Will Stengel
President and Chief Operating Officer at Genuine Parts
Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everyone. I want to start by also thanking the global GPC team for their ongoing commitment to serving our customers. We appreciate the hard work every day to deliver parts and solutions that help keep the world moving. It's great to see the teams work together as one GPC team to deliver customer success.
We do this with a coordinated focus on our foundational priorities, including talent and culture, sales effectiveness, technology, supply chain and emerging technology, complemented by a disciplined M&A strategy. To that end, I'd like to take a moment to specifically recognize the global teams for the progress on our numerous in-flight initiatives around the world.
We're executing a broad set of initiatives across our global business and making strong and steady progress. The teams are simultaneously working to evolve the business for the better, while delivering on our day-to-day service commitments to our customers. As we detailed on our Investor Day, we believe we have compelling opportunities to invest back in the business and are excited about the progress and outlook.
As Paul mentioned, we have great examples of progress around the world. Specific examples range from state-of-the-art distribution centers with automation and next-generation technology, enhanced data visibility and analytics capabilities, added talent and expertise, modernized technology platforms to enhance growth and productivity, and much, much more. We know the teams are working hard to execute the body of work, so thank you very much.
Now, turning to the details of the business segment results. Before I get into the specifics, I should mention that the third quarter had one less selling day in the U.S. when compared to the third quarter last year. This impacted our total sales and comparable sales growth versus prior year for both our industrial and automotive segments.
During the quarter, total sales for global industrial were $2.2 billion, an increase of 0.6%. We estimate that the one less selling day negatively impacted global industrial sales growth by approximately 160 basis points. Total sales for global automotive were $3.6 billion, an increase of 3.9%, with a negative impact to global automotive of approximately 100 basis points due to the one less selling day.
Now, turning to the global industrial segment. Our quarterly results were essentially in line with our expectations, and we remain ahead of our year-to-date plans. Recall that our expectation was for industrial growth to be lower in the second half of the year compared to the first half. Comparable sales growth increased 0.3% in the third quarter versus the same period last year. The same period last year was our highest quarterly comp during the year at approximately 20%. The monthly average daily sales cadence through the quarter was relatively consistent with each month of the quarter up low single-digits.
During the quarter, Motion saw a more mixed result across its various end markets with the strongest growth coming from industries such as food products, iron and steel, and mining, offset by relative softness in equipment and machinery. As mentioned, Motion continues to make excellent progress with initiatives, including sales excellence, pricing, e-commerce, technology, and supply chain strategies that are helping to win profitable market share.
As one example, the inside sales team initially formed in 2020 now covers approximately 25% of active customer accounts. The proactive sales calls are helping to drive profitable double-digit growth across the selling channel with a lower cost to serve. Our technology investments supporting revenue growth are also helping deliver a better customer experience with nearly 30% growth across e-commerce channels year-to-date and e-commerce now at over 30% of total sales, up approximately 6 percentage points since 2021.
Motion's second new fulfillment center in Fort Mill, South Carolina is another example of exciting progress. This supply chain initiative consolidates various older legacy facilities, while improving productivity, efficiency, speed, and service to customers. Our first fulfillment center in Lakeland, Florida opened at the end of 2021 and has delivered outside sales growth, a 10% reduction in operating expenses, and corresponding profit margin expansion. We'll continue to roll out this strategy with additional fulfillment centers opening scheduled for 2024.
In Asia-Pac, our Motion team delivered another strong performance in the third quarter with double-digit sales and profit growth. Local teams are energized as reaffirmed by recent independent survey data showing high levels of team member engagement, combined with market-leading customer satisfaction rates. Motion is a trusted value-add advisor to its customers, and the team has detailed plans to win additional share in this fragmented market.
Industrial segment profit in the third quarter was approximately $283 million, up a strong 16.6% and at 12.9% of sales, representing a 180 basis point increase from the same period last year. The profit improvement in industrial was driven by another quarter of excellent operating discipline in both North America and Australasia. The accelerated integration of the KDG acquisition has contributed to the strong performance, and we will exceed our $50 million synergy estimate by the end of this year.
Turning to the global automotive segment, similar to the first half of the year, total automotive sales benefited from our global diversification with our international auto businesses outperforming with mid-single-digit to double-digit sales growth in local currency. Comparable sales for the global automotive segment increased 0.6% in the third quarter and by geography include low to mid-single-digit growth in each of our international businesses and comparable sales of negative 2.9% in the U.S.
The moderation and inflation continues to be a significant factor in our year-over-year performance. As expected, global automotive sales inflation moderated in the third quarter to low single-digits from mid-single digits in the second quarter. By comparison, in the third quarter of 2022, global automotive benefited from high single-digit levels of sales inflation, which includes a benefit in the U.S. of approximately 10%. We expect sales inflation in global automotive to be low single-digits in the fourth quarter.
Global automotive segment profit in the third quarter was $322 million, up approximately 4% versus the same period last year, and segment operating margin was 8.9%, flat with last year. In the quarter, each of our international geographies delivered margin expansion, while U.S. automotive segment margin was down due to expense deleverage related to planned investments and the impact of lower sales.
Now, let's turn to an overview of our automotive business performance by geography. In the U.S., as Paul outlined, automotive sales declined approximately 1% in the third quarter, with comparable sales down 2.9%, which includes the negative impact of one less selling day year-over-year as I had previously mentioned. Further, the third quarter of last year included the benefit of sales associated with our NAPA EXPO, a sales event held approximately every five years, which negatively impacted our year-over-year comparisons by an estimated 170 basis points. Collectively, these two factors represent approximately 340 basis points of headwind in evaluating our year-over-year growth performance in the U.S.
In the third quarter, sales to both commercial and retail customers were down slightly, with commercial and DIY essentially performing at similar levels. Our commercial business was mixed in the quarter as fleet and government outperformed and major accounts remained pressure, driven by the impact of tighter market conditions on the end consumer. The average daily sales cadence by month was July slightly up, August down low single-digits, and we exited the quarter with September up low single-digits. It's fair to say that our performance in the U.S. automotive business was below our expectations, and we believe the underperformance is a combination of execution and further tightening of market conditions.
On the execution side, we have not been crisp enough in the field with service to our customers. In addition, while supply chains have improved significantly post-pandemic, we've experienced some lingering issues with inventory availability in a few product categories. Finally, the impact of tightening market conditions, including higher interest rates and persistent levels of higher cost inflation, has created a more cautious trading environment for our customers.
Despite the challenges, we're taking action. First, in terms of service in the field, we've taken actions to intensify our operational rigor at stores and DCs, as well as further enhance our inventory strategies powered by investments we've made in data analytics tools. Second, we've experienced fill rates below our acceptable levels in a few product categories. This fill rate performance has taken too long to remedy post-pandemic, and as a result, our merchandising teams partnered with alternative suppliers to address the issue to ensure our markets are properly stocked. Finally, while we can't control the overall market conditions, we are working closely with field sales to drive incremental growth opportunities, and we continue to be disciplined on costs, including ongoing cost actions, which Bert will discuss further.
As mentioned, we've underperformed our expectations at U.S. automotive in 2023, but with new leadership enrolled for 100 days now, the team has clarity of the priority opportunities, has taken action, and are quickly moving to get where we need to be. With solid industry fundamentals and the team's competitive drive to win, we're confident our U.S. automotive team is positioned to overcome our recent challenges and execute on our long-term strategy to profitably grow share.
In Canada, sales grew approximately 4% in local currency during the third quarter, with comparable sales growth of approximately 3%. During the quarter, our automotive and heavy-duty businesses grew mid-single digits and low-single digits respectively, and we are pleased with the Canadian team execution of their strategic initiatives despite macroeconomic pressures and a cautious consumer.
In Europe, our automotive team delivered another strong quarter, with total sales growth of approximately 11% in local currency, and comparable sales growth of approximately 7%. We continue to drive strong growth and market share gains across our European markets due to the ongoing execution of our initiatives and strategic value-creating acquisitions. During the third quarter, we delivered mid-single-digit to double-digit growth across each of our geographies, driven by continued wins with key accounts, winning higher share of wallet with existing accounts, and expanding the NAPA brand in the region.
In addition, the team is making excellent progress on our new National Distribution Center in France that Paul, Bert and I had a chance to visit. Scheduled to open in 2024, this 500,000-square-foot facility helps evolve the network strategy and upgrades the level of technology and automation within our supply chain. This effort complements a similar investment in the UK, and the teams are working well to leverage best practices. We expect these facilities to further drive productivity and efficiency, as well as increased service level to our customers.
In the Asia-Pac automotive business, sales in the third quarter increased approximately 6% in local currency, with comparable sales growth of approximately 5%. Sales for both commercial and retail were solid in the third quarter, with retail growth slightly above commercial. Having recently visited with this world-class team, it's impressive to see the team consistently executing at such a high level and delivering another quarter of record sales and profitability. Our Asia-Pac team is driving market share gains, improving profitability, increasing its employee value proposition, all while executing strategic initiatives to create long-term value.
In closing, the global GPC team delivered solid third quarter results, driven by the benefit of our strategic business mix and global geographic diversification. We remain committed to our plans for continued growth through the balance of the year, despite a dynamic environment. We're confident our teams are focused on the right long-term strategic initiatives that will deliver customer solutions and create value.
Thank you again to the entire GPC team for your hard work, your performance, and your dedication to taking care of our customers.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Bert.
