In an industry that’s always changing, staying relevant takes more than just innovative products. It takes hard work and a deep understanding of the automotive industry’s constantly evolving needs. To find out how NAPA has continued to progress with the times Ratchet+Wrench sat down with Jamie Walton, executive vice president of Merchandise & Stores at NAPA, to talk about what sets NAPA apart and how the company continues to support its customers.
As told to Emily Kline
R+W: What got you into the automotive industry?
Walton: What attracted me to the automotive industry is also what I love about it — and I can tell you that I’ve had personal experience in multiple countries now — which is that our industry attracts the same type of individual. I appreciate that the automotive industry is a relationship-based industry. It doesn't matter whether it's Europe or us, good people are just a part of it.
R+W: NAPA is celebrating its 100-year anniversary, what does that milestone mean to the brand and to you personally?
Walton: For me personally, I would say I feel like I have a responsibility to recognize those before. I've only worked in the organization for four years, and when you're celebrating such a mastery of 100 years, you really spend a lot of time reflecting on how you got here as a company and other people that enabled that to happen. What’s unique about our organizations is that we've only had 6 CEOs over 100 years. Not too many companies can say that. And again, that goes back to the culture and industry that we work in.
So, for me, a part of our purpose for this celebration is to say thank you to those who have been before us, and then, more importantly, recognizing those who are working the business today and in the future. It’s important we find the balance of giving recognition to both. I think we're doing that, and for us, it's events like NAPA NOW that give us the opportunity to celebrate with our customers, because in our business, if we don't have those customers, we cannot be successful.
R+W: You said that NAPA NOW is to recognize your customers. What other things are you doing to celebrate 100 years with them?
Walton: A lot. We have a 12-month calendar, and we’ve started with smaller things like premium giveaway — whether it be mouse pads, or pens, or special pins — and new uniforms, little things like that.
In the last month we had a celebration with our supply community. We are going to release a special edition of 100 new products for our customers, and we'll have promotional programs for them, bringing giveaways for them. There's lots of different events we'll be doing, like localized activities down to the individual shop level to help celebrate with them.
We have over 20,000 associates and hundreds of thousands of customers, and we want to make sure they all play part in our cerebration.
R+W: What's something about NAPA’s history that you think today's customers might not know, but should know?
Walton: Most customers may know this, but we are very proud of our innovation. We started 100 years ago, pioneering. There was no playbook. There were no competitors. And our founder, Carlyle Fraser, created that playbook. He saw a need. He started the business. And learned a lot through that way, through innovation, and that has really underpinned our culture.
We were one of the first — if not the first — to release electronic catalogs, moving away from the paper catalog. We're a leader in training. We recognized three, four decades ago the need to train the technicians of the future, and we invested in our own training program, which is now one of the leading training providers here in the U.S.
R+W: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for NAPA over the next five years?
Walton: I would say the vehicles are becoming far more complex, and as each year goes by, the technical requirements to service and repair those vehicles increase. We like our position over the next five years. We have always been a wholesale, b2b focused, organization. From our profound beginnings to today, 80% of our revenue is derived from selling directly to the workshop owner, who's also installing the part and throwing the box away. That's unique.
The other national players have a different business model. We like our business model focused on the wholesale customer because of the technology changing within the industry. We see that the DIY customer will need to continue to evolve and have their vehicle serviced at their local repair shop, and that's why we invest in that business.
