From the Magazine: Bridging the omnichannel gap

How to win the tug of war between the counter and the click in parts retail

Parts retail in Canada is at a crossroads.

Traditional heavyweights like Canadian Tire and NAPA are rapidly scaling their digital footprints to keep pace with pure-play e-commerce platforms. Yet true omnichannel execution remains a bottleneck of split inventories, return policy friction and uncoordinated pricing strategies.

That’s because digital and traditional still operate as separate businesses. 

Bridging this gap requires moving beyond basic website storefronts. True integration involves coordinating supply chain assets to service distinct customer profiles with diverging psychological expectations, and the industry is still behind the curve.

Take click-and-collect buyers as an example. These customers treat the physical store strictly as a fulfillment node. They have already completed the lookup work at home. They analyzed the diagrams and selected the part. They expect to find the part and exit the store as quickly as possible. If a customer receives an automated notification that their brake rotors are ready but arrives to find the counter clerk still hunting through backroom bins, the omnichannel illusion breaks.

The commercial variant of this buyer alters the stakes. For a professional garage, a vehicle sitting idle on a hoist costs money. If a hot-shot delivery driver or a shop technician has to wait for a click-and-collect order, the distributor risks losing that commercial account. For these buyers, speed is measured by the brevity of the physical interaction.

Conversely, the walk-in customer typically seeks physical validation and diagnostic assurance. They do not just want a part. They want to hold their old starter motor next to the new one to confirm the bolt patterns match. They expect the counter staff to troubleshoot symptoms like a clicking ignition. If the counter employee acts merely as a human keyboard typing into an electronic catalog, the value of the brick-and-mortar footprint weakens. These types of customers are expecting a level of expertise that’s not — yet — available digitally.

A distribution model built around simplistic fulfilment strategies cannot support these simultaneous demands. Retailers are attempting to solve this by consolidating distribution centres to increase part coverage while expanding local market-hub networks.

If the counter employee acts merely as a human keyboard typing into an electronic catalog, the value of the brick-and-mortar footprint weakens.

The omnichannel playbook

So, how do you implement a responsive omnichannel framework? Here are some ideas.

First, partition regional fulfillment nodes based on demand velocity and buyer intent. Do not force commercial dispatchers, click-and-collect staff and walk-in customers to utilize the same unmanaged counter space. High-turnover items like brake pads, filters and standard batteries must be separated into pick zones tailored specifically for rapid digital fulfillment, physically isolated from the main retail consultation area.

Second, eliminate price discrepancy across touchpoints. Modern consumers cross-reference store pricing with mobile screens while standing at the parts counter. Differentiated pricing models that punish the walk-in customer alienate buyers and complicate staff workflows. Retailers must shift toward unified regional pricing models. For instance, the recent partnership between Rona and AutoShack, which established automotive concept spaces inside traditional home improvement stores across Ontario, explicitly mandates that in-store pricing perfectly matches AutoShack’s online rates. This removes transaction friction and simplifies counter operations.

Third, formalize a dedicated reverse-logistics track for digital returns. Auto parts carry high return rates because DIY buyers frequently purchase multiple variations of a single component to ensure a fit. When these parts come back over the counter, they often sit in transit bins for weeks. Retailers need an immediate, automated categorization process at the point of return to determine if a part goes back to local stock, returns to a regional hub, or undergoes core inspection.

Fourth, convert legacy retail counter staff into specialized technical advisors. If a digital platform handles the baseline transaction, the physical store’s value lies entirely in diagnostics and validation. Staff must be trained to handle advanced catalog lookup, technical advice, and tool integration rather than just processing invoices. If store advisors cannot fulfil these functions, they diminish the value of physical locations, and ultimately, the retailer brand.

Do not force commercial dispatchers, click-and-collect staff and walk-in customers to utilize the same unmanaged counter space.

Road to seamlessness with AI

Going forward, the role of artificial intelligence will be fundamental in transforming hybrid retail.

Machine learning algorithms will ingest disparate streams of real-time data including hyper-local weather forecasts, regional vehicle registration telemetry and historical mechanics’ search queries to anticipate component failures before they occur. Instead of reacting to a sudden spike in water pump failures during an Ontario summer heatwave, AI-driven replenishment systems will autonomously reallocate specific cooling system SKUs to local market-hubs 48 hours before the temperature spikes.

Furthermore, artificial intelligence will reshape catalog search functionality. Traditional year-make-model dropdown menus are prone to user error, leading to high return volumes. AI-powered visual search tools will allow a backyard mechanic to snap a photo of a worn suspension component on their phone and automatically match it to the exact premium or economy SKU in the local store inventory.

At the counter, AI dynamic pricing engines will evaluate competitor web scraping data, local supply constraints, and commercial customer lifetime value to adjust margin thresholds in real time. This ensures competitiveness without sacrificing gross margins.

The companies that survive this shift will not be those with the flashiest websites. Survival will belong to competitors that use predictive software to place the correct part on the shelf before the customer even knows their vehicle needs it.

Kumar Saha is vice president, Americas, of global automotive data firm Eucon, an Infropro Digital company. He has been advising the North American industry for two decades and is a frequent conference speaker and media commentator. Kumar is based in Toronto.

This article originally appeared in the July issue of Jobber News.