The mass adoption phase of Internet Parts Ordering has begun

Feb. 16, 2018
There is one investment that many distributors and retailers in the aftermarket are making today. There is an industry standard for the inquiry and order of drop ship and special order products. It’s called Internet Parts Ordering or IPO.

In the flurry of post-holiday gift returns I found myself holding my wife’s purse while she inspected a set of wine glasses at the mall. We had been gifted with a set of glasses from this store, but my bride said they were too big. I had never found that to be a problem with wine glasses before, but I nodded and agreed that the smaller glasses would be more suitable.

We wanted to increase the quantity to eight glasses, and there were only six in stock at the store. So, we decided to make the return in store and order the replacements online. To my astonishment, this entire transaction was fast and pleasant, leaving us glad that we had come to this brick and mortar location.

As I returned the purse to its rightful owner, I began to describe to her what had just happened. “Dear, we just blended our online and off-line shopping behavior into an omni-channel experience made possible by seamless inventory visibility. This brick and mortar location is still valuable and we’ve decided to remain loyal to this brand – at least for the time being.” Her reply was more of a facial expression than spoken words. But, she’s known me for a long time.

I suspect my experience was not unique. A few million times each day, customers make a decision to shop to identify a product, locate sufficient inventory of the product, purchase the product and await delivery or pick-up the product in the store. Whether these phases of the transaction occur online, on the phone or in a store is a function of how critical and time-sensitive the need is, the convenience and location of the store and the comparative cost of pick-up in store versus shipping.

I may choose to browse products and shop online, call the store to verify some attribute of the product and pickup in the store to get immediate gratification. This blending of off-line and online commerce behaviors is called omni-channel commerce.

The term omni-channel was probably first used by a consultant getting paid to predict the future of how business will be done. It wasn’t very clear or descriptive and did little to inspire confident IT or business process investments. But, that experience at the mall sealed it for me. I had lived through the seamless blending of my experience in the store with the satisfaction of shopping online.

Turning to auto parts, think about your customer for a minute. For one thing, there is no distinction between a consumer and a commercial customer. A B2B customer is simply a B2C customer who is at work. Their product need may be urgent and time-sensitive because the vehicle is down. Or, they may be in no particular hurry because the project will keep until the weekend.

In any case, they prefer more product choices – not fewer – and they value intuitive navigation and helpful product content. Of course, no one is expected to have 100 percent of the products in stock all of the time. But, everyone wants to say “yes” and capture the order by showing virtual product availability from elsewhere in your supply chain.

As the millennial population grows and overtakes baby boomers, it’s not hard to understand the tremendous rate of growth in online commerce. For the generation that has never known a day without the internet, it is their natural reflex to shop online – and most often with their mobile device (i.e.: phone).

Now, think about your business and how you appear to those buyers. If you do not have a mobile optimized website with a huge catalog of rich content and a connected chain of product availability, what are you saying to that customer? If your limited inventory visibility is a barrier to the transaction, do you expect your customer to stick around? And if you cannot easily and accurately process orders that were placed online for pick-up in the store, how long will these modern consumers stay loyal to your brand?

With every transaction you are being compared to their last happy online shopping experience. You have to work extra hard and invest carefully to be successful and competitive in the digital aftermarket.

There is one investment that many distributors and retailers in the aftermarket are making today. There is an industry standard for the inquiry and order of drop ship and special order products. It’s called Internet Parts Ordering or IPO. The dramatic take-up of this technology today is in response to the demand for speed in locating hard-to-find product and the limitless range of products that are in demand. IPO is the modern alternative to sharing inventory files, reaching for the phone or browsing a supplier’s website. When the answer to the questions, “is it available, when and how much”, must be delivered in seconds, a web service connecting trading partners is the fastest and most accurate solution.

Many of the most successful and progressive aftermarket suppliers, retailers and distributors have deployed IPO in the past. Now, new program groups, national retailers, and business system providers are getting on the IPO wagon. This is great news for an industry not known for being particularly progressive with technology. Making good on the omni-channel commerce experience depends on speed and supply chain visibility. IPO is the industry standard API for quickly locating and transacting drop ship and special orders. Search “Internet Parts Ordering Standard” to learn more.

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