Researching product information and buying parts online has become a significant trend in the commercial vehicle market over the last few years. Many companies are introducing ways fleets can more easily access this information. EatonPartsOnline.com is designed to be an all-in-one ecommerce portal with access to a variety of information in one location. Eaton’s Vice President of Aftermarket Business, Tim Bauer, talks about the type of information available on the company’s new online platform, and the benefits of this all-in-one format.
Transcription of interview:
Erica Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: Hello and welcome to another episode of VSP News: Uptime Update. I am your host Erica Schueller, Editor-in-Chief of Fleet Maintenance magazine, covering all maintenance, all vehicle classes, all management, all the time.
Researching product information and buying parts online has become a significant trend in the commercial vehicle market over the last few years. Many companies are introducing ways fleets can more easily access this information.
For instance, vehicle power management supplier Eaton recently announced the launch of its aftermarket portal and ecommerce platform for the heavy duty commercial vehicle aftermarket. EatonPartsOnline.com is designed to be an all-in-one ecommerce portal with access to a variety of information in one location.
We talked with Tim Bauer, Eaton’s vice president of aftermarket business, about the type of information fleets have access to on this platform, and the benefits of this all-in-one format.
Tim Bauer, Eaton: The EatonPartsOnline.com portal is really designed to take information that was a variety of locations on the Eaton website, and allow customers to get weight, dimension, application, and then use our selector tools to make sure that they get the right product for the right application for their vehicle.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: Tracking the purchase and inventory of parts is a priority for fleets. Bauer provides more details on the features now available through EatonPartsOnline.com that address these concerns, and the importance of comprehensive ordering functionality for customers.
Bauer, Eaton: Our website was set up to be a B2B [business-to-business] website, but certainly the suppliers for fleets have a need for product if it’s not on their shelf.
The real-time access – 24/7/365 – to be able to look at when a product has shipped, and what we might have available in inventory, makes that customer's experience that much better. It also allows those service providers in the local market to give more real-time information to the fleets, to make sure they get their vehicles back on the road and operating to make money.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: With the introduction of this updated site, Eaton also improved parts lookup with the launch of its clutch product selector tool. Bauer shares additional details on how fleets accessed this information previously, and how this tool helps streamline that process now.
Bauer, Eaton: We certainly had print catalogs, and a number of people used those print catalogs. But there has been a lot of turnover in counter personnel, and what we’ve found is, generally by application, companies will do a one-size-fits-all. They’ll pick one part number or one torque for a particular application. This means, they may over-spec or under-spec a product and the fleet won’t get the life out of the product that they expect.
Our clutch selector tool allows them to answer questions that they know and select from a variety of products that Eaton has in the portfolio, to allow them to ensure they’ve got the right product for the right application.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: With the continued adoption of online parts ordering and more streamlined parts lookup, fleets can expect a continually improved online experience for finding information. Bauer talks about some of the trends we can expect when it comes to ecommerce solutions in the future.
Bauer, Eaton: Certainly access to information, as we look into the future. The complexity of the make-up, with the variety of components that are now used on a vehicle, it’s important to make sure that we continue to provide not only training tools so [shops] can diagnose issues that happen, but also access to literature and stocking lists so they can have the products on the shelf that they need when they need them.
Schueller, Fleet Maintenance: If you’d like more information on the EatonPartsOnline.com resource, check out the link below.
That’s it for this week’s episode! Thank you for tuning in to VSP News Uptime Update, I’m your host Erica Schueller.
Until our next broadcast, keep up with this, and other industry topics, by visiting us online at VehicleServicePros.com.
Find more information on the EatonPartsOnline.com resource.
