Estimated read time: 5 minutes
Robert St. Romain Jr. on Building a $4M Annual GM Online Parts Operation in Just Two Years
“With the help of RevolutionParts, it’s easy to integrate and it makes everything streamlined. That unlocked a whole other level of just exploding sales.” — Robert St. Romain Jr.
When Robert St. Romain Jr. walked into Parkway Chevrolet two and a half years ago, the online business was split. The store had RevolutionParts for an online part store and it already sold on Amazon, but nothing talked to each other. Inventory went out of sync. Shipping did not connect. Tracking was messy. eBay was not active yet.
“I came into something that was kind of set up,” Robert said. “I understood marketplaces, but I did not understand the Revolution system.”
He opened the knowledge base, called support, and made a list.
“Every day I asked, what is this, what does that mean. Our representative and the help center were patient and fast,” he said.
He turned on shipping integrations, learned how to tie orders back to the DMS, and made sure every order could be found by DMS number, order number, or part number.
“That unlocked a whole other level of just exploding in sales,” exclaimed Robert.
Wiring systems before scaling
With the plumbing in place, Robert added eBay. The first sale hit on September 29, 2023 for $100. October closed at $35,000 and 177 orders. Then he pushed volume, but he learned platform rules the hard way.
“eBay will charge you for weak seller metrics,” he said.
Early cancellations from inventory mismatches hurt his status and fees went up. He slowed eBay growth until the data stayed clean and the team could keep pace. Today eBay runs at about $100,000 per month with room to scale.
Amazon became the volume engine. Robert ran it like a tight shop, kept listings current, watched performance, and let volume wash out small spikes in defect rates. Amazon hit about $175,000 last month.
Tuning the online part store
The online part store averaged about $60,000 to $70,000 a month during the ramp. Robert’s plan is to raise that with simple offer design and targeted campaigns that focus on items in stock.
He’s keeping marketing spend lean until the site and team are ready for more traffic.
“I do not like paying for marketing if execution can win,” said Robert. “But I did set a meeting with a marketing rep because I saw how another store does direct marketing on the parts they have in stock, which was a lightbulb moment.”
Robert regularly reads case stories and borrows ideas like this that make sense.
“I stole rush processing from a peer example and it worked,” he said with a laugh.
Other recent tweaks that have resulted in big wins include integrated labels and a single source of truth for order status, which have cut errors and sped up replies.
“Faster labels and fewer mistakes help every metric,” said Robert.
Turning obsolescence into money
When Robert arrived, the store used discount rules at 16 months, which did not match GM’s return window of 18 to 24 months. That left money on the table.
“I built an obsolete plus tag so pricing matches GM reality,” he said.
He uploads parts lists so discounts kick in at the right age and sets cost minus levels that move the right items while keeping GM returns intact.
“Sell what makes sense and return what should be returned,” Robert said.
The result is less waste, cleaner shelves, and better cash recovery.
Team, culture, and process
Hiring has been a constant. He lost staff, trained new people, and still kept volume steady. He just added two hires and plans to add more very soon.
Robert coaches his team to protect seller metrics with fast replies and accurate fulfillment. “Treat customers like gold and your numbers will show it,” said Robert.
Proof in the numbers
From August 19 to September 19, 2025, Parkway processed 3,083 orders for $434,767.95 in sales. The average order was $141.02. Gross profit was $84,401.24. Average fulfillment was one day. Cancellations were 4.25%.
Over the last 12 months, the store processed 27,902 orders for a whopping $4,008,816.69 in sales and $666,438.58 in gross profit, with one day average fulfillment and 6.45% cancellations.
What unlocked the jump was not one feature. It was connection. Marketplaces connect to the store. Shipping connects to order flow. Tracking connects to the DMS. Obsolescence rules connect to GM policy.
Goal line
Robert is not shy about his target. “I am chasing number one in GM parts and a million a month,” he said. “It is there.”
He knows the path requires people, process, and clean data. He plans to keep marketplaces growing, raise the online part store share, and expand the team so speed and care never slip.
Mobile experience and fresh listings are on his short list. So is tightening the obsolescence tags as the catalog changes.
Advice for other dealers
Robert’s guidance is straightforward and based on how he built the system.
Robert’s playbook:
- Wire systems together before scaling.
- Clean data beats big ads.
- Integrate shipping and tracking for same-day movement.
- Align obsolescence rules with OEM policy.
- Add simple offers like rush processing.
- Hire fast learners and train them on parts and platforms.
For Robert, success isn’t about doing more, it’s about connecting the right things so every move counts. Follow the same blueprint, and you’ll build an eCommerce operation that’s faster, cleaner, and ready to scale.
