Innovation

Osacaro is an e-business company that re-sells spare car parts for all makes and all models. Literally all vehicles that have been manufactured in the last 50 years are listed as models; over 70,000 models with an average of 25,000 parts per model. It took several years for the founders of OSCARO to create this immense database and create the heart and intelligence to make sure the platform works. They used sociology and genealogy methods to make sure they would cover all families of cars and parts. To continue with the genealogy metaphor we know many models are like the "next of kin" and many spares like cousins; they are common to several models and types.

Through OSCARO anyone can log in their car model, make and year of manufacturing, registration number and order spare parts to maintain or fix one’s car. All of this is done at a fraction of the price one would pay going through a car dealership. This after-sales business is evaluated to be worth 1 trillion dollars worldwide. The margins that the car dealership networks make on these spares are enormous and sometimes prohibitive for lower-income people. When the price of getting spares becomes prohibitive, that person cannot have the use of his vehicle to go to work, make a living, or go buy groceries. In the worst cases one’s life can be turned inside out and individual or families can become completely disconnected from society. A lot of society organization has been designed around cars and not around humans.

The other major impact of the prohibitive price of spare parts is the cost of keeping vehicles on the road. You may argue that it is not environmentally friendly to keep an old vehicle that consumes more petrol than new ones on the road, but the reality is different when you consider that a well-maintained old vehicle continues to be safe and contributes to reducing the overall carbon footprint of the car industry. The energy required to produce a new vehicle is equivalent to driving an average sized car for 200,000 km.

Today’s reality is that, outside of large cities where the transportation network is well-developed, people are highly dependent on their vehicles.

Inspiration

The world is changing at a rate that will only accelerate in the coming decades. New technologies are going to revolutionize society, the workplace, and industry. At the same time there are some major environmental challenges that, if not addressed, could lead to the extinction of humanity. On one hand there is big business clinging to the old ways; on the other hand there are new businesses that are starting from scratch. These new businesses do not require the same capital intensity as companies from the second and third industrial revolution.

OSCARO management is driven by the urge to contribute to inventing tomorrow. They do not know what it is going to look like in the long run, but they are highly motivated to participate in creating what it might become. The automobile spare parts business is an important step on this path, and there will be many more. The automobile industry, one of the biggest industries, is going to change drastically in the next decade or two, and OSCARO wants to be one of the architects of this disruption by making sure that a large number of people can keep their freedom of mobility during this phase of change.

Oscaro is not driven by financial KPIs and they intend to keep their freedom from financial pressures. For the founders and General Manager, OSCARO is a "vehicle" towards inventing tomorrow and continuing their mission to make the world a better place for all. As General Manager M. Guarnieri says, "What will become of tomorrow is what we will make of tomorrow starting today; and what we will make of tomorrow is highly motivated by wanting to leave our children a sustainable model for them to live in and thrive as human being."

OSCARO, as M.Guarnieri explains, is also very focused on reducing its own carbon footprint and use of natural resources. For example, they are using the latest packaging technology in order to maximize the use of cardboard, glue, and other materials. They are also paying attention to the use of space in the millions of parcels shipped every year, and as a result they are diminishing the number of truckloads and consequently the energy needed to deliver parcels.

Overall impact

As the collaborative economy develops, the concept of ownership changes from owning something to owning the access to a service. Since a vast majority of the actors and users of the collaborative economy are modest and middle to lower income people, OSCARO gives them a chance to make even better use of a safer piece of equipment for longer periods of time and at affordable prices.

Business benefit

OSCARO growth is in the double digits year after year with sales of 300 Mil € in a market worth over 100 billion. The company directly and indirectly employs 2,000 people and is entering new markets every year.

Social and environmental benefit

The impacts of this business innovation are many. Since its foundation the many OSCARO customers have saved enormous amounts of money. This is wealth given back to them and money that they can use to put food on the table or pay their rent. Many customers have posted comments on the company's website such as: "Thanks to you I have been able to fix my car and keep my job so I can continue to feed family." When you think that the cost of break pads is 5€ and are sold 80€ through dealers that gives you an idea of the disgraceful situation.

OSCARO has contributed to keeping hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road longer and as result diminishing the environmental impact of producing new cars. When people can afford to keep their vehicle maintained it also means that they can keep them safe; in turn this has an impact on keeping the road safe and reducing the number of accidents due to poor maintenance. Keeping cars well maintained also reduces the overall carbon print of the car industry.

Interview

M.Guarnieri, General Manager