The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

An auto parts supplier is voicing frustration that the government has not given permission to fully operate its online platform amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

Dwayne Higgs, WHIM Automotive's general manager, told Tribune Business that the company's full-service website has been in development for two years and would have helped to reduce the long customer lines that appeared when the company opened for the first time in a month on Tuesday.

"One of my points was I was e-mailing every week, and calling every day, just to see if we can operate just on an online basis," Mr Higgs said of his contacts with government. "So let's say they have given us Tuesdays. Can we still operate on these other days just to do online orders? People can come, we can make a makeshift drive through, or we can just do curb side delivery to your car and nobody gets out."

Mr Higgs added that WHIM's online venture could operate with minimal staff, and possibly just management. He pleaded to be allowed to take the next step as there was "a very real possibility" for him to add delivery services and further value to the website.

The WHIM chief said a further advantage is that no cash would be involved, as persons would have already paid online, thereby minimising the potential spread of COVID-19. Noting the long service times on Tuesday, Mr Higgs said it took some customers around 30 minutes to get inside the store and be get served.

"The customer can go to our website, they can browse the entire store, and they can see every part we carry with the picture, the price and the availability," he added. "They can also use the electronic catalogue where they can put in the year, make, model and engine size, or alternatively they could put in the VIN (vehicle identification number).

"We will show you every part that we carry for your car in detail and, just like Amazon, you can add those items to your shopping cart. You could explore all of the motor oils, the tools, the chemicals, the accessories and there is a special section just for the Japanese right-hand drive vehicles. A lot of those we have been bringing in from China over the past few years. So we have the models that some other places may not have."

Further describing how the website operates, Mr Higgs added: "You can go on and look up a headlight for a Suzuki Swift, put it in your shopping cart, and it takes you to a secure server, which is handled by First Atlantic, which is the same company that processes all of the government's payments.

"So that is secure. You have no worry about that as your transaction is totally secure. Once you check-out and pay using your credit card or debit card, you would get e-mailed a receipt. You bring that to the store and, in normal circumstances, you come to the end of the counter and we have it pulled within five minutes of you ordering it.

"But under these circumstances, only being open on Tuesday's, you would come to the exit door as we have another line formed at the exit door just for online orders. To me that is the quicker way to get served."