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Commentary: Online Parts Sales Growing

Every industry is transitioning to online sales as the world is becoming more digitized and people are getting more accustomed to online purchases in their personal lives. According to Dave Seewack, CEO and founder of FinditParts, the trucking industry is no different. In fact, he says his company, founded in 2010 as an online supplier of heavy-duty truck and trailer parts, has seen double-digit growth in 2016.

At the same time, Seewack says when it comes to truck and trailer parts, “We are in the infancy stage. Historically heavy-duty has always been known as being 10 to 15 years behind automotive, and automotive is just starting to become very powerful online.”

He adds, “I think the online buying space as it relates to heavy-duty is at the very beginning and we have not yet begun to see what the opportunity is. I think explosive growth is ahead for us.”

Seewack says when FinditParts was first launched it was the third or fourth vendor of choice for some fleets. “People turned to the online option when they went to their local distributor and that distributor did not have the part they were looking for. They then went to a second or third place, and when they still couldn't find it, they started Googling it and found it online.”

As fleet personnel have become more comfortable purchasing items in their personal lives, they are starting to become more comfortable with online purchases for their businesses.

And Seewack says buying from an online vendor is not all that different from buying from a brick and mortar store. Trust has to be developed whenever a fleet enters a relationship with a new vendor. He believes online may have an advantage in this area because “with local distributors, the relationship is often built with the outside salesperson or the counterperson.” ...Read the rest of this story

Landstar System Reports Third Quarter Revenue Of $788 Million And Diluted Earnings Per Share Of $0.86

Vans Update: Surging Sales, Growing Choices

It's a great year for sales of cargo vans. The National Truck Equipment Association recently revised its 2016 forecast for U.S./Mexico Class 1-3 commercial van sales upward from a previously forecast 7% year-to-year gain up to 10% this year — to be followed by an 8% increase next year.

Perhaps that's partly because buyers are finding lots more than tires to kick when they check out the latest models.

David Sowers, head of Ram Truck brand marketing, says the Great Recession built pent-up demand, with the average age of vans climbing to 10 years. It now stands at 7 years. “Last year, Class 1-4 vans and chassis sales reached almost 400,000. We expect that to rise by 10 to 15% this year,” Sowers says. “Pent-up demand is being met, and there's growth in small businesses since 2009 that's also driving sales. Both fleets and small business owners are buying more vans.”

He says the two largest groups of buyers are delivery and “mobile worksite” operations. Lots more delivery vans are being sold to UPS and FedEx, and Ram has secured a contract for 12,000 units with the U.S. Postal Service.

Ford says total commercial van sales for 2015 were 423,094, including full-size and compact commercial vans, according to Yaroslav Hetman, Ford's brand manager for Transit, Transit Connect and E-Series. “Year to date through August, the segment is up 16%, with total van sales of 312,705 vs. 268,625 last year.” He says much of that growth is being driven by sales of the full-size Ford Transit, adding that “Ford sold more vans in August 2016 than it has at any other time in history.”

“We are literally selling every van we can build — even with three production shifts and capacity utilization above 100%,” says Joe Langhauser, full-size van product manager for General Motors Fleet. “In ...Read the rest of this story