Estimated read time: 6 minutes
How Chad, Gina, and Nichole turned a sluggish start into a $140K/month eCommerce machine (with magnets, koozies, and zero BS)
If you’d told Parts Manager, Chad Scott, two years ago that selling car parts online would be the most exciting, fastest-growing, and most profitable part of his job… he probably would’ve laughed and gone back to dealing with his front counter customers.
But here we are. And guess who’s not laughing?
Chad—along with Gina and Nichole, his eCommerce dream team—took what started as a side hustle and turned it into a serious business engine at Jake Sweeney Chevy. And they didn’t do it with flashy ads or expensive consultants. They did it with a couple of laptops, a web store, and some QR-coded koozies.
From clunky to crushing it: Why they ditched SimplePart
Before RevolutionParts, Chad’s team was stuck with SimplePart, a platform that promised support and gave them… well, silence and a website that looked like it was coded on a flip phone. “The website sucked,” Chad put it bluntly. “We had no support.”
That’s when Chad made the call to switch to RevolutionParts. “They offered a much better looking, more user-friendly site,” he said. And just like that, things started clicking.
30-Day Rolling Revenue with RevolutionParts
631
Orders
$123,166
Sales
$195
Average Order
Fear factor: “I thought it would steal my wholesale customers”
One of Chad’s biggest concerns early on? That their online store would cannibalize his in-person and wholesale business. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
“I wouldn’t have these customers if it weren’t for the eCommerce site. These people wouldn’t be buying from Jake Sweeney unless it was for the site. It’s adding business, not taking from us,” he said.
In fact, the eCommerce business has become so solid that Chad’s considering pushing more customers to the website to simplify operations and increase profitability. “When you factor in the cost of helping a customer in person, like labor, time, and overhead, it’s actually more efficient and profitable to have them order online,” he explained.
$20K to $140K: The kind of growth you don’t ignore
When this team first started, they were seeing $20K in sales over a rolling 30-day period. Fast forward two years and they’re hitting $150K a month consistently. “We looked at a thousand orders one month and fulfilled 850 in 30 days. It was crazy,” Chad shared.
This growth wasn’t accidental. It came from careful planning and a flexible team that knows how to hustle. Gina and Nichole may be part-time, but the work they’ve put in has been full-throttle.
They learned the catalog inside and out, picked, packed, and shipped every order with care, and handled questions and returns like pros. And while the team works typical hours, the parts webstore doesn’t sleep.
“We’d log in each morning and already have a stack of orders waiting. It felt like we were making money in our sleep—the more consistent we were, the more the algorithm seemed to reward us,” said Chad.
In just one recent 30-day snapshot, the numbers speak for themselves: 676 orders, $132,975 in sales, and an average order value of $196. That’s not just growth—it’s proof that this eCommerce machine is firing on all cylinders. What started as an experimental side project has become one of the dealership’s most consistent and profitable revenue streams.
Marketing? Think magnets and beer koozies
While many dealers focus heavily on digital ads to drive growth, Chad’s team shows that blending old-school tactics with modern tools can go a long way. This combo builds trust and creates a customer experience that keeps people coming back.
“When someone places an order through our webstore, we always pack a koozie with a QR code to our website,” Chad explained. “So when they’re sitting on their back porch having a beer and realize they need a part, they can just scan and order.”
This personal touch reminds customers they can count on Jake Sweeney Chevy for all their automotive needs.“It’s about staying in front of them, even after the sale.”
And they haven’t even started digital ads (yet)
Here’s the wild part: they’ve done all of this without running a single ad. “We haven’t even hit on that yet. Honestly, we probably couldn’t manage the increase if we did,” Chad said.
That’s what you call a high-quality problem.
Once their newest team member, Mindy, is fully up to speed, they plan to dip their toes into digital promotions. And when that happens… Buckle up.
Better inventory, better ops
The benefits of eCommerce haven’t just shown up in revenue reports. Chad’s been able to run a tighter, smarter inventory because of the increased movement online.
“I’ve got more parts available because of the eCom business. Stuff I never would’ve sold before. That helps the front counter, the tech counter, even the body shop. The more sales we have, the more pieces we’re moving, and the better our availability across the board,” he said.
They’ve even managed to keep their obsolescence rate down to just 12% on a $2.5 million inventory, which is no small feat.
Final thoughts from the floor
At the end of the day, this team doesn’t just sell parts—they build relationships with customers all over the country who never would’ve stepped foot in their dealership otherwise.
And that’s exactly what eCommerce should be: not a replacement, but a reinforcement. So if you’re sitting there wondering if online sales are worth the effort, Chad’s got a message for you:
“Look, we’re not losing business. We’re gaining it. I didn’t build this to compete with my wholesale team—I built it because there was business out there we were missing.”
And he was right.
Take a page from Chad’s playbook: start small, stay scrappy, and pick a platform that actually gives a damn. RevolutionParts gave Jake Sweeney the tools to grow from $20K to $140K/month without hiring or putting in a lot of extra work. Want to see what it could do for you?
