One of our clients was selling parts to their sales channels and customers in a traditional way. The manufacturer’s parts department had 4 full-time employees taking calls and emails for people looking for replacement parts. Most requests were from contractors that needed the parts right away because air conditioning equipment needed repair. These 4 people looked up the parts in the ERP system using difficult search process. They would either stay on the call, call back or email back the customer the quote. Their customer would then need to generate a purchase order and send to the manufacturer.
After they asked their customers – would you place your orders online – the answer was a resounding yes! But the manufacturer had no idea how big a yes that was going to be!
They implemented eRep Parts module and did 3 email promotions. Within the first 4 months, their part sales increased 40%. Within 6 months, 58% of their parts sales were online. The amount of calls and emails decreased dramatically. The time to process parts orders decreased dramatically because the orders were going directly into the ERP system for processing.
By the end of 12 months, their parts department went from 4 people to 1 person and their part sales were up 60% from the previous 12 months.
What the manufacturer found was that prior to eRep Parts, their own sales people were searching online sites like Grainger, Amazon, and other sites so they could find and order the right parts quickly and know when they would receive the part. They were sometimes ordering after hours, or did not have time to wait for a quote because their customer was demanding an answer right away.
Once the eRep Parts store opened, sales could search for parts on the manufacturer’s website and know they were getting the right part and the lead time to get the part shipped. They could enter equipment serial numbers and see the BOM list to order parts accurately.
eRep Parts can operate stand-alone or completely integrated with any ERP system.