Easyparts.co.zw is not your typical “tech startup” is the purest sense but a brick and mortar auto parts retailer and distributor seeing value and opportunities in digital commerce. Easyparts.co.zw sells auto parts and metals online to both resellers and end-user consumers – an electronic replica of their existing offline model.
The company came on the scene back in 1983 with the purchase of Radiator Services before diversifying in 1986 with the formation of Bolts n’ Hoses and a metals division called Veteran metals. The company consolidated operations under the Easyparts brand in 2013 and digital is at the core of their move forward.
Easyparts is different from other eCommerce startups that have been popping up of late. Most eCommerce startups have come up with unproven concepts and models that wouldn’t necessarily work in brick and mortar environments, and for a less “disruption ready” market like Zimbabwe, chances of success are limited (with the exception of digital products).
Easyparts on the other hand has a straightforward, less disruptive approach that’s primarily responding to the fast pace of modern day commerce.
In fact, Easyparts director says he does not see his company solving any “market problems” but instead,
“helping to solve one of our (their) own problems as a company, lack of marketing. We developed the website primarily as a marketing and sales tool. We hope the website will enable customers to see exactly what we stock and help them to choose their products easily.”
This is a sharp contrast from other eCommerce startups we have been seeing who are ironically pushing advanced solutions in an undeveloped market.
Easyparts has 30 years experience doing what they do and that alone can inspire confidence from consumers (at least their existing customers) to say, “instead of me going all the way to Granite side to buy my brake pads at Easyparts, why don’t I Just order online using my smartphone and have it delivered home.”
Consumers can’t say the same about other eCommerce startups who not only don’t have a history but the best contact address they have is a post office box. Consumers need to trust that the eCommerce retailer has the merchandise displayed on the website in stock and that they can deliver it. Easyparts.co.zw seems to inspire confidence at that kind of level.
The Easyparts website is functionally good and browsing products is quiet easy but the site is a bit heavy on the eye. It’s not as clean as most modern websites but nevertheless does the job.
Payments options, as expected, are still limited. Dave Adams says the company is working on integrating vPayments and Ecocash, but at present, payments are via COD and bank transfer.
Easyparts has arguably all the right elements to be successful in eCommerce because customers can trust it’s history even though they still consider themselves small. Their simple approach to eCommerce is something that has been missing but could be the right step or maybe a first step towards a vibrant eCommerce sector in Zimbabwe. Dave Adams sums it up by saying,
“We’re a little company up against the big guys. It gives me particular pleasure that we were the first automotive spares company to put a proper website together with online pricing and stock quantities”
Ecommerce has been largely mystified in Zimbabwe so much that traditional companies think it’s too complicated to even contemplate. Easyparts has simplified their approach and they may have just shown that eCommerce may lie in the hands of existing, trusted, brick and mortar businesses more than new tech startups.
Do you think the answer to eCommerce in Zimbabwe lies in existing, trusted brands going digital?
4 comments
Excellent article, and I do think the brick and mortar aspect of a start-up is essential.
If there is anything I’ve learnt is launching a clone of a successful first world idea is really easy, it’s how you run the business behind the online model that will make the world of difference.
Very good initiative – finally an established player gets it!
The major challenges for e-commerce in Zimbabwe can be summed up in 2 points:
1. Lack of ubiquitous/pervasive/accessible trusted payment platform/s (this links into the issue of security of online buyers’ monies via instruments such as the escrow account)
2. Lack of buy in from the big market players – by “big” I am talking Innscor or Ok big. Either they are enjoying success from the traditional methods and see no need to change right away or they are being complacent and like the Dinosaurs will soon be overtaken by new, techsavvy entrants.
I think you have confused establishing an e-commerce site, loosely speaking, a shopping cart, with the concept of a start-up. They are just offering their regular services online and potentially to their already existing customer base, that hardly qualifies them as a start-up. By your definition of start-up, there are plenty of start-ups out there, it’s just that you haven’t crossed paths with them (yet).
Indeed. A 30 year old business acquiring computers or going online hardly qualifies as any kind of start-up.