If there was a single takeaway from Wednesday’s first-ever ‘Aftermarket Briefings’ segment at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) 2017 in Las Vegas, it was technology (and the Internet) is not the enemy.
Truck parts are being bought and sold online, and that’s a trend that’s not going away, but during Wednesday’s presentation, David Seewack with FinditParts, Dana Nevins with Web Shop Manager and Shri Rajagopal at eEmphasys spoke openly about how the Internet and technology also are creating spectacular opportunities for aftermarket distributors to enhance and strengthen their sales capabilities.
David SeewackSeewack says he created FinditParts as a “repository for as many parts as you can get your hands on.”
The website sells direct to customers but Seewack says not every customer is ready, willing and needs to buy online. He says a large selection of heavy-duty customers still value conventional distribution channels and want to maintain those relationships for stock orders and customer service reasons.
Seewack believes FinditParts fits into the aftermarket by “augmenting” those existing relationships, and providing both end users and distributors another option for acquiring hard-to-find or emergency components.
Dana NevinsAs for entering the e-commerce space on your own, Nevins says aftermarket businesses can thrive by starting small, focusing on its strengths and developing a website that caters to its existing customer base.
Regarding the latter, Nevins says the negative connotation of existing customers moving purchasing via phone to the Internet is one of the largest falsities found in the aftermarket industry. He says it actually provides aftermarket businesses a wonderful advantage, because it removes counter people and sales people from taking orders and frees them up to better aid customers asking questions and searching for solutions.
Shri RajagopalRajagopal says technology also can drive internal efficiencies for distributors. He says business systems are geared to make your jobs easier, not harder. Avoiding technology (or accepting it unwillingly) don’t provide any business advantages and sometimes can even be a hindrance.
“Software should work for your business, not the other way around,” Rajagopal says.
For distributors interested in such technology, Rajagopal says it makes sense to be selective and exhaustive in determining which system is best for your operation. He says technology should be flexible within your business and should support processes you have or hope to develop. Similar to his example above, Rajagopal says distributors adapting technology that doesn’t make sense can provide more problems than solutions.
