Vertical Development, Inc., a leader in aftermarket technology, is celebrating its 30-year anniversary. Based in the greater Chicago area, the company got its start as a small programming firm, but soon shifted gears to digital catalog development when contracting with Champion Laboratories in neighboring Albion, Ill.
Today, the award-winning technology development firm provides digital catalog software and services to more than 300 aftermarket brands.
Since 1987, Vertical Development has worked with aftermarket companies to understand their business needs first and then, develop solutions that better streamline processes, increase efficiencies, and ensure industry compliance. Each year, the company takes those learnings and creates a development roadmap for future product upgrades and industry innovations. Last year, Vertical Development announced significant upgrades to its catalog software and systems including near real-time inventory management and stock status updates, a direct result of feedback and feature requests from clients.
“Over the last seven years we have been standardizing our vCat application, allowing us to add features and roll them out to our clients quickly,” says Jay Wright, President of Vertical Development. “We have grown from a software provider to full-service catalog services organization and will continue to operate on the cutting edge of technology to bring state-of-the-art aftermarket catalogs to our clients.”
In 30 years, Vertical Development’s reach has grown to include products at each stage of aftermarket parts sales from digital catalog development to data mapping to eCommerce and mobile apps. Its base software lets clients easily map their catalog to common industry formats including ACES, PIES, and NAPA PartsPro for distribution to wholesalers and retailers, while its ShowMeTheParts database, the largest public parts database, makes it easy to set up websites for parts information and sales through computers and mobile devices.
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Aftermarket companies, like Trico and AP Exhaust, build catalogs and publish through ACES for themselves and/or their resellers in a variety of column and page formats to make paper and CD catalogs. At the same time, this information can be published on the web through ShowMeTheParts for greater access via computers and smartphones. The APIs let ShowMeTheParts work well with WordPress, particularly using the recently announced WordPress Plug-In by Spork Marketing, and can be themed to match company website designs for seamless integration.
“We have been a Vertical Development customer since 2011. Vertical Development took the time to understand our business and build a system that works for us,” says James Croston, Director of Marketing, Trico. “Over the course of our relationship, we have added both PIES and VIO modules that we have been happy with. The team at Vertical Development has been very responsive to our needs.”
Today, Vertical Development’s software provides coverage reports using Vehicles in Operation (VIO) information from Experian or IHS/Polk. VIO reports help managers quickly find gaps in coverage. Also, support for comment translations in French and Spanish have been added to Vertical Development's software, making it easy for clients publishing catalogs either directly or through ACES. It also ensures greater readability for end users across North America.
To celebrate 30 years of building a leading technology brand and business, Vertical Development plans to release a schedule of presentations to help aftermarket companies and other tech firms look to the future and grow. To receive notifications of the presentation schedule and other aftermarket news, visit www.verticaldev.com/newsletter-sign-up.
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