This week,
Website Planet had the opportunity to interview Dias Chukobayev and Evegeniy Achin, CEO and CTO of Auto.kz. We discussed company’s beginnings, how it evolved, and what is in the pipeline for the near future.
Please introduce Auto.kz to our audience
Dias (CEO): Auto.kz is an online ecosystem for the car owners where they can buy spare parts and accessories from an assortment of more than 70 million items.
In addition, online registration of insurance policies, registration for diagnostics at service stations and many other functions are available, the number of which will grow with the development of our online service.
Please describe the history of the company: what sparked the idea and how has it evolved so far?
Evgeniy (CTO): having graduated from the Aviation Engineering Academy together with my partner now CEO – Dias and having worked for some time in aviation, we moved into the IT field. We worked with payment systems, document management systems, and 10 years ago we entered the auto business by opening an online aggregator for wholesalers – Leopart.kz.
We started by transferring our customers’ purchasing process from fax and e-mail to ordering through an online system. In this system, we have automated the full cycle – identification by VIN, cross-reference algorithm, billing, online payment, order status tracking.
These innovations have accelerated and automated the business process of ordering parts and accessories from our customers. Now they do not have to waste time waiting for a response to a request from a distributor’s or manufacturer’s manager. Everything happens in the client’s online account – searching, ordering, payment, order tracking and so on.
Next, we decided to enable offline stores to open online representative offices through our SaaS platform Leonet.kz. They could brand their online stores with their logo, post their addresses, phone numbers. This decision was of interest to many small and large business participants. Many used landing page builders to create leads and then led customers to the selection, order and payment on our platform with their logo.
A wide range and low prices attracted insurance company appraisers to our online resource. They annually assess up to 70% of the amount of annual payments for damage from road accidents.
Today we have come to the final stage of the vertical of the car ownership industry – retail and service stations.
For retail, we have created a unique online solution on AUTO.kz that simplifies the selection by body number and makes it possible to buy from a range of distributors and warehouses located near the car owner. If there are no offers nearby, then there is always the opportunity to order online from warehouses around the world.
In addition to the selection of spare parts and accessories, the owner of the car can sign up for diagnostics online from the garage at Auto.kz.
From the reverse side of the online garage, the data is synchronously sent to the administrative panel of the service where the Auto.kz user registers for diagnostics and repairs.
By analogy with the previous cloud platform for online spare parts stores, which we distributed for free, we distribute a cloud service that generates leads for Car Services with a wide range of online diagnostics, ordering spare parts, CRM and other tools. Unique web pages for registering for the service are created that can be embedded as a widget in any landing page, for example.
What services do you offer?
Dias (CEO):
For wholesale customers, we aggregate the offers of manufacturers, distributors and small wholesalers of auto parts around the world and give them the opportunity to order without a minimum threshold in terms of amount or quantity. There are rare exceptions when the completeness is critical (for example, brake discs are only included in the kit, etc.)
Distributed logistics is one of the services we provide. With more than 10 years of experience behind us and a wide geography of coverage of 30 pick-up points in 16 cities of Kazakhstan, we have made it possible to receive orders from different warehouses at the lowest price.
For corporate customers, we have developed and are testing the spare parts inventory management module as the part of Fleet Management System (FMS) which helps reduce the costs of ownership.
The recently launched service for ordering spare parts on Auto.kz for car owners will now allow them to order or find out the cost of any auto part in a couple of clicks.
For service stations, we offer a free online service with the functionality of recording for diagnostics and repairs. This service is of interest to us and our partners (manufacturers of spare parts, motor oils) as a sales channel, and for service stations it is an additional channel for lead generation and customer retention.
Who are your typical customers, and what do you think is the main problem your product solves for them?
Dias (CEO): The main buyers of goods and services through our online services are: Wholesale buyers of spare parts, Car owners, Service stations, Insurance companies.
For wholesale buyers, we open access to the widest range of spare parts and accessories at the lowest prices.
For service stations, we provide lead generation and automation of business processes for receiving and processing requests for diagnostics and repairs.
For car owners, we provide transparency in the purchase of spare parts, repair and replacement regulations in the online service book, transparency in the choice of a service station and a specialist.
For insurance companies, we provide an opportunity to automate the process of assessing the cost of damage from an accident for spare parts. With us, they reduce the cost of damage by eliminating costs and shortening the supply chain.
What makes you different from other similar websites/companies?
Evgeniy (STO): In Kazakhstan for 10 years we have deployed the most extensive network of representative offices, expanded the range of the goods. We made the cloud platform as accessible as possible for those who want to open an online spare parts store. The same principle was applied when developing a product for service stations. For motorists, we have developed a fundamentally new platform for finding parts in relation to their car.
What are the company’s plans for the near future?
Dias (CEO): In the near future, we plan to promote the product as widely as possible for car enthusiasts, corporate clients and service stations.
A-Round of investments was recently closed thanks to which we began scaling from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan and then next year we plan to enter the markets of the UAE, Uzbekistan and other countries of Asia and the GCC/MENA region.
