An Irish company has developed an online platform bringing together buyers and sellers of new and obsolete spare parts.

Surplus Stock Worldwide is making inroads into the car market in Ireland, where dealers are often sitting on considerable volumes of ‘dead’ parts stock.  

For an annual subscription fee, Surplus Stock Worldwide uploads a dealer’s spare parts to its platform where buyers from around the world can view and purchase them, typically at discounted prices. Close to 20 million parts are on the site at present, with parts sold to date across over 100 countries.

“From talking to dealer principals, it is clear there is a need out there for this unique service,“ says founder and director Terry Reihill.

“We are providing another route to market enabling dealers sell their parts with the added advantage of helping them reduce their redundant parts stocks. We’re finding it is not unusual for a car dealership to have in excess of €100,000 of obsolete spare parts, which they have no ready means of disposing of. We are creating a global shop window for these parts.”

Cavan man Reihill stumbled upon the business idea while working as a purchasing manager in the concrete industry. “A colleague at the time suggested we dump an engine which had been lying on the shelf for some time. It struck me there must be a way of monetising these items, rather than paying someone to get rid of them!”

Reihill successfully pursued the idea onto the Dragon’s Den, with the truck, plant and agri-machinery sectors as his initial targets.
 
Having gained traction in these sectors and having recently secured High Potential Start Up funding from Enterprise Ireland, Surplus Stock Worldwide has launched a new platform which also meets the demands of the car marketplace, which it is now targeting.

Among the early adopters of the offering is the Windsor Group, one of the largest car dealer groups in the country, which is now successfully selling its parts, including its surplus parts stock, via the platform. “We are delighted with the progress we have experienced since signing up – with our network of outlets, the potential impact in the bottom line is significant,” says Windsor’s Robbie O’Neill. The company has added , Charles Hurst, Donnelly Group, Ashley Ford and the Spirit Motor Group.

“With dealers typically paying less than €10 a week, our offering is more cost-effective than that of our nearest competitor, ebay, and we upload all the parts for our customers, which is major benefit for a busy dealership,” explains Reihill.

“We also provide monthly performance reports to allow our customers to see what parts are gaining traction and so they can adjust their pricing as required. It is often the financial controller in a dealership who first recognises how our service can support the business bottom line.”

At the heart of the business is an SEO capability which means buyers entering a car part number in Google are more likely to see the surplusstockworldwide.com site than others. The online platform is currently attracting over 175,000 annual unique visits, and rising at a rate of 20% each month. “Our buyers are everywhere, from the US to the Middle East to Australia. One of our customers, Whelan’s Garage in Clare, likes to boast that where he previously sold to 26 counties, he now sells in over 30 countries!”

In introducing dealerships to the benefits of its service, Surplus Stock Worldwide has found many to be interested in the site as a source for parts. “Parts departments end up using our platform for selling unwanted stock but also for buying unusual parts needed to service older vehicles, for example,” says Reihill.

The company, based in the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin, employs 4 staff and has set its sights on the UK as the next target market for its service.