TORONTO – November 12, 2010 – Visual SKUs, a leading provider of high-volume product imaging solutions, today announced that it has helped Autopart International reduce returns by 8%, saving Autopart over $1,000,000 annually in processing costs.
Autopart distributes replacement automotive parts through a network of distributors. In addition, Autopart owns over a 190 outlets. The company was finding the process of identifying, receiving, inspecting and repackaging returned parts to be time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly.
These are common challenges for companies across the automotive aftermarket today. In fact, many estimates suggest that up to 20% of all automotive parts sold in the aftermarket are later returned.
Gail Volpe, Director of Parts Information at Autopart, determined that the best way to minimize part returns was to provide countermen at Auto parts wholesale outlets with access to multiple high-quality images of all the company’s parts.
To create a comprehensive library of product images, Autopart adopted the Visual SKUs Full-service Product Imaging solution. The imaging project took place on-site at Auto parts Norton, MA facility, using mobile photography studios and propriety image-management software.
In late 2008, when Ms. Volpe began discussions with Visual SKUs, Autopart had virtually no product images. Within 10 months, Visual SKUs was able to deliver over 30,000 high-quality part images from over 300 categories.
After the product images were made available to Auto parts stores, part returns immediately dropped 8%. Annually, this represents a saving of $1,000,000 and a 300% return on the company’s investment in the imaging project.
Ms. Volpe explained: “I firmly believed product images would help our customers purchase the right part, the first time. Within a year of making images available to our stores, the impact on our bottom line has been even better than I expected – returns are down considerably. In addition to the cost savings, supplying customers with the right parts the first time leads to increased customer satisfaction and retention levels.”
Pat Weilmeier, Vice President of Visual SKUs, commented: “The exceptional success of Auto parts imaging project clearly validates our belief that creating a comprehensive library of high-quality product images is the most reliable way to minimize product returns.”
About Autopart International
Autopart International is one of the automotive aftermarket’s leading wholesale distributors of replacement parts. In addition to selling automotive products through a network of distributors, Autopart owns over a 190 outlets.
