Automotive aftermarket distributor looking to expand

Automotive aftermarket distributor AfriPart is focusing on expanding its footprint into the sub-Saharan Africa market and on adding value for clients by improving its operating, product and technology platforms, says MD Andrew Sommerville and sales and marketing head Richard Berner.

AfriPart is the country’s first automotive aftermarket distributor that is 100% owned and operated through an empowered employee trust, formed through an enterprise development initiative in July last year.

The company is continuously adding new product ranges to provide its clients with access to several brands and products, and distributes a range of automotive component brands such as Echlin, Unipoint, Mobiletron, Textar, Acsa Mag, SKF, VDO and Permatex.

“We are negotiating strategic partnerships that will enhance our current offering,” Sommerville tells Engineering News. Further, he notes that future demand for services and products will guide AfriPart’s expansion plans into more regions.

He comments that the company will rapidly expand through elevated service and delivery mechanisms that will ultimately bring AfriPart to the forefront of online automotive parts ordering, search and delivery technology.

AfriPart Online – the company’s online catalogue and ordering platform – is fast and secure, providing businesses with the benefits of sourcing, procuring and supplying parts from AfriPart, Berner explains. “There are numerous features that assist with product search, order generation, track and trace, and saving regularly ordered parts.” The company also offers free delivery in South Africa.

Sommerville states that the company’s delivery platform – known as Vehicle-on-Ramp for fitment centres and workshops – allows for deliveries to be made to clients within two hours, if the client is within a 15-km radius of an AfriPart warehouse.

AfriPart Online provides real-time pricing and stock availability, while the company is continually updating its parts catalogue and user interface to meet the industry’s ever-changing expectations of its 12 000 parts categories, Berner concludes.