Has the wear-and-tear parts business become increasingly difficult after 15 years? A Beihai business owner maintains a monthly turnover of nearly one million by joining the Baturu franchise

Just after 8 o’clock in the morning, as the streets of Beihai, Guangxi, were just coming to life, Mr Chen’s team was already hard at work – inspecting goods, making deliveries and checking orders… As a ‘half-Beihai native’, Mr Chen has been firmly rooted here for nearly thirty years. From car repairs to wear-and-tear parts and on to complete vehicle components, he has continually expanded his range of experiences. This time, he has found a firm foothold for his business as a Batulu franchisee in Beihai.

Starting out as a mechanic, he put down roots in Beihai’s automotive parts sector Mr Chen began his career as a mechanic. He entered the trade in 1996 and spent over a decade working with a spanner, honing his mechanical skills to a high standard. Drawing on his in-depth knowledge of vehicle parts and the network of contacts he had built up, he transitioned into the automotive parts business, specialising in wear-and-tear parts, and remained in this field for fifteen years. Back then, business was straightforward: if the goods were right, the prices fair and delivery prompt, customers would stick with you.

Those were the best ten years for the automotive parts trade. He lived through the industry’s golden age and witnessed the full cycle from boom to intense competition. As more and more traders entered the market, price wars intensified, customers became increasingly price-sensitive, and profits on wear-and-tear parts were squeezed dry, much like wringing out a towel. ‘Competition is getting fiercer now; business is clearly tougher than it used to be,’ said Mr Chen calmly—he is not one to complain. Yet beneath that calm, there were ripples of unease. Sales volumes in his traditional product categories were shrinking, and the path to growth for his shop was narrowing. Mr Chen knew full well that relying solely on these established lines of business would not sustain him for much longer.

Without a transformation, he could only wait to be gradually squeezed out of the market.

Transitioning to a Full-Vehicle Parts Platform: Leveraging Opportunities to Break Through

In 2025, he made a decision: to move into full-vehicle parts. Whilst this sector appeared to offer significant growth potential, the barriers to entry were high—with a vast array of SKUs and significant variations across vehicle models and model years, manual searches were prone to errors and quotation efficiency lagged behind. Many of his long-standing peers eyed the market with envy but dared not venture into it. ‘Different model years, different vehicle models, and a lack of experience—it was all too easy to get things wrong.’ Speaking of the early days of the transition, Mr Chen’s tone was full of emotion; his team was unfamiliar with the matching rules for full-vehicle parts, and instances of incorrect quotations and part look-ups occurred frequently. It was only then that Mr Chen truly realised that operating a full-vehicle parts business without the support of data and systems was like a blind man crossing a river. Customer trust is not built in a single instance, but it can be lost with just one mistake. Through a referral from a fellow industry professional, he found a capable ally on his path to transformation—the Batulu service provider network. The platform has its roots in data and is fully equipped for precise matching and rapid quoting; the entire workflow—from parts enquiries and quotations to logistics tracking and after-sales service—can be completed using just a mobile phone. Beyond the system and data, what gave Mr Chen the greatest sense of security was the tangible resource support provided by Batulu’s head office. Regional staff accompany him directly on market visits, helping him tackle the toughest challenges. He can now even knock on the doors of 4S dealerships—something he would never have dared to imagine before—to discuss partnerships. When asked about the core reason for his firm choice of Baturu, Mr Chen’s response was both down-to-earth and clear-sighted. “In the past, when operating on a large scale, most of the money I earned was tied up in stock. When the market took a turn for the worse, the accumulated spare parts all turned into bad debts.” Batulu’s asset-light model has effectively untangled this deadlock.

Old and New: A Two-Pronged Approach

The excellent reputation built up over more than a decade is Mr Chen’s strongest asset. Existing customers continue to rely on his shop for wear-and-tear parts, forming the stable foundation of the business. Meanwhile, the full-vehicle parts business, backed by precise stock allocation and lightning-fast response times, attracts a steady stream of new customers. This dual-track approach—combining the tried-and-tested with the new—has firmly maintained the shop’s monthly turnover at nearly one million. Today, Mr Chen’s team is small but has a clear division of labour: some handle quotations and order processing, whilst others specialise in delivery. Incoming stock is sorted centrally in the morning, and orders are followed up and finalised in the evening; overall efficiency has improved by nearly 70 per cent compared to when the transition first began. Long-term, reliable service has fostered a level of trust that is difficult to replicate. Sometimes, even when other local shops have items in stock, repair workshops prefer to source parts from Mr Chen first—and some customers from out of town are even willing to wait specifically to purchase parts from him. “Customers trust me to be reliable, so they’re happy to wait.”

In Conclusion

With nearly 30 years’ experience in the repair and parts industry, this business owner—born in the 1970s—has taken the pitfalls he’s encountered and the calculations he’s made over the years and re-examined them in detail: “ ‘Taking a steady, measured approach without rushing into things is the right way forward, but you must learn to seize opportunities’—and transitioning to a full-range parts supplier and joining a franchise platform was precisely the opportunity he seized firmly. Today, Baturu has expanded into previously untapped markets in South China. If, like Mr Chen, you’ve spent many years working your way up in the industry and are looking to make a transition but lack a reliable platform to give you a helping hand, please feel free to get in touch.