Demand for an online parts website

[MessickFarmEqu]

This is a carry over from the NH forum. I know Deere and Sears both are selling parts online. Its pretty easy for these manufacturers to setup up and do that with their huge IT staff and access to all the information. The biggest road block to doing this as a dealer is that you as a customer can't get online access to the parts books. If I were to persue an online parts website where everything is catagorized with pictures and short descriptions (not fit charts) do you think it would draw enough interest to justify the work involved. I could put our entire inventory online, but navigating out to find those parts might require you to have the exact part number.

I am looking for feedback like, Is there enough demand for this? Any suggestions on layout, catagorization, etc. How do I help a customer find what they need without access to parts books? Maybe online chat with one of our parts guys?

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Poppa]

Neil, I can give you my perspective as a soon to be new tractor owner. I love the internet and would be most willing to use an on-line parts supplier. In fact I have already been looking for places to pick up Filters/fluids for my fifty hour service. As far as other parts, well I guess I am mostly hoping not to need them /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif but if Ido I would again hope to be able to find them on-line. For me, it is easier to shop on line than it is to climb into the truck and drive to town. As far as On-line Chat to find the part, that may help but I will say that if I find a site and they "Seem" to have what I might be looking for then I will usually start scanning the site for a phone number so I can talk to a human ear to ear and work out what I need that way. Either way, the site will get my business faster than the guy with just a phone number in the phone book.

Don't know if this is what you were looking for but it is what I have for you /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Mike

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Important? JDparts was a significant factor in my going green. I use it frequently. I think that something less than its capability would be a waste of time. Are Kubota and NH not offering online resources to the dealers? All the car makers are....

 

[tc35dforme]

Neil, I usually shy away from commenting on this type of thing since part of being in business is being able to determine the course on one's own accord....but....here's my $.05...

Selling general parts on-line may not be the best option. Non-professional ( sorry guys ) users often have an idea of what they need, but usually like the one-on-one conversation at the counter to gain knowledge and advice. This often allows them to get just what they need and helps build a relationship with the dealer's personnel. In addition, many items are not user friendly requiring special skills and tools, not available to most casual users.

If you concentrate on marketing high quality, reasonably priced consumables...I think you'd have a market, but not a huge market. Filters, lubes, misc switches and light bulbs can be easily stocked and managed, although competition is heavy. Pistons, rings, and transmission gears are another animal.

Another big hurdle is the OEM factor. Many users insist on OEM filters and such. Are you really thinking of stocking OEM products for all the big makers ??

I'd love to see it....but I'd also hate to see you lose on it !!

Now if you can hook me up with some flow restrictors for my HTL.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[sweettractors]

That pretty well sums up the way we feel also--Common wear items would probably work well--anything else beyond that and the consumer needs to ask the parts man a couple questions about serial # breaks or how to install parts or are you sure this is the right part and if it does not fit can I return it for credit and is there a restocking fee and how much, etc.--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment LLC *2 Locations in Central, Ky*

 

[Woodbeef]

Good idea,but can you actually make it work? Just look at all the Deere customers who complain about their on-line system. Who knows for sure how much the Mothership has put into their system? Personally I've never had any trouble,but I do not use JDParts that often.

Are you only planning on putting what you sell new on-line? Or every brand? How do you plan on keeping it current?

Best of luck......

 

[SPIKER]

One thing I find at anysite i fretuent for parts of any thing, is the search engine used. and how they post the parts.

each part has it's part number but the same # may be for a different part or manufacture all together. this is where photos come in handy. It would be nice but there would also be lOTS of work in getting it set up. after set up then maintaining it is not so bad.... I buy used Electrical stuff from a place who has 100,000's of different parts, it is run by 3 or 4 people but only one girl does all the parts listing and such. Nice looking one at that! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif anyhow she is very friendly and would probably be happy to reply to any e-mail sent to her. here is the adress.

http://www.cpisurplus.com/about_us.htm

anyhow lots of good advice and thinking...

Markm /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Jim_Fisher]

Neil,


</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The biggest road block to doing this as a dealer is that you as a customer can't get online access to the parts books. If I were to persue an online parts website where everything is catagorized with pictures and short descriptions (not fit charts) do you think it would draw enough interest to justify the work involved. )</font>

I use Deere's on-line parts lookup/order system frequently. Without the on-line parts lookup, I doubt that I would find it useful.

How many times have you seen your parts counter folks ask a customer to identify a part from an exploded drawing in one of the parts books? While it might be appropriate for selling generic parts, I don't think that you can successfully substitute pictures and descriptions for fit charts and exploded drawings when selling OEM parts.

I think that your wanting to do this is a good thing. It certainly indicates that you and your company are committed to improving customer service, however, I think you need to find a way to to get the parts books on-line if you want this to be an effective strategy.


Best,


Jim Fisher

 

[GregJ]

I was unaware that JD had parts available on-line. I have an LX277 lawn tractor and went out on their site to check it out. They had filters, spark plugs, etc.... A grand total of 10 parts listed for my machine. (including 2 battery choices). Last time I looked, there are more than 10 parts on my machine /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif. Right now I need a new set of blades and belts, neither of which are available on their site. These are high wear items, so I agree with Woodbeef. If JD can't support an on-line system, that says something. On line parts systems are a huge animal that require massive resources and could open the door to a nightmare. However, if you could pull it off for a limited market segment, who knows.

Greg

 

[rockyridgefarm]

A quick check on JDParts fir LX277 Here is one of dozens of drawings for the LX277. All these parts had listings...

Are you sure you were in the right area?

MikePA: Edited to reduce picture size so left and right scrolling not needed.