Case Study
Toyolex Parts Connection: Building an owned sales channel for Toyota and Lexus parts
Slate Systems helped an established eBay parts business move away from an $800/month legacy website provider and launch a Shopify storefront for direct product discovery, customer support, shipping estimates, and checkout.
Project snapshot
A direct storefront with a documented lower recurring website-platform cost
- Industry
- Toyota and Lexus auto parts
- Project type
- Shopify ecommerce storefront
- Launch
- March 26, 2026
- One-time investment
- $3,000
- Previous provider
- $800/month
- Current Shopify/apps
- Approximately $30/month
- Direct-store performance
- 29 orders / $7,441.44 net sales through August 11, 2026
- Sessions
- 12,766 from March through August 11, 2026
Why Toyolex needed an owned storefront
A direct channel for a business already selling through eBay.
Toyolex was already an established eBay auto-parts business, but its legacy website-provider relationship cost $800 per month. The business needed a direct channel it controlled without relying exclusively on a marketplace or a high recurring provider cost.
The storefront also needed to support practical parts-shopping decisions: vehicle and product discovery, fitment context, shipping estimates, customer support, and direct checkout. Toyota and Lexus parts can depend on a shopper’s vehicle and, in some cases, its engine.
The business case
A lower-cost direct channel
The project shifted the business from a high recurring legacy-provider cost to a lower-cost Shopify and app foundation. This comparison is limited to the documented legacy website-provider cost and the selected Shopify plan and apps; it does not represent every ecommerce or operating expense.
Previous legacy provider
$800/month
Current Shopify/app stack
~$30/month
Recurring-cost difference
~$770/month
One-time investment
$3,000
The documented recurring-cost difference is approximately 96%. At that monthly difference, the $3,000 one-time build investment is equivalent to roughly four months of the prior legacy-provider cost. This is simple cost arithmetic, not a promise of savings or return on investment.
What Slate built
A store structured around the decisions customers need to make.
Vehicle-led product discovery
The MVP introduced Year / Make / Model / Engine filtering for the initial vehicle and product set. This gives shoppers a more direct starting point than browsing every available part at once.
The filters help shoppers narrow the supported catalog, while recognizing that fitment can vary by product and should not be treated as a guarantee of compatibility.
Product detail, shipping, and checkout
Shopify provides the product CMS, cart, and checkout foundation. The store also includes a shared ZIP-code shipping estimator used to show estimated shipping on product and cart views.
An AI chatbot provides an additional customer-support path, while review sections use real eBay reviews. Together with the shipping estimate, these details give shoppers more context before they continue to checkout.
A responsive path to purchase
The storefront keeps the vehicle-to-checkout path available on smaller screens, so customers can move from discovery to product details, shipping estimates, and checkout without changing channels.
How the experience works
A clearer route from vehicle to next step
- 01
Discover
Start with a vehicle and use Year / Make / Model / Engine filtering to narrow the supported catalog.
- 02
Evaluate
Review the product information and compatibility details before choosing the next step.
- 03
Estimate shipping
Enter a ZIP code to see an estimated shipping cost on product and cart views.
- 04
Take the next step
Use the Shopify cart and checkout flow to continue with the purchase.
Implementation details
Built with Shopify’s standard ecommerce tools
- ✓Shopify standard storefront with a product CMS, cart, and checkout.
- ✓Year / Make / Model / Engine filtering for the MVP product and vehicle scope.
- ✓Shared ZIP-code state for shipping estimates on product and cart views.
- ✓AI chatbot and review sections featuring real eBay reviews.
Early direct-store results
A live sales channel with measurable early activity
29
Orders
March 26–August 11, 2026
$7,441.44
Net sales
March 26–August 11, 2026
12,766
Sessions
March–August 11, 2026
~$770
Monthly recurring-cost difference
Documented provider vs. Shopify/apps
Order and sales figures reflect Shopify reporting from March 26 through August 11, 2026. Session data reflects March 2026 through August 11, 2026.
From launch on March 26 through August 11, 2026, the Shopify store processed 29 orders and reported $7,441.44 in net sales. These figures show that the direct storefront is live and processing real transactions; they do not establish that every sale is incremental versus eBay. The site provides a controlled foundation for ongoing catalog growth and direct customer acquisition.
Current state
An owned storefront that can keep improving over time
Toyolex Parts Connection is live on its primary domain and functioning as a direct sales channel. It provides a Shopify shopping path, Year / Make / Model / Engine filtering for its MVP scope, and shipping estimates. Catalog expansion and vehicle-fitment maintenance remain ongoing operational work as products and compatibility data change, while the business now has an owned storefront it can improve over time.
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