E-commerce sites for heavy-duty truck parts have gotten much slicker since they first began popping up on the internet. Their user interfaces are easier to use; they source a wider network of possible suppliers; and the sites often provide additional helpful information such as related parts or installation instructions.
In early March, Trucks, Parts, Service looked at how the parts shortage was affecting aftermarket service providers’ ability to perform services on their customers’ trucks. Looking for parts is time-consuming and oftentimes limits providers to their local areas. Industry e-commerce sites should be in the playbook of all parts and service providers when sourcing much needed truck parts.
FinditParts
“If you think about any service provider specific to trucks, by our calculations, their counter/purchasing people are spending a minimum of 25 percent of their day trying to find a part they don’t have. It’s this whole antiquated daisy chain of phone calls,” Olsen says.
FinditParts, like several other truck part sites, free up that time so staff can be tending to other important aspects of the business.
The goal of Paccar Parts’ e-commerce platform is to provide its dealer network with the easiest, most user-friendly e-commerce platform in the marketplace.
“That includes ensuring our dealers have great retail availability, making sure we have good availability in our distribution centers and that the e-commerce piece of this is making it extremely easy for end customers to find what they’re looking for and getting it as soon as possible,” says Joe Hutchins, director of e-commerce, Paccar Parts, which encompasses Kenworth, Peterbilt and TRP.
