For those who saw the release last month, MacKay & Company is nearly ready to launch a comprehensive study into the growing number of fleets who are beginning to purchase products online.
As a preliminary probe, the study’s initial findings were released before Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW), and among the information presented in those findings was the revelation that 55 percent of fleets have already purchased a part online, and that 47 percent of the fleets who haven’t will consider doing so in the future.
The main reasons fleets said they were turning to the Internet to purchase parts were obvious: price; product availability; and convenience, but the preliminary study also uncovered the No. 1 reason a fleet wouldn’t purchase a part online was delivery/wait times.
I can’t say that’s surprising.
As we all know, part acquisition wait times are one of the biggest pressure points for service centers across the trucking industry. Downtime in any form is discouraging, but downtime due to an active repair is at least a step in the right direction. If someone is turning wrenches progress is being made.
Part-acquisition related downtime has no such positive connotation. A truck sitting in a bay (or on a lot) for days or weeks while a technician waits for a part is unbearably frustrating for everyone involved.
For what it’s worth, everyone knows this. OEMs, suppliers and TMC are constantly developing and refining processes to improve parts order fulfillment rates and delivery times, and I can’t name a single distributor who isn’t willing to rush order and deliver a part to a service center to help expedite a repair.
