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eCommerce – The Way of The Future

Whether you are thrilled about it or not, technology is the way of the future. When it comes to the sales, and distribution of parts, eCommerce is becoming a need-to-have if you want to survive in the industry. How can you get started with your eCommerce platform?

Recently we interviewed Kris Harrington, the President, and COO of GenAlpha.

A Jump in eCommerce Sites

In 2020, we are seeing a drastic increase in eCommerce sites being rolled out by manufacturers, dealers, and aftermarket distributors. What is causing this jump?

The short answer is the pandemic. There was nothing we could have predicted that would have made us advance so fast, in so short of time. Before the pandemic, this shift was taking place, but the global pandemic just sped up the process, even up to 5 years.

Historically websites are informational. You go there to learn about a product, system, or service. Whereas, eCommerce is a transactional place. An ecommerce site in other words is a sales channel. To be able to thrive in this category, there are some specific things that need to be in place.

Strong Leadership is Required

With every change management initiative, a leader is required. But how do you go about structuring the team that is responsible for implementing eCommerce? 

“It always starts at the top. You need an experienced leader. I highly recommend that. For you to be successful, and to avoid common mistakes, hiring an experienced leader will prevent those types of things from happening. But you also need to have people in the company that can influence the adoption of this new technology. By having these influencers, and the right team members, you can roll the eCommerce platform out to the rest of the business,” said Kris Harrington, President, and COO at GenAlpha.

Data is Extremely Important

The number one thing that visitors to an eCommerce site use is the search function so your data has to be accurate and organized in a way that allows potential customers to easily find exactly what they are looking for.

When developing your eCommerce platform, your search aspect needs to have lots of attention paid to it. That is the place where either your customers walk away happy and satisfied or get frustrated and give up completely.

Publishing Prices

Putting your prices for the world to see on your site can be a scary thing at first. How do organizations overcome the fear of publishing price and availability and why is it important? 

“Frankly, people don’t buy unless they know price and availability. At some point in the buying process, that information has to be there. The way of displaying price is a choice, depending on the industry that you’re in, and how competitive that industry is online today… There are many ways to display price, and how and when to display price is your choice… It is important to be comfortable with your prices and have good pricing strategies,” Kris Harrington answered.

eCommerce is critical in today’s world, and it is the future of heavy-duty parts distribution. Adapting to it is a matter of survival. Get started as soon as possible because the time is now.


Watch the Webinar

On Friday, October 30th we presented a webinar with Kris Harrington entitled; Everything You Need to Know to Succeed with eCommerce. You can watch the replay now. 

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Author: Taron H.

Taron is the Marketing Manager at The Heavy-Duty Parts Report.

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