When you buy anything online you are allowing for a certain amount of trust in a stranger. Many people do some research into who that company is behind the scenes. If it's the same brand name as someone that has a bricks and mortar auto parts store down the street it provides a little bit more comfort. For a company like Autopartstomorrow.com we are probably never going to have a storefront on every corner (In business, never say never).
The reason is that we feel we can work in a much more cost efficient manner if we don't have those astronomical expenses associated with rent, upkeep, utilities, employees, etc... If we are going to sell wholesale, we need to keep our operations er, wholesale. That doesn't mean we aren't worthy of your trust.
In the world of auto parts distribution there have always been several layers; The manufacturer, the distributor, the Jobber store, the store front, the mechanic and the end user. The manufacturer recognizes that their talent lies in the actual making of the part. They make the parts and sell them by the truckload to companies whose expertise is in distributing the parts. We are a wholesale distributor. We have been this cog in the wheel for over 80 years. We are good at buying from the manufacturer and distributing them to others with the ability to get product to the customer.
In the past, it really was necessary to have a storefront near where the end user lived. Now, with the internet, we can "distribute" directly. As a result, we can also collapse a couple of those levels of profit taking, and share our savings with the customer. We feel that those savings make it worth buying from a huge regional warehouse in an industrial district rather than a beautiful, well lit and merchandised auto parts store down the street. At the end of the day however, it will be up to the consumer to decide.
