呢？我正试图想办法将其变为机会，对吧？有门把手，减震器，刹车，内饰，内饰，内饰，对吗？
So, and by the way, we're very big in interior and exterior door handles. So, tailgates, there's always an opportunity to sell some parts or bulletproof glass or whatever it takes to solve the customer's problem. But when I saw it, I was just laughing. The first thing I thought about was the shot. Like every parts guy in the world is looking at that thing and saying, holy shit, what I do with this. But it is a cool car. Yeah, it is. Absolutely. I love pickup trucks. So, you know, I love that car. Are you going to get a cyber truck? I don't know yet. It would have to be all black and matt. So, I'm not there yet. I like my old GMC pickup truck pivoting for a second.
顺便说一句，我们在内外门把手方面做得非常大。所以，车尾门，总是有机会销售一些零部件或防弹玻璃，或者采取其他方式来解决客户的问题。但当我看到那辆车时，我只是笑了。我第一个想到的是那场景。全世界的零部件人都在看着那个东西，并且会想，天啊，我该怎么处理这个。但那确实是一辆很酷的车。是的，没错。我喜欢皮卡车。所以，你会买一辆Cybertruck吗？我还不确定。它必须是全黑色和哑光的。所以，我还没决定。我喜欢我的旧GMC皮卡车，顺便一提。
Tell me about, you mentioned DIY customers, like do it yourself. That is your customer base. But who specifically, like do you have a bit more granular demographic data than that? Are you like, you know, most of the urban environments, rural, suburban, like who is your customer and a bit more in depth? Yeah. So, you know, predominantly male, you're talking about 70 to 80% male. Predominant. I don't think my wife's going to be replacing a bumper anytime soon. So, I would agree with that. So, actually, so on the bumper side, you're right, right? You're talking about a customer that's slightly older than 40, you know, maybe all the way up to his 60s. But there is a subsegment of female that are looking for just entry level stuff. So, you know, your wife is not going to do the bumper, but your wife could do the wiper blades. The wife could do an air filter. Changing a cabin air filter is literally two minutes. So, there's little things that you want to do just because it's full, not because you want to save money, but, you know, you want to be empowered. So, we have a segment of customers that is slightly younger, female, that wants to feel that empowerment. I can imagine that's the case. I think it varies greatly by the relationship in the person. So, after we're finished, I'll tell my wife to go replace the cabin filter. We'll see what she says. We could send her one and we can send her the instructions. You tell me what car she drives and we'll take care of it.
告诉我一下，你提到了DIY客户，就像自己动手。这是你的客户群体。但是具体是谁，你有比这更详细的人口统计数据吗？比如，大部分是城市环境还是农村、郊区，你的客户是谁，再深入一点？是的。那么，你知道的，主要是男性，大约占70%到80%，主要是男性。我觉得我的妻子不会很快就会换车保险杠。所以，我同意这个观点。关于车保险杠这一点，你是对的，你所说的客户略微年龄偏大，可能到60多岁。但是，也有一部分女性在寻找入门级的产品。所以，你妻子可能不会换保险杠，但她可以更换雨刷片。更换空气滤清器只需要两分钟。所以，有些小事情你想自己做，不是为了省钱，而是因为你想要有能力去做。所以，我们有一部分稍微年轻一些的女性客户，她们想要感受到这种能力。我可以想象这样的情况。我认为这在每个人的关系中都会有很大的变化。我们做完之后，我会告诉我妻子去换一下车内空气滤清器。我们看看她会说什么。我们可以给她寄一个滤清器，并提供使用说明。告诉我她开什么车，我们会处理好的。
And tell me about just general earlier, talking about your manufacturing vertical integration. What do you think about long-term, you know, creating, building, you know, manufacturing all these parts in the US and just generally speaking, manufacturing in the US versus abroad. Like, how do you guys think about that? Yeah. So, geographic diversification of the supply chain is super important. So, historically, body parts were exclusively made in, you know, Taiwan, mechanical parts. A lot of them are made in Europe, Mexico, some in China. You know, what the supply chain disruption showed us is that if the cost of containers goes to $22,000 per container, it changes the economics of importing. So, you know, we're always going to predominantly source from overseas, but we're actually starting to look into some American manufacturing, some Mexico manufacturing. We have a big footprint in Dallas. You know, we're just a couple of hours away from Mexico. So, we could do some manufacturing in Mexico and then drive it up across the border. So, there's actually some opportunities. It's a big commitment that we have to diversify our supply chain. It's not going to happen overnight. So, you know, in three years, we're not going to be 50% made in America. You know, but we have this brand called JC Whitney, where we have a huge opportunity to actually create some additional American jobs sourced from the US. Maybe it's slightly more expensive, but we don't have the cost of transportation. And you have an opportunity to have a higher quality. And then, you know, the logo made in America. So, I think that still means something.
告诉我关于你们的制造垂直整合的一般情况。你们对长期的美国国内制造、建设和制造与国外制造相比，有何看法？是的。因此，供应链的地理多元化非常重要。历史上，车身零部件主要在台湾制造，机械零部件主要在欧洲、墨西哥和中国制造。供应链中断告诉我们，如果集装箱费用飙升到每个集装箱2.2万美元，进口成本将发生变化。因此，我们始终会主要从海外采购，但我们实际上开始考虑一些美国制造和墨西哥制造。我们在达拉斯拥有一个大规模的项目。距离墨西哥只有几个小时车程。因此，我们可以在墨西哥进行一些制造，然后通过边境运输到美国。所以确实存在一些机会。我们在多样化供应链方面有着重大的承诺，但这并不会一蹴而就。所以，在三年内，我们不会有50％的产品是美国制造的。我们有一个名为JC Whitney的品牌，我们有巨大的机会创造一些额外的美国就业机会，从美国采购。也许这会略微昂贵一些，但我们没有运输费用。您还有机会获得更高的质量。然后，您知道，标有“美国制造”的标志仍然具有一定的意义。
You said, wait, you said $22,000 a container. Was that what you were paying at peak of the pandemic when the supply chains were disrupted? That's what some people were paying. We never paid that much.
你说，等一下，你说一个货柜要22,000美元。那是你在疫情爆发时供应链受到干扰时所支付的最高价吗？有些人确实支付了这么多。但我们从未支付过那么多。
And here's why, you know, in 2019, when we came into this business, we looked at all the critical capabilities that we needed to build a profitable $1 billion company. And because we do sourcing, because we do quality control, because we do importing and trade compliance, we decided to build that capability in-house. And we have, you know, a lot of contracts, a lot of agreements with all the carriers.
这是为什么呢，你知道，在2019年，当我们进入这个行业的时候，我们考虑了我们需要建立一个盈利的十亿美元公司所需的关键能力。因为我们从事采购，质量控制，进口和贸易合规等工作，因此我们决定在内部建立这种能力。而且我们与所有运营商签订了很多合同和协议。
You know, this year we'll import close to 6,000 containers. So, we never paid anywhere close to $22,000 a container. But obviously, today, a container, you know, door to door is somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000. So, I'd say what we were paying is probably somewhere in the middle.
你知道，今年我们要进口近6000个集装箱。所以我们从来没有支付过接近22000美元一个集装箱的价格。不过很明显，现如今一个集装箱的费用大概在3000到4000之间。所以我猜我们以前支付的费用可能在中间位置。
So, I can only imagine, I mean, that's, you know, roughly 5x at the peak. That's a hell of an increase to prices. Obviously, we saw inflation, but I didn't realize, you know, I didn't know the specific numbers with respect to container costs. And so, the question is, where does the inflation come from? Does it come from the cost of the part? Or does it come from the cost of transportation?
所以，我只能想象，我的意思是，你知道的，差不多是峰值的五倍。这是价格大幅增长啊。显然，我们看到了通货膨胀，但我没有意识到，你知道的，关于集装箱费用的具体数字。所以，问题是，通货膨胀是从零件成本还是运输成本而来呢？
So, if you have a container that's called $50,000 worth of parts, and then the cost of transportation is 4,000, your all-in cost is $54,000. Tomorrow, the same parts will cost, you call it $51,000, but then the cost of the container is $22,000. The inflation comes from inbound transportation cost. It comes from the cost of the freight, the container itself.
因此，假如你有一个价值5万美元的货柜，运输费用是4000美元，那么你的总成本是54000美元。明天，相同的零件将会涨价，你称之为51000美元，但是货柜的费用是22000美元。通货膨胀来自于入境运输费用，来自于货物的运费以及货柜本身的费用。
Do you feel like we're mostly passed out at this point? You feel like that's history at this point? Yeah. Yeah, we're 100 past that for, you know, for this cycle, you know, the economy goes in cycle, transportation goes in cycle, but, you know, we're back to pre-pandemic levels, and everyone, including us, is paying, call it, sub $4,000 a container door to door.
你觉得我们现在基本上都已经度过了吗？你感觉这已经成为历史了吗？是的。是的，我们已经完全度过了这个阶段，你知道，经济有周期，运输也有周期，但是现在我们回到了疫情前的水平，每个人，包括我们在内，都支付着每个集装箱门到门不到4000美元的费用。
So, tell me, I mean, just looking out three to five years, we talked about just some technologies, and, you know, how you really had the tail, like, you know, the tailwinds at your back, just given the fact of, you know, affordability issues and whatnot. But what do you, what does the future look like for CarParts.com?
那么告诉我，我的意思是，就展望未来三到五年，我们刚刚谈论了一些技术，你知道的，你真的有扶助的因素，就是考虑到负担能力问题之类的。但是对于CarParts.com来说，未来的前景是什么样的呢？
So, the future looks like a profitable $1 billion company, we think the space is big enough. You know, we were $280 million company a few years ago. Today, you know, we're closer to $700 million, so we have to bring together- What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Sales, Popline? Sales, yes. Sales. And profitable, right? It has to be profitable, it has to be free cash flow generating.
所以，我们认为未来看起来像是一个盈利10亿美元的公司，我们认为市场空间足够大。你知道，几年前我们是2.8亿美元的公司。而今天，我们接近7亿美元了，所以我们必须汇聚起来——你在说什么？你在说什么？销售额，流行产品吗？销售额，对的。销售额。并且要盈利，对吗？它必须要盈利，必须有自由现金流产生。
And so, you know, the way we get there is threefold. Number one, we have to build an exceptional digital experience that's mobile first. We have to empower the customer to get all the information that they need on their phone. And we just launched an app, which really helps us, you know, get to the next level. That's number one.
所以，你知道，我们到达目标的方式有三个方面。第一，我们必须构建一个出色的数字体验，以移动为先。我们必须授权客户在手机上获得所有他们需要的信息。我们刚刚推出了一个应用程序，它真的帮助我们提升到下一个层级。这是第一点。
Number two, we have to carry the brands, the categories, the SKUs, and all the products that our customers are looking to us to carry. So, historically, a lot of collision in body parts, some mechanical parts, expanding that assortment. So, more products, more brands, more categories.
其次，我们必须提供顾客需要的所有品牌、类别、SKU和产品。因此，根据历史记录，我们在车身部件和一些机械部件方面碰撞较多，正在扩大这个产品组合。因此，我们将提供更多的产品、品牌和类别。
Number three, we have to build a destination that creates value for customers. So, not just a marketplace, not just a place where you can look for a part and buy the part at the cheapest cost. We need to be top of mind for customers. We need to empower customers and power drivers along their journey. That's kind of our mission. So, developing that branding, content, consumer insights, first-party data, and not first-party data to monetize it, first-party data to create value for customers.
第三，我们必须建立一个为客户创造价值的目的地。所以，不仅仅是一个交易平台，也不仅仅是一个你可以寻找零件并以最便宜的成本购买零件的地方。我们需要在客户的心目中占据首要位置。我们需要赋予客户和司机实现他们旅程的能力。这就是我们的使命。因此，我们要开发品牌，内容，消费者洞察力，第一方数据，并不是为了盈利，而是为了为客户创造价值。
So, if you look at how internet companies operate these days, Amazon has a lot of your data. eBay has a lot of your data. Google has a lot of your data. So, but that data has to be monetized. What we're trying to do is get data from our customers in terms of their driving behaviors, what car they drive, what trim level they have, their VIN number, how many miles they have, so that we can create value for them.
因此，如果你观察当今互联网公司的运营方式，亚马逊拥有你的很多数据，eBay也拥有你的很多数据，谷歌也拥有你的很多数据。然而，这些数据必须变现。我们试图做的是从我们的客户那里获取数据，了解他们的驾驶行为、车型、配置水平、VIN号码、行驶里程等，以便为他们创造价值。
Here's recommended maintenance. There's a recall on your car, where it's been a year that you haven't done this job. Here's value that we can create for you so that you can think about us. Next time you have car repair or friction with maintenance, you come to CarPars.com.
这是建议的保养措施。您的车辆存在一项召回事件，已经有一年您没有完成这项工作了。以下是我们可以为您创造的价值，以便您考虑选择我们。下次当您有汽车维修或保养摩擦时，请来CarPars.com。
And these are like the three pillars of our strategy to get to a billion dollars profitably.
这就是我们实现以千万美元的可持续盈利为目标战略的三大支柱。
Before we wrap up, I saw that you recently launched a content hub. I was reading about this. You believe in the power of media, which I love to see, but just tell me like, what's your goals here? What are you actually trying to do?
在我们结束之前，我看到你最近启动了一个内容中心。我正在阅读有关此事的内容。你相信媒体的力量，我很高兴看到，但是告诉我，你在这里的目标是什么？你实际上想要做什么？
Yeah, we're trying to build a destination for customers to get information about the auto world. And so we're very good at selling parts, and we're going to be selling a lot of parts. We sell a lot of parts today. We're going to sell a lot of parts tomorrow. But what we need to do is become that destination for our customers, where they can get all the information that they need, how to repair, how to maintain, how to upgrade, what's happening in the auto industry, what's happening with EVs. It's really important for us to have that destination. So I'm big on content. I think the long-term marketing strategy for us is develop relevant proprietary content that our customers can get access to. There's entertainment, there's education. All of that comes into play. Podcast, blog, videos, events. It's very important for us to build a brand for CarPars.com.
是的，我们正在努力为客户建立一个获取汽车世界信息的目的地。所以我们非常擅长销售零件，而且我们将会销售大量的零件。我们今天就销售了很多零件，明天也将会如此。但是我们需要成为我们客户的目的地，让他们可以获得所有他们需要的信息，如如何维修、如何保养、如何升级，汽车行业的动态，以及电动汽车的最新动向。对我们来说，拥有这样的目的地非常重要。所以我非常注重内容。我认为对我们来说，长期的营销策略是开发相关的独家内容让我们的客户可以获取到。这包括娱乐和教育。播客、博客、视频、活动都很重要，这对我们来说是建立CarPars.com品牌的关键。
You know what comes to mind? There was a company in the East Coast called Revzilla. So very big on content. And I used to look through their stuff. Similar idea of motorcycle focused, but just a strong content strategy and very successful. Very successful. And content is key. And so some companies will cut corners and you'll rely on performance marketing because you get that immediate feedback loop. But long-term, for us, building an exceptional billion-dollar company, content has to be king.
你知道我脑海中想到的是什么吗？东海岸有一家叫Revzilla的公司。非常注重内容，在他们的东西上我过去经常浏览。虽然是以摩托车为重点的类似理念，但却有强大的内容策略并且非常成功。非常成功。内容是关键。因此有些公司会为了快速反馈而省去细节，倚重于业绩营销。但从长远来看，对于我们来说，要建立一家卓越的十亿美元公司，内容必须为王。
David, my friend, thanks so much for coming on. This was awesome. If anyone wants to learn more about you or CarPars, I mean, obviously CarPars.com. That's a start. That's the start. If you need information, if you need parts, if you need great parts at competitive prices, CarPars.com is the place to go. Very cool. We'll put the link in the show notes below as well.
大卫，我的朋友，非常感谢你的参与。这太棒了。如果有人想更多了解你或者CarPars，当然是CarPars.com。那是一个起点。如果你需要信息，如果你需要零件，如果你想要高性价比的零件，CarPars.com就是去的地方。非常酷。我们还会在下面的节目注释中放上链接。
David, thanks so much for coming on. This was great. Thanks for having me. All right. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Please give the podcast a rating. Consider subscribing to the show and check the show notes for links to what we talked about. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you guys next time.
大卫，非常感谢你的加入。这次太棒了，谢谢你邀请我。好的，希望你们喜欢这一集。请给这个播客评分。考虑订阅节目并查看节目说明中的链接。感谢您的收听，下次见。