2022 is off to a rapid start for automotive and industrial products distributor Genuine Parts Co., where B2B and retail digital sales in its flagship NAPA auto parts unit and other operations helped drive up total sales 18.6% year over year to a record $5.3 billion for the first quarter, the company said today.

“The first quarter was highlighted by new sales records for GPC and our Automotive and Industrial segments, margin expansion and our seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings growth,” Chairman and CEO Paul Donahue says. “The GPC team successfully navigated through ongoing supply chain challenges and inflationary pressures at levels we haven’t seen in 40 years.”

Brooke Logan, director, B2B Digital, NAPA, who will speak on B2B ecommerce at EnvisionB2B in June in Chicago.

GPC doesn’t break out ecommerce sales, but it operates several ecommerce sites for businesses and consumers. In its Automotive Parts Group, where first-quarter sales rose 10.9% to $3.3 billion, GPC operates its flagship ecommerce site NAPAonline.com with sales to B2B and do-it-yourself customers.

NAPA’s Commercial Systems Group supports its automotive clients with such tools as NAPA PROLink and NAPA TRACS, software tools available as desktop applications or mobile apps. PROLink lets repair shop and fleet management personnel order parts online for express delivery directly from their local NAPA store. NAPA TRACS is an online shop-management software system that helps auto repair shops order parts and manage inventory, manage customer job estimates and invoices, and analyze their business’s profitability.

The Automotive Parts Group also includes Repco, which sells to customers in Australia and New Zealand through Repco.com.au. GPC also sells through automotive retail stores and distribution networks across these markets and in Europe.

GPC said first quarter sales at its Industrial Products Group — which has long operated under the Motion Industries brand through MotionIndustries.com and a North American network of branches — increased 33.6% to $2.0 billion. The sales increase includes a 17.9% contribution from GPC’s acquisition last year of diversified distributor Kaman Distribution Group. Kaman sells products online and offline for each of its three business units: Kaman Automotive, Kaman Fluid Power and Kaman Industrial Technologies.

Two of the “foundational priorities for investing in GPC’s business,” the company said today, are to “utilize data and analytics to understand our unique customer segments and drive [an] increasing mix of traditional selling and digital strategies” and “enhance digital capabilities to deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

Brooke Logan, director of B2B Digital at NAPA, GPC’s flagship automotive brand, will speak on digital technology and online customer satisfaction at EnvisionB2B in June in Chicago.

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