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Ten years ago, as an RV owner in Canada, Richard Gastmeier had a problem. He found he was unable to order parts and accessories online for his motorhome. He realized also that there were too many available parts for even the largest local RV dealer to stock.
“I found what I had to do was order RV parts in the US and get the parts shipped to a US office address I operated at the time,” said Richard about the challenge, “Then I had to travel south over a hundred miles every couple of weeks across the border to pick up the RV accessories and parts I had ordered. It was not an ideal customer service situation, to say the least.”
So Richard, who already had a successful career as an entrepreneur in the music business, set out to find a solution. The challenge was to find a way to offer a wide range of RV supplies and camping gear with competitive pricing to Canadian owners of RVs and travel trailers.
Image Courtesy: Dometic Corp.
Richard’s Challenges
Taking the product catalog online seemed like the obvious solution. Website purchases would allow customers, many of whom had no RV dealer close to them, to order from home and have their RV necessities delivered to them. Plus, it would be much easier to catalog and display the tens of thousands of RV and camper parts needed for RV and outdoor road trips.
But, at the time, the now robust world of ecommerce was not fully developed, lacking the advanced online tools and platforms common now. Also, the RV aftermarket parts industry was still evolving in terms of being able to provide the images, product descriptions and other digital assets the website would need. So it was not a straightforward process to assemble all the components needed to open an online RV parts store.
The Solution
Despite the challenges, in 2014 Richard launched the RV Part Shop website with about 10,000 products. The initial product offering consisted primarily of:
– RV Parts and Accessories– Truck Accessories and– Hitches and Towing Products
Image Courtesy: Truck Hero Inc.
As time progressed, the number of available products expanded greatly. Today, the number of available products offered on the RV Part Shop group of sites has grown to over 100,000, with 2.5 million more products not listed on the sites, but available by what is referred to as “special order”.
Image Courtesy: Dometic Corp
“The enormous number of individual items we are able to get for customers would make the sites too hard to navigate had they all been listed”, explained Richard, “so we decided to only list the most popular products on-site and make the balance available by special order. That simply means our warehouses do not normally stock the product, it has to come from the factory.”
The Upgrades
Later, it became clear that it would be beneficial to serve the growing number of US RV customers from a dedicated website that would focus on their needs, Those are different from the requirements of Canadian RVers so, in 2016, Richard launched RV Part Shop Canada and re-focused the original RV Part Shop site on providing information specifically for US RVers.
In 2019, Richard added a new distributor of Marine Parts, Boating Accessories, Camping Gear and Outdoor Lifestyle Products. That made the sites one-stop shops for all recreational vehicle and outdoor trip needs.
Richard also added various enhancements to the sites over the years. The goal always was to make it easier and faster for customers to navigate the sites and find the products they needed.
The Business Impact of COVID-19
As the pandemic started to impact, the company got busier. “We found that people were stuck at home with nothing to do but fix their RVs, so the first months of the pandemic were very busy”, Richard observed, “as time went on and there were restrictions on cross-border and other vacation options, we got even busier because people turned to the natural isolation of an outdoor RV vacation.”
That boom in RV purchases, use and even RV rentals contributed to record years for the RV industry in general. But that increased demand and the supply chain issues that arose as COVID dragged on caused a drop in the percentage of 2021 orders RV Part Shop was able to fulfill.
Conclusion
By applying effective e-commerce technologies to his market niche, Richard was able to build a successful business by meeting a market need.
The company is fortunate to have a loyal customer base and is looking forward with optimism to the future.
Image Courtesy: IStockPhoto
Media ContactCompany Name: RV Part ShopContact Person: Richard GastmeierEmail: Send EmailPhone: 877-223-0343Country: United StatesWebsite: http://www.rvpartshop.com/
